Rare video shows Blackwater supplying troops in Afghanistan

Here's a rare video of Blackwater in action on the warfront. This one is about how Blackwater teams with the US Army's elite 82nd Airborne to deliver supplies to the troops in remote parts of Afghanistan.

In the video, two Blackwater C-212 light cargo planes fly extremely close to the ground - about 35 feet up - to avoid Taliban gunfire. They fly up to about 150 feet to drop pallets of ammunition and water to American soldiers. US military crews are aboard.

Because the military lacks the type of planes needed to supply the area, the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion contracted Blackwater to fly the aircraft for remote deliveries. The 782nd is responsible for supplying 22 paratrooper bases across 19,000 square miles of some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

Kevin Maurer of the Fayetteville Observer, the hometown newspaper of the 82nd Airborne, is presently in Afghanistan. Soldiers from the 782nd produced the video and posted it on YouTube in July, 2007. This video and Maurer's report come to our attention courtesy of the blogger White Rabbit.