Military Interactions with Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

[Ken White]

I guess I posted this just to point out that the whole "contractors = bad" narrative isn't all it's briefed to be. Where you sit often determines what you see.

However, I understand the reality of

...the KOs working each and every ratification got the "Few Good Men speech" from some senior soldier who told him that the sidewalk or gazebo was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to the war effort, and that they wouldn't tolerate some paper-pusher coming down to their location and telling them what they could or couldn't do in their battle space. Support from very senior leadership? Not so much.

I also know from experience in other wars that bad Commanders not only tolerate but also indirectly encourage that sort of stuff and that good commanders don't tolerate it and tend to make sure the violators pay in some way.

Since I'm sure what you say is absolutely correct, it seems to me that there may be fewer of those good types and more bad types than there used to be. I wonder why that is? Somebody ought to work on that...

[IntelTrooper]

Wait, if contractors are just decent, hard-working people trying to do a job, who are we going to blame for all the evils in the world? Who are the aliens in District 9 going to kill? Who is Jeremy Scahill going to write about?

[Schmedlap]

... who are we going to blame for all the evils in the world?

Blaming this guy never seems to fail, no matter what the problem. My passenger-side tail light burned out. I'm sure he had something to do with it.

[IntelTrooper]

Blaming this guy never seems to fail, no matter what the problem. My passenger-side tail light burned out. I'm sure he had something to do with it.

Wow, there's a whole slew of things in there to blame him for that I never thought of before! It's certainly his fault that my wife got laid off, but who do I blame now that she can't get another job...?