An interesting article on PMCs even if it is essentially based on a new book, by Sean McFate, a contractor and academic: The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What they Mean for World Order

Nowt happening, move along now:
The U.S. used contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan more than it had in any war in its history: in 2010 there were more contractors deployed to war zones (207,000) than U.S. servicemembers (175,000). In World War II, contractors only made up 10 percent of the military workforce, according to McFate.
Link:http://www.theamericanconservative.c...r-world-order/

Another author, Peter Singer (who has his own book):
In an idealized world the companies with the best practices and best performance records would end up with all the contracts, and the bad actors would be eliminated from the field, that hasn’t happened in regular business, much less when you cross regular business with what you call politics.