As Many U.S. Contractors as Troops in Iraq
The U.S. has about the same number of private contractors in Iraq as uniformed service members, according to a story in the Army Times, citing a new congressional report. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan analytical arm of Congress, issued a report Monday that provides the first detailed accounting of the number of civilian contractors working in the Iraq theater, often doing jobs that historically have been military responsibilities, such as administration and logistics.
Using contractors to support military operations is not new, the report says, although the current one-to-one ratio that has 190,000 private contractors in the Iraq theater “is at least 2.5 times higher than ... any other major U.S. conflict.”
Comments
The employment of contract labor, in lieu of G.I. sweat, is a relatively recent phenomenon; this spells an insidious encrouchment on the American Fighting Mans’ ability to cope with the myriad challenges of military life. Civilian support of military action took on job-specific proportions during the 60s; contractors found themselves in the RVN Theater to provide equipment support, ie field reps from the many manufacturers of military hardware. Officially “non-existent” entities, such as Air America, took on the “back water” efforts of that campaign, albiet their achievements are both legandary and heroic.
In more-recent years, the emergence of contract labor has become more prevalent; “G.I. Joe”, in turn, has been relieved of the many duties once the domain of military personnel. Civilian guards, in place of M.P.s (Military Police) now man the gates…civilian laborers now perform all the details once the domain of Soldiers once assigned to Post Beautification details (cutting grass, and the myriad details of daily life on a Military installation). Whereas the Soldier in Vietnam would invariably draw such inglorious tasks as “turd burning”, American contractors, in the S.W. Asian Theater, employ Third-Country Nationals (T.C.N.s) to do these, and many other tasks.
That this entire move from Military to contract labor is largely a political jobs machine is, no doubt, true. The official “half-full” view might be seen as an effort to relieve the Military of mundane chores so that they might concentrate on bigger things…REALLY!?
The Sarge