A small idea has been chewing at the back of my mind...

[daleanime]

Why are Mercendiares...excus me, defense contracters being used? Don't we have an Army, are there no Marines? :wtf:

[arcane1]

1. Profit. n/t

[daleanime]

2. Unfortunely...

I think your right. :banghead:

[arcane1]

4. They can charge we the taxpayers ANY amount they want

which is far more than the cost per soldier. Think of the proverbial "100-dollar hammer" :(

[daleanime]

6. So wouldn't getting rid...

of those 'blackwater' guys be a nice step toward balancing the budget?

[arcane1]

8. Damned right it would

getting rid of the wars would balance it even better

[FiveGoodMen]

13. I don't know...

tracking them all down and killing them would probably cost...

Oh, you probably meant firing them.

That probably would be cheaper.

[daleanime]

15. ......

:wow: :rofl:

[FiveGoodMen]

3. ...and less oversight/accountability, I think

[arcane1]

5. Yep, that too

The "rules" apply to actual armies.

[Nite Owl]

7. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

and they don't count as troops so we can have so many more at war and make it seem less. They don't have to answer to anyone either like the troops do.

[MineralMan]

9. I suspect the real reason for it is that they'd have to re-institute

the draft, otherwise. Same reason we keep shipping and reshipping our National Guard units over there. Sucks, pretty much, all around.

[daleanime]

10. Then stopping this practice...

could help end this wars?

[MineralMan]

12. Sure, but the practice is so ingrained in how the military

has operated since the end of the Vietnam War that I don't think it's that simple. No, contract workers are going to continue to be used in our military. It started with running the mess halls and doing the maintenance work in the 1970s. Now, it's everywhere.

I don't see a good way to stop it unless we get out of all those overseas adventures and completely reorganize our military. That's a ways down the road, I'm afraid.

I'm a realist. I know what the ideals are, and support them. I just have to look at things as they are and not get my blood pressure up about what isn't going to change right away. I think long term about that stuff.

[daleanime]

14. Then what kind of short term step....

do you think we could start with?

[MineralMan]

20. I don't know, to be honest.It's been a very long time since I

was in the military. The privatization was already beginning at the time. I think that the first step is going to have to be a reduction in our out of country deployment. By that I mean not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in Europe and the Far East as well. We don't need to maintain the kind of presence we currently maintain in most of those places.

Be returning our military to the USA, we can be prepared for things without the high cost of maintaining all of those foreign bases. We could return to many of the ways things used to be done, with military personnel resuming roles such as supply, feeding people, etc. Weaning ourselves off a contractor-based system won't be easy, but I think it must be done.

I think we need to turn our military into a mobile force that can be deployed quickly, if needed. If not needed, then it can be training for a time when it might be. That's how I see it. A smaller, better-prepared military, ready to defend our nation, but not involved in questionable overseas positions.

Disclaimer: I'm far from a military expert. I was a lowly E-4 when I served.

[daleanime]

22. Hey, don't degrade us E-4's....

the back bone of the service!:patriot:

Don't know if it a good start or not, but I've been thinking we need a bill requiring those who act as escorts for American officials or those doing guard duty at American embassies to be enlisted personnel.



Like your view for the future of our military-it's a lot like mine!:fistbump: Just with better details and stuff!:blush:

[Greyhound]

11. The reasons are twofold. One is, of course, the corporate welfare state which brings

unimaginable profits with no accountability, just submit the bills and wait for the checks. And two, there is a (well founded, IMO) fear that the regular forces will not be very cooperative when killing Americans is called for. Of course, this overlooks the fundamental problem with mercs throughout history, they're only loyal to the point where the money stops or the danger gets to thick.

We are living in interesting times.

[daleanime]

16. Too true...

:hide:

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Because we started privatizing the military back in the 70s

then we finished doing that over the last 25 years. The real acceleration of the process happened with one son of a... called Chenney as Secretary of Defense, and the initiation of the BRAC commission.

There is no accident why that happened, and what it has led to.

Reality is... that this practice will byte us in the end. A prince that relies on Mercs will loose his kingdom, so wrote Machiavelli, and it was true back then and it is true now.

My personal belief is, these wars are so damn fucking important... bring the draft and kick the mercs to the curb. As is they are money soldiers, that are loyal to the highest bidder, PERIOD.

[daleanime]

18. Which is strange......

When it comes to unemployment-we're broke, but mercs for this wars-plenty of money for that!:banghead:

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. One word: EMPIRE

[defendandprotect]

29. There have been some hearings into the "costs" .....

but unfortunately I can't pay total attention to all the sutff going on --

C-span I, II and III -- if you have time to tune in --

and sometimes the c-span website .org will give you replays of hearings --



:)

[yurbud]

19. merc company gives campaign donations, politician awards contracts to merc company...

they use our tax dollars to make BIGGER campaign contributions, and get bigger contracts. Repeat until the rich come to pull the fillings out of our corpses.

[daleanime]

21. ......

not much longer at this pace. :scared:

[Motown_Johnny]

24. kickbacks

[daleanime]

25. ?????

do you mean 'campaign donations'?
:grr:

[Motown_Johnny]

26. tomato, toma'to

[butterfly77]

27. We asked that throughout the bush years but,

I have another question. If we have some type of uprising in this country where will we get the National Guard since bush sent them over to Iraq and Afghanistan because he and the republiCONS were afraid to call for a draft.

They knew what the people would do if he ever did,but now they want to hint for Obama to call for a draft When they are causing a lot of the problems over there to keep this thing going.

I believe Obama truly is trying to get out but the bush cronies in the Military and CONS are lying and playing games behind the scenes and that is why we are now seeing WIKIPEDIA.

I believe there is more to come in all areas all is now being revealed which was hidden during the bush years...

[defendandprotect]

28. Because VOLUNTEER army doesn't provide enough bodies/fodder for the wars ...

the elite want to run -- !!

[butterfly77]

30. Another thing..

why did bush have Iraqis serving our soldiers their meals, when over the years our military took care of themselves. If we are/were in a war in Iraq why would we trust anyone but our own military.

Remember the time when the bomb went off in the mess hall in Iraq and killed and injured many soldiers in Iraq..They outsourced the military like everything in this country.

[daleanime]

31. Exactly...

Our military needs to be retooled, smaller and leaner-with more money being spent our troops and their training, and a lot less on pretty toys.:bounce: And of course they need to come home NOW!

[Stinky The Clown]

32. Crony Enrichment and easy cover for The Great Numbers Lies They Tell Us.

Numbers Lies: numbers of dollars, numbers of casualties, and numbers of actual troops.