SASless didn't say the Dyncorps employee was a pilot.
According to Associated Press reports, 26 Dyncorps International employees have been killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003. Three died last week. “Dyncorp officials said they couldn't answer detailed questions about their operations because the company is about to go public.”
Dyncorps seems to be the third biggest single beneficiary of US government contracts in Iraq.
Halliburton is the biggest. There have been some adverse comments about the link between Halliburton and Vice-President Cheney. (Putting both names in Google produces some interesting reading.)
British companies account for nearly half of the dozen or so private firms in Iraq. The biggest British player is Global Risk International which allegedly supplies hired Gurkhas, Fijian paramilitaries and ex-SAS veterans.
There have been previous discussions about whether the loss of people who choose to go to war zones on contracts (whether pilots or non-pilots) does/should generate the same amount of sympathy as the loss of those who live there or are sent there as servicemen/women. The issue seems to generate strong views both ways, here and elsewhere.
If you are going to discuss it - please do so in a non-inflammatory way and with respect for other people’s opinions even if you disagree with them.
Heliport
(Edited)
Ocatavo
No-one has said 'the death of a policeman is somehow less important than the death of a pilot'.
This is (predominantly) a professional pilots forum so surely it's understandable that the death of a pilot is likely to generate a differerent reaction from the death of a non-pilot? I've never read a police forum, but wouldn't be surprised if the death of a professional pilot generates little or no reaction there.
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Last edited by Heliport; 25th Jan 2006 at 11:56.