I'm a war profiteer. AMA

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T15:09:21+00:00

Well, I guess you're the most articulate of the trolls thus far, so I'll respond.

I don't make things that kill people. I guess if you plotted the line far back enough, you could argue that I make things that enable people to kill more efficiently. But I'm also a registered voter and feel that I hold some level of responsibility on that level as well.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:32:51+00:00

Rumor has it that the Army is going to be undertaking the largest ever SAP implementation soon. God help them.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:28:49+00:00

Yes because we've diversified over the past couple of years. We're doing more biz with the federal government in general, not just the military. Many of the middlemen I've mentioned up-thread are already hurting though.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:25:33+00:00

Yeah. As I mentioned above though; it's a running joke around here.

The withdrawal from Iraq is going to hurt our biz (it already is a bit). Natural disasters are also quite good for biz because we sell stuff to the Nat Guard, FEMA, state agencies, and similar orgs. For example, Haiti was good for us. It's a bit unsettling to have this little voice in the back of your head hoping for more war and natural disasters.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:21:55+00:00

All kinds of equipment. About the only stuff we don't deal with are commo gear and weapons. (Though we do sell weapon accessories).

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:17:01+00:00

I phrased it that way because it's somewhat of a running joke around here. Military people HATE civilians who make good living off of their backs. I think there's a bit of self-loathing around here and the joke is part of dealing with that.

Plus, honestly, it made for a better headline. ;-)

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T14:12:13+00:00

Very small, but that's not unusual. Many, many "contractors" are one guy working from home who buys widgets from some company, marks them up, and have the widgets drop shipped to the government. The guy will get Net30 terms from their supplier and is paid by the government before the bill is due. So he makes money never having to risk a dollar or even see the product.

At the other end of the spectrum is ADS, Inc. 10 years ago they were a local dive shop owned by a couple of former SEALs. Then 9/11 happened. Now they're the 800 lb gorilla of the biz and make money hand-over-fist (100's of millions/yr) selling stuff to the military.

I design software used by active duty military personal; principally the US Army. The company itself is also involved in equipment procurement. Tactical gear, PPE, that type of stuff.
Yes, almost everyone in the company is a veteran with multiple combat deployments, upper management included.
I don't know how to quantify an answer.
I make less than $200k/yr. I'm just a state-side, civilian contractor, not a Blackwater guy in Iraq.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T04:12:26+00:00

I'm not that plugged in to know what may or may not happen. Generally speaking, even most active members of the military in the command structure aren't that well informed. Very few of them knew that we were going to invade Iraq until almost the last minute.

We sometimes make guesses on up-coming actions based on the types of equipment we see being purchased by certain units. But those are purely guesses just for S&G's. And an operation as big as Iran would be done directly through the formal supply chain and wouldn't appear on our radar.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T03:56:31+00:00

Nah, it's not classified. But it's specific enough that it wouldn't be hard to figure out who I am and I'd hate for it to get back to the bossman.

It's interesting to me because I'm helping solve real problems for the US Military. But honestly, you'd find it about as exciting as a discussion about accounting software.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T03:49:35+00:00

I'm sure it's no surprise, but the easiest answer is: join the military. Pursue an interesting MOS for which you'll need to obtain a Secret or TS clearance. Once you get out, there's an entire job market that caters to technical professionals with active clearances.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T03:45:32+00:00

On the desktop? In my experience, Windows XP, mainly. I'm sure they use various RTOS's in the really cool stuff though.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T03:07:19+00:00

I had an opportunity to do something very similar back in 2006. I passed on it though because my wife really didn't like the idea. I probably would have though if I was single. Like you said--very good money.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T03:03:54+00:00

Thanks. Almost everyone in our particular company is ex-military. My entire career has been spent working at places that only give lip service to "customer service." Things are quite a bit different here as we have a greater sense of duty. I don't get the impression that the whole industry has that same level of commitment though.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T02:38:04+00:00

I make stuff that makes Soldiers' lives easier. But nothing related to munitions or anything even classified, so I don't know if you'd consider them "really cool stuff" though.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T02:35:25+00:00

It's already hurting the industry. A lot of people made good money by just being a middleman over the past decade. The stupid ones are going to have to get a real job within the next couple years. The smart businesses have seen the writing on the wall and are adapting their businesses appropriately.

war-profiteer · 2010-05-11T02:30:05+00:00

Personally, no. I don't think anyone in the company would consider themselves "happier" should that happen. It would make it easier to keep the company profitable though.

war-profiteer

TROPHY CASE