What's wrong with being a contractor? I've done three deployments as a contractor in Bosnia and Iraq and my teams were usually given more work than the military and were making more significant contributions. I think what should be remembered is that contracting composes a wide spectrum...from intel to protective services to mess hall activity.

I've never understood the fear of contractors or the whole, "greedy bastards" bit.

I'm deployed as a soldier now and think our contractors are great.