Ratio Of Mercenaries To Troops At War? 1 To 1

New assessments of U.S. war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan suggest that the total force commitments there are approaching a level comparable to the Vietnam War, if military contractors are included in the tally.

At its peak, the U.S. effort in Vietnam involved more than 500,000 personnel. As of September this year, a total of about 280,000 U.S. military members were deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and neighboring countries.

The Iraq and Afghanistan totals, however, do not include people hired to work for the U.S. military as cooks, drivers and security guards, or in other support roles. Such jobs were largely filled by military personnel in Vietnam, meaning comparisons between the wars can be deceptive. With contractors included, a total of 522,230 personnel are engaged in the overall U.S. war effort from the Middle East to Afghanistan, according to a report released this week by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), using data from September 2009.

The increased use of military contractors, according to the CRS report, "frees up uniformed personnel to perform combat missions." In addition, contractors can be hired and deployed relatively quickly and may provide expertise that is in short supply within the uniformed military services. Plus, it saves money. "Hiring contractors only as needed can be cheaper in the long run than maintaining a permanent in-house capability," the CRS noted.

Among the areas where contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan now provide services are construction, food service and transportation. Mostly gone are the days when soldiers did KP duties (kitchen patrol) in the mess hall or worked as truck drivers. Armed contractors are even performing sensitive security roles.

"They'll be providing perimeter security at a forward-operating base," says Moshe Schwartz, a CRS researcher. "They will [also] be providing convoy security, protecting convoys that are moving throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, and personal security details, where they'll be involved in protecting individuals that are moving from point to point."

During the Vietnam War, there was just 1 outside contractor for about every 8 uniformed U.S. military members. These days, the ratio is about 1 contractor to 1 service member. The 30,000 new U.S. troops headed for Afghanistan will likely be accompanied by 26,000 to 56,000 contractors, according to the CRS report.



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