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ltl/fb
It seems like if we (the US) just used our soldiers and didn't hire the security firms, there wouldn't be as much of a market for them.
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There's been discussion for years of doing just that - effectively, greatly increasing the required time of active duty service. However, requiring longer terms of service (and, in the current case, that means recalling the independent ready reserves who are still formally "on call" but have already fulfilled their active duty requirements) would probably go over about as well as a draft, and would harm recruitment generally. And, much though no one wants to admit it, there are real training and battle-readiness issues with the regular reservists (partially due to the currently required levels of technical expertise, which also would affect the competence of IRR guys who have been inactive for several years).
Incidentally, "currently active" military people
can't leave to take a mercenary job. And if they are inactive but still on enlistment contract, they would have to come back if recalled - but I don't think the gov can arrange to only call up reservists/IRR who are already acting as mercenaries anyway.
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TS
There's a reason that the military is long on support. It's what we do better than other militaries. It's not clear that any other military in the world could pull off what we're doing in Iraq, so calling it "inefficient" seems not quite right.
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Just because no one else could do it at all doesn't mean we're doing it efficiently or well.
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TS
I suspect the real reason we are using private suppliers is that the administration would rather spend more money than send more troops, for political and ideological (Rumsfeld's remaking the military) reasons.
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Certainly that is a factor on some level, but I think the real reason actually more distressing than that - I think they're near the point where there literally isn't anybody else to send short of conscription, calling up a lot more of the reserves or recalling the IRR. Of the 10 active divisions of the US Army, only one hasn't already been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan - the one in South Korea.
