Defense Contractors

Before this past Friday's lecture in War in Afghanistan, I had no idea that Defense Contractors such as Blackwater Worldwide (now know as XE services but still commonly refereed to as Blackwater) even existed. I thought mercenaries such as these only existed in video games, movies and books and only because being mercenaries allows them to blow stuff up more casually and realistically than US soldiers could. It turns out the way they act in real life isn't too far off from how they are portrayed in fictional media.

Honestly, I'm still not sure why these guns for hire exist. Do we not have enough troops on the ground between us and our allies? Do we really need to hire more guns, especially from groups such as these? According to one soldier in my class who has been to the middle east, these Blackwater guys are total cowboys. They are allegedly pumped up on steroids and alcohol 24/7 and have a total disregard for rules of engagement.

I'm not sure how I missed this story but apparently the Blackwater guys were in some hot water for the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. According to our soldier friend from class, these guys couldn't care less about their actions, mostly because their superiors do nothing to punish them. How does something like that go unpunished? Why do we allow these guys to act like this and why oh why are we paying them for it? This is all rather ridiculous to me and I cannot fathom why we would pay these guys when we could just as easily pay to recruit new soldiers.