A Little Miffed
Let's talk about Mercenaries for a moment. If you are not aware, a recent post over at Daily Kos refers to the loss of four private sector military contractors in Iraq. Mr. Kos opinion of the worth of these men is roughly akin to:
"...I feel nothing over the death of mercenaries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are trying to help the people of Iraq make a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them."
That wounds me on personal level. Here on my camp, I am surrounded by "mercenaries". In fact, I think there might be more "mercenaries" on camp than actual service members. They cook and serve our food, they wash our vehicles, they do our laundry, they clean our toilets, they build and maintain our facilities, the run our power generation, they operate our waste disposal, they provide firefighting services, they provide transportation, the run the Morale, Recreation and Welfare operation, they provide internal security, they built my tent, they provided me with a bed, they operate our supply support activity, they repair our vehicles and equipment, they service our weapons, they manage our ammunition, in short they do just about every nasty little job we depend on to do our jobs but don't want to do or even think about. Without them, the Lance Corporal manning a 240G on the perimeter would spend about three quarters of his time scrubbing a shitter or washing dishes. I for one am damn grateful that these "mercenaries" are with us! Many of them are former military, some are "old timers" who though they are too old to wear the uniform again still want to serve, some were medically disqualified, some just want to help, some are following the American dream but THEY ALL SERVE. Their contribution are just as important to me as those of the troops under my direct authority. Without them, there are simply not enough of us to do the job at hand because three quarters of our time would be taken up cleaning the toilets, cooking the chow, and counting the widgets! Today the Tail to Tooth ratio is roughly ten to one, meaning for every 1 trigger puller there are 10 logistics troopers supporting him. With out these "mercenaries, that ratio would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 to 1. Contractors are a force multiplier that allows us to focus our efforts where they need to be, where they must be. Defeating, Denying, Disrupting trans-national terrorist operations in our AOR. The service rendered and the lives of the contractors who support us in the mission are every bit as precious to me as those of my Sailors, Marines, and Soldiers. They should be to you as well.
Mr. Kos, I feel very sorry for you.
TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD
"...I feel nothing over the death of mercenaries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are trying to help the people of Iraq make a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them."
That wounds me on personal level. Here on my camp, I am surrounded by "mercenaries". In fact, I think there might be more "mercenaries" on camp than actual service members. They cook and serve our food, they wash our vehicles, they do our laundry, they clean our toilets, they build and maintain our facilities, the run our power generation, they operate our waste disposal, they provide firefighting services, they provide transportation, the run the Morale, Recreation and Welfare operation, they provide internal security, they built my tent, they provided me with a bed, they operate our supply support activity, they repair our vehicles and equipment, they service our weapons, they manage our ammunition, in short they do just about every nasty little job we depend on to do our jobs but don't want to do or even think about. Without them, the Lance Corporal manning a 240G on the perimeter would spend about three quarters of his time scrubbing a shitter or washing dishes. I for one am damn grateful that these "mercenaries" are with us! Many of them are former military, some are "old timers" who though they are too old to wear the uniform again still want to serve, some were medically disqualified, some just want to help, some are following the American dream but THEY ALL SERVE. Their contribution are just as important to me as those of the troops under my direct authority. Without them, there are simply not enough of us to do the job at hand because three quarters of our time would be taken up cleaning the toilets, cooking the chow, and counting the widgets! Today the Tail to Tooth ratio is roughly ten to one, meaning for every 1 trigger puller there are 10 logistics troopers supporting him. With out these "mercenaries, that ratio would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 to 1. Contractors are a force multiplier that allows us to focus our efforts where they need to be, where they must be. Defeating, Denying, Disrupting trans-national terrorist operations in our AOR. The service rendered and the lives of the contractors who support us in the mission are every bit as precious to me as those of my Sailors, Marines, and Soldiers. They should be to you as well.
Mr. Kos, I feel very sorry for you.
TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD
posted by Ed | 4/04/2004 05:38:00 AM
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