This time to Academi. They had changed their name to Xe (?) a while ago because the left was hassling them.

For some of you this might be a concern, I frankly don’t really care about mercs. They’ve been around a long time. The fact that the “professional adventurer” has been replaced by the “Private Contractor” is a sad footnote to that profession – indication of a decline of manliness as we lose legendary Soldiers of Fortune like Mike Hoare to the growing demand for glorified security guards with accounting experience but that’s really a philosophical issue many of you aren’t interested in.

From WSJ:

Despite new ownership, a new board and new management, security contractor Xe Services LLC could never shake a troublesome nickname: the company formerly known as Blackwater.

Now, it’s the company formerly known as Xe.

On Monday, Virginia-based Xe plans to unveil a new name—Academi—and new logo. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ted Wright, president and chief executive, said the name change aims to signal a strategy shift by one of the U.S. government’s biggest providers of training and security services.

Mr. Wright said Academi will try to be more “boring.”

Founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, the original Blackwater cultivated a special-operations mystique. But it was tarnished by a string of high-profile incidents, including a deadly 2007 shootout in Iraq that ultimately led to its reorganization and rebranding as Xe Services. Mr. Prince left the business in 2010, selling his stake to investor group USTC Holdings LLC.

Mr. Wright came on board this summer as part of a continuing corporate reorganization. In recent meetings with clients, he said he explained that the new corporate identity was supposed to stress the company’s focus on regulatory compliance and contract management, in addition to its track record of protecting clients. “I tell them, from now on, I’m going to be in the background; I’m going to be boring,” he said. “You’re not going to see me in headlines.”

But Mr. Wright may be courting controversy in one area. He said he would like to take Academi’s business back to Iraq, and has hired an outside company to help it apply for an operating license there. “I think eventually, we’re going to get a license; we’re going to do business in Iraq,” he said.

Just what we need in Iraq  – mercs who have a thorough understanding of regulatory compliance and contract management. It really is sunset  on the West.

Some of you more conspiracy minded readers will want to take note of this change since you think they’re going to be used to herd us into FEMA camps. The rest of us can just shake our heads ruefully at what’s become of us.

h/t Firearms Blog