Private Contractors in Combat Environments Paper Example

Introduction

The United States of America initiated the use of private contractors with an objective of providing some required services to the war-torn areas of Afghanistan and Iraq. This is in line with the need to support military operations by the United States in these countries. History records that during the revolutionary war, the continental army made use of contractors with an objective of providing essential services that were required in the military. There was a need for the provision of services such as transportation of ammunition, provision of engineering services, supply and repair of clothes, and the number of weapons. Schwartz and Church (2013) say that the Department of Defense accepted the idea of implementing the concept since the war in Afghanistan and Iraq posed new challenges to the United States government. Currently, the United States is relying heavily on these private contractors during the combat operations, and these contractors perform the crucial function of supplying the much-needed security services as they navigate in the regions of Iraq and Afghanistan while carrying out their activities.

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Initially, in 2008, the Congress had formed an independent and bipartisan commission which was mandated to focus on war contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aim was to assess the contingency recruiting for reconstruction, security functions, and logistics. The Congress also mandated the contractors to examine the extent of wastes, any form of fraud and abuse. The commission was to provide recommendations to the Congress on ways of improving the structures, policies, and resources that were meant to manage the contracting process and the contractors (Efflandt, 2014). The commission was also required to assess the amount of aspects that were linked to war contracting which includes the degree of wastage, forms of scam and abuse and maladministration of the wartime contracts. In this regard, the commission had the authority of holding meetings and refer to the Attorney General any form of violation or potential violation of the law which the commission might have identified during its course.

The commission noted that a consequence of 1990's, there were declines in the federal procurement labor force and support components within the army where the United States could not conduct substantial and continued eventuality operations devoid of any form of help from the contractors. 'Contingency' operations, refer to according to the federal law of the Department of Defense are the operations that involve the military services in authentic or looming hostilities or responses to acknowledged nationwide emergencies.

The government, therefore, saw the role of the contractors in playing the essential portion of any significant reaction to substantial or unrelenting antagonisms or foremost disasters. Hartung (2012) assert that contractors have been helping the government for the last twenty years since this commission was formed. In as much as the government was not prepared to go to Iraq in 2001 and 2003, it was incapable to offer actual management and bungle of contract expenditure which exceeded the threshold, and there was the need for change. The number of contractors was found to outnumber the military support, and there was also confusion in the assignment of roles in specialization and division of labor. The contractors performed the tasks that were meant for federal employees. Others completed the jobs that were permissible and were too risky and inappropriate for the contractors. Contracting, therefore, developed an over-reliance syndrome in the military from every angle.

Due to this mandate, Efflandt (2014) says that the Commission carried out its research and submitted reports to the Congress in June 2009 and February 2011 respectively. The Commission also provided the final reports and the transcripts.

The events in Afghanistan and Iran showed that methodical deliberation of functioning, political and monetary risk are the factors that led in judging inappropriateness, which is opposed to the assumption that any form of activity that was not considered fundamentally governmental was repeatedly appropriate for the presentation under a incident contract. Schwartz and Church (2013) assert that the carrying out of the maintenance and modernization projects in the insurgent-contested zones with workers from the contracted companies led to numerous deaths, delays, and a waste of multiple state resources. This was due to inadequate training by the agencies and deployed more experienced cadres. This would have helped in the stabilization and reconstruction. This research report aims to give a detail of the role of private contractors in combat environments.

Objectives and Overview

The primary aim of this report and presentation will be to provide awareness on the role that private contractor. The first objective of this paper is to differentiate private contractors from mercenaries by presenting a historical overview of private contractors in combat environments. Secondly, this work also intends to identify and locate the Private Military Security Companies (PMSC) employees under the legal status of civilian or combat state in line with the third and fourth Geneva Conventions. This work will also look into the role that the private contractors play in combat environments as the government's contract them are contracted to assist them in executing some duties in line with roles and responsibilities.

There is also need to investigate the existing laws and policies formulated to examine the responsibility of the state and the private contractors and the possible challenges that their employees can face. The last objective is to investigate the current developments in regulation within the industry and line with national and regional and international levels. Outlined goals are interconnected with the argument so that gaps in the existing policies, laws, and regulations to get to the root of their real meanings. This will help a great deal in knowing the kinds of rules which focus on the private contractors and the possible developments that might be relevant to its mandate. On the same note, the article will also look. The paper also aims to look into the potential rewards that accompany the support given to combat troops and the legal compliance which includes; but not limited to federal acquisition regulations, local content mandates, corrupt foreign practices among other possible rules that are directly linked to the private contractors.

The situation in Combat Environments: Case Studies

Two employees of private contractors during the Executive Outcomes and Sandline International in 1990 have got involved in armed conflicts in Angola and Sierra Leone (Buzatu & Buckland, 2015). The dispute erupted as a result of the presence of the private contractors' companies during this active military engagement, and as a result, the event led to the development of much debate concerning the role of private contractors in combat environments. People began to question their need and importance. The situation created an opportunity for the emergence of many private contractors whom, majorities were providing private military security services. This situation fuelled the occurrence of armed conflicts which considerably increased.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the war became very notorious since the United States army heavily depended on the private contractors to provide military and security services. For example, in the battle between the United States and Iraq in the year 2001 and 2003, more than 30,000 private contractors engaged in the development of activities which included armed conflicts, and the United States hired more than 3000 private contractors. There were also incidents which involved the private contractors and the human rights and international charitable law. Buzatu and Buckland (2015) says that these incidents came as a result of defilements of essential human rights of the people, and these violations raised some questions on the role of the government in the offenses and the accountability of the private contractors. For instance, there was the Nisoor Square Massacre, the killings in Abu Ghraib which were common in the mainstream media. In the case of Abu Ghraib prison in 2004, there was a gross violation of human rights when the Titan and CIAC employees tortured, raped, sodomized and murdered Iraq prisoners. The cases openly show that controversies surrounded the industry surrounding the private contractors and the state.

According to Buzatu and Buckland (2015), there is also another instance that took place on September 16, 2007, that involved the Blackwater Company. Its employees killed 17 Iraq citizens, and 24 others were injured in Baghdad. The event took place when the Blackwater's employees were escorting Kerry Pelzmans who was a US Agency for International Development (USAID) official.

On a different note, ammunition is one of the Department of Defense's top three logistical burdens besides water and fuel. The war in Afghanistan and Iraq was made possible as a result of the role that procurement and logistical support provided. Buzatu and Buckland (2015) says that private military contracting companies also aided the war in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries through the provision of massive weaponry and the army systems procurement. They provide the logistical and security needs which help to support the military forces in places where there are armed conflicts. This situation was noted at first during the first gulf war of 1991 when the when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and the United States led army made efforts which worked on repelling the invasion. The need for logistical support expanded abruptly in wartime, and it presented tremendous business opportunities for the private sector. As a result, well-established companies such as British Aerospace, General Dynamics, and Halliburton were contracted for logistical, construction and security tasks since they bid on a range of smaller but more reliable ongoing ventures.

Role of Private Contractors in Combat Environments

It has been noted above that hiring of contractors to aid in armed conflicts, and combat environments is an issue that could be traced as early as the sixties and seventies, and the situation was mainly associated with underground dealings and mercenary activities. Recently, modern companies emerge with an objective of offering their security services openly and in most cases; these companies outline their roles on their websites with the aim of getting clients to hire them. These companies carry out active combat operations in various countries, and they drew their membership from different Special Forces in different countries. The Special Forces usually have undergone specialized training, and as a result, they are equipped with the necessary skills required to carry out their tasks. Some of these contracted forces managed to assist in the defeat of rebel movements and extremist organizations to restore order. For instance, the UNITA supported the Angolan government against rebel movements and also helped in the restoration of the elected president to power.

These contractors have managed to confront different forms of conflicts in various locations around the world, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Columbia. The contractors are believed to train their security forces in these areas. This section of this paper looks at their roles in combat environments. The following are the role of the private contractors in combat environments.

Security

According to Buzatu and Buckland (2015), private contractors perform the vital role of protecting their clients when the need arises. Some of the various forms of protection...