Who needs the Army and Marines?

[n2doc]

U.S. Wants Mercs to Guard Afghan Mega-Base
By Spencer Ackerman September 29, 2010

One day soon, insurgents are going to try yet again to breach the gates of Forward Operating Base Salerno. Located in Afghanistan’s Khost Province, and home to about 5000 U.S. troops barely west of the Pakistan border, the base has been hit numerous times before. The insurgents typically fail, but the pace of attacks is heavy enough that the U.S. military has turned to private security companies to help them protect themselves.

Two weeks ago, the Army’s Joint Contracting Command put out a bid for holding Salerno down. It’s not the first: according to the solicitation, there’s already an unspecified a company called the Khost Protection Force protecting the base by hiring “local national” — that is, Afghan — guards. The next contract calls for a full 120 guards to stand watch at Salerno, the current Afghan home of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne. Those units are responsible for conducting the war effort in Khost, Paktia and Paktika provinces.

Specifically, the private guards will be responsible for “internal and external guard services to include but not limited to, internal and external control points, interior and exterior perimeter towers, internal roving and escort guard services,” the solicitation reads. Since the contract also calls for Dari and Pashto speakers to “perform translation duties for the guard force,” it sounds like Salerno will get non-Afghan guards once the new shift arrives on October 28 for a year-long stint.

It isn’t clear from the solicitation just how much money the contract is actually worth. Its point of contact at Salerno, Army Lieutenant Christopher Jones, tells Danger Room that he’s unable to disclose the contract’s value. Nor will he say whether the company currently guarding Salerno has re-bid or if the contract represents a vote of no confidence in the incumbent company’s ability to secure the base.



Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/u-s-wants-mercs-to-guard-afghan-mega-base/

(for clarification- the title is :sarcasm: - But why are we spending extra money to hire people who are doing something the Army is trained to do?)

[JohnnyLib2]

1. Job creation.

And that's more :sarcasm:

[rug]

2. The Army and the Marines should be replaced with Hessians.

[HereSince1628]

4. The Hessians seem less interested in this everyday.

They are dropping their military draft.

[panader0]

3. Everything seems to going this way

Prisons and schools to name two.

[burnsei sensei]

5. You do not build a nation, in this case, the U.S., by

traumatizing the youth.
Get those soldiers out of there.
Bring them home.
Preserve their lives, even if their chances of employment are unclear.
How can the government treat the youth like so much trash?