Old Wounds,New Warriors

Abstract

American overseas military operations have become dependent upon private contractors. Thousands of these individuals have suffered casualties as a consequence of employment in high-risk parts of the world. American policy has consistently failed to meet the medical needs of hundreds of thousands of contractors. The root source of this problem is the nature of contracting itself. It is a system defined by a commercial transaction rather than the common bond shared between a citizen and the state. The current and future of costs of this basic disconnect are significant. Contractor casualties have risen at exponential rates. More broadly, policy makers must also confront the state’s obligations to employees who are assuming the risks of outsourced citizenship, a question that pertains to American contractors returning home as well as the vast majority of local national workers left to their own devices once Washington declares its mission complete.