Counter-Flow!

A metal plate covers over an access hole in a blast wall

A good friend of mine is providing convoy security for one of the big, “high-profile” security contractors in Iraq. We talked on the phone the other day and were comparing notes on tactics and techniques. I asked him why personal security detachments (PSD)s will cross their convoys over the highway median and barrel down the road heading directly into unsuspecting, on-coming traffic.

Apparently that’s what the PSDs refer to as ‘counter-flow’, but no one can explain to me why heading directly into traffic at high speeds is any more safe than just continuing on through traffic that is already yielding the right of way to the convoy. I must have missed that class in my security education.

My compatriots and I all agree that the biggest threat to our safety and that of our clients' is the western PSDs doing stupid things like “counter-flow” on a busy Iraqi highway. Iraqis are bad enough drivers as it is and we don’t need to add speeding, grossly overweight SUVs to the mix. Sometimes I think many of the security details have lost sight of what they are really supposed to be doing. Testosterone and immaturity have won out over reason and professionalism. Someone needs to put an end to stupidly unnecessary practices like this before even more civilians, contractors, and clients die in motor vehicle accidents than already have.