Private Military Contracting

Transitioning from a military career to life as a civilian can be challenging. But, Matthew Ortiz found a welcoming environment at Georgia Power—a subsidiary of Southern Company—where he leveraged his military experience. Ortiz learned many skills in the military. “A few include teamwork, common sense, an open mind, as well as being coachable and paying attention to detail,” said Ortiz in a recent interview with Hispanic Career World Magazine. “These traits definitely prepared me for a rewarding career.”

To become a Martial Arts Instructor (MAI), a Marine must hold the rank of Corporal and bear a gray belt at a minimum. The MAI Course proved to be the most arduous, yet fruitful event I have experienced thus far. It consisted of a 126.5-hour curriculum, enduring long intervals of physical training, team building exercises, learning new techniques, conducting periods of instruction, endless evaluations, and a culminating event - all spanning over a three-week period. On the last day of training, my instructor trainers administered our culminating event. This affair stretched just over

The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York is an accredited institution for higher learning and a federal academy that trains undergraduates to becoming commissioned officers in the United States Army. If offers students, referred to as Cadets, a Bachelor of Science degree in thirteen different majors that include economics, mechanical engineering, law, foreign languages, mathematics and history.1 Each major implements a curriculum that develops on the aspects and principles of real world situations but focuses primarily on how one will operate within the Army’s spectrum of operations. West Point, as it is commonly referred to, trains Cadets to become effective and efficient not only in their baccalaureate studies but also as

“We are the American Army, we are American Soldiers, and the uniqueness shapes our soul, both institutionally and individually!” (p. 06). A Profession is having effectiveness outweigh efficiency in the work that you do. To be an American Profession of Arms you must first be comprised of professionals, professionals who are both ethical as well as leaders. With these professionals, we create a profession based on expertise and skill. Our profession as Soldiers, relies on upholding the army values and the culture we create to guide and enforce the right things to do.

Since the Revolutionary War, America has used contractor support to supplement various roles throughout our military. Throughout the years, these roles have adapted, and the total number of contractors has increased. Today, the current ratio of contractor to service member is nearly 1 to 1 in a deployed theater. Think about that for a moment, for every Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, or Marine, there is a civilian contractor and, in most cases, their primary role is sustainment. Herein lies a fundamental problem, while we operate in relative safety in the COIN environment, how will these contractors function in a near-peer on peer threat scenario?

Every uniformed Army professional knows the Soldier’s Creed. The tenth line of the Soldier’s Creed - “I am an expert and I am a professional,” is a powerful statement recited during significant occasions including enlistments, graduations, first formations, promotion boards, change of command ceremonies, and deployment ceremonies. The NCO Creed even includes the bold statement, “No one is more professional than I,” in the opening line. For these words to ring true, the Army must deliver training sufficient to certify professional Soldiers and leaders at all levels. The Army’s ability to recognize this need and adapt its methods speaks volumes for the Profession of Arms. The three components of the Army’s leadership model -

For many years my wife and I have had the opportunity of running and teaching at our martial arts studio here in South Florida, in the past couple of years the competition has come and gone, our longevity has been due to our continuing to change up and add to our training programs. In the recent years our students and friends have asked us to possibly add some sort of boot camp training, due to my military background. Here is where my business research experience was born.

Over the course of the last 10 years, I have served my country as both a uniformed Soldier, as well as a Special Forces contractor. Throughout my experiences in this field I have come to learn several things; a top of that list was to know when to walk away. In the winter of 2015 that's exactly what I did. During that time I found myself struggling with post traumatic stress disorder as well as recovering from a trumatic brain injury as a result of may last deployment. Left without the title of Soldier, I quickly found myself lost and without direction. Why am a telling you this you may ask? I'm telling you this because one of the most intrumental parts of my recovery was found though cooking. Somehow, amungst the chaos, cooking was one area

Military Professional Resources Inc. is a military consultant firm. This firm and other like I help unstable governments, revolutionary forces, or oil and mining companies working in hostile areas by providing former service members from the U.S, Britain, or South Africa to offer protection. These firms train the local police and military to fight their own conflicts. Fraud and waste by private contractors in the Middle East continue to be a problem. In Iraq, alone 14 major contractors were given minimal or no competition according to a report issued by the General Accounting Office. These contractors cost the taxpayer

The pros and cons of using contracts to support military functions is a well-covered topic. There is also no concrete answer of how they should be used. Government contracts have always been a controversial topic either due to the fact that money is being awarded or because there are morality issues with involving civilians in combat. A question I would like to ask is, do we as a military hire contractors to sustain our operations or to do our operations? I think there is a difference.

The main ingredients of an effective procurement strategy with reference to the contracting of manned guarding services.

The term professional has always been loosely associated with the Army since its official organization in 1775. The title of Army professional in the past was restricted to only the officer ranks discarding Soldiers and the Non-Commissioned Officers. The fluctuating opinions of the professional Army was mostly due to social definitions of a professional, and the Army’s ability to meet its criteria. The Army is a profession because it requires specialized skills and human expertise, establishes ethical behavior for its members, and contain members who embrace and are stewards of the culture.

Webster’s dictionary defines the word profession as a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill. Many Soldiers would not consider the Army as a profession but a way of life. Some think the word profession belongs to everyday jobs like a plumber, mechanic, or doctor. Dr. Don M. Snider stated “the Army is a profession because of the expert work it produces, because the people in the Army develop themselves to be professionals, and because the Army certifies them as such” (Snider, D. M. 2008). In October 2010, the Secretary of the Army directed the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to lead an Army wide assessment of the state of the Army Profession. We have been at war as a Country for over a decade and the Army

Thesis: The role of private military contractors (PMCs) has expanded tremendously since the end of the Cold War when western governments began the process of trimming their bloated military forces. As privatization commenced, governments began to rely upon a new kind of contractor that sold not only hardware but also manpower and expertise. Even as conventional military forces declined, the need for highly capable, professional soldiers remained pressing, especially in conflict prone areas around the world. PMCs filled these gaps, providing military assistance, advice, and security services to governments, companies, and NGOs. However, the role of these companies, and the legal framework surrounding them remains up for debate, and recent cases of misconduct with deadly consequences only muddy the waters further. The question remains: do PMCs serve to help or hurt human rights in areas where they are deployed? In this paper, I will argue that PMCs do have a critical role in the modern battlefield as providers of logistical, training, and security services, but their use in offensive actions or assistance with so called “black operations” should be circumscribed to the point of nonexistence. I will analyze two cases studies where PMCSs were deployed: Iraq and Sierra Leone to determine the positive and negative ramifications of their deployment. PMCs have upheld human rights in the vast majority of areas where they have been deployed, and it has not been shown that they are

After successfully using Private Military Companies in Vietnam, the United States continued their use, doling out contracts to corporations during the later Cold War Era. During this time many United State PMCs were tied to “tasks ‘too dirty’ for the U.S. government. (Avant)” The use of private military companies has continued ever since and has only grown in scale. Other than the size of the Industry, not much has changed in PMCs. They still receive funding mainly from their clients, who are often national governments, and from their investors if they are publicly held corporations. In terms of the size of the market, the PMC market was expected to grow in net revenue from $55.6 billion to $202 billion between the years of 1990 and 2010. These predictions had merit especially in the 90s when the stock value of public PMCs grew two times faster than the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Avant).