ABSTRACT
This chapter contextualizes military support outsourcing in recent history, and elaborates upon the variety of tasks outsourced to military support contractors and the numbers of various types of military support contractors operating at various points throughout the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It highlights the case study of the US Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract, which as the US Army's single largest use of contractors for logistics support serves as one of the most significant cases of US military support contracting over the past several decades. The chapter examines the benefits of outsourcing military support functions, including increased flexibility. It explains the ability to operate with many fewer soldiers on the ground, and the military's ability to focus on war-fighting and kinetic operations to a greater extent than would be possible in the absence of military support contractors. The chapter explores both the arguments for and projected benefits of such outsourcing, as well as the associated risks.
