021312 Contractors are Everywhere, it is what it is.

021312 Contractors are Everywhere, it is what it is.

When I started as a contractor in Iraq several years ago I really had no idea how many contractors there were overseas or how involved contractors have been in past conflicts.  Doing some rudimentary research I discovered that contractors were even used by the Continental Army under George Washington.  Also while there are rules and regulations that must be followed by the Pentagon regarding military deaths/injuries there are no such rules and regulations for contractors.  But to be fair, the definition of a 'contractor' is quite broad.  A local Afghani citizen paid to do interpretation work may be a contractor just as an American citizen who flies 10,000 miles and who may only stay a few weeks is a contractor.  The attached pics are of an article about contractors during WWII (the Wake 98). I'm pretty sure these guys never thought they'd be on the front lines but the environment of warfare can change at any time.  During the Iraq conflict there were a few (small) camps that got 'overrun'.  What that means is that some of the bad guys made it through the security perimeter and onto the base.  From there the battle becomes a small arms shoot out.  The NY Times article referenced below details the contractor side of the war in Afghanistan much better than I could.  An interesting point is that the number of deaths (and probably injuries too) of contractors in Afghanistan last year exceeded that of the military.   In all likelihood you'll never see this on the evening news as this is part of the dark side of war that goes tacitly unnoticed and ignored.  Nevertheless, it is what it is.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46357483/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/