For the last five years, my father has been living and working in Iraq. A former senior officer in the Marine Corps, he now works for one of the largest civilian contracting firms in the country. His experience there has been dichotomous: he’s had some of the most fruitful and productive working days of his life while simultaneously giving up much of his own hard-earned personal freedom.

My father’s main area of expertise is in the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), a Department of Army program that creates specific task orders to accomplish missions such as base life support at forward operating bases, transportation, and many other functions of combat logistics and service support.


Personally I remain torn by his decision to enlist with a civilian company to work in a protracted war that is seemingly endless. My father first came to Iraq after the initial invasion in 2003, which I was part of as an active duty Marine. The irony is that late in the summer of 2003, when I was on my way home from war, we crossed paths while my father was arriving in the country. Eventually, on my second tour in Iraq less than a year later, we were stationed at the same camp together for a stretch of time. A truly surreal experience is taking shelter from indirect fire with the man who taught you how to catch a baseball.


I recently met up with my father in Europe- it was only the third time I had seen him since 2004. Over a couple of pints and a cigar, we had our first meaningful and candid conversation about Iraq and America in quite a long time. Like many Americans, I want to understand what it means to be a civilian contractor in the most polarizing war since Vietnam. (As it happens, my father served as a platoon commander in that war.) I also needed to come to the terms with the fact that my father was doing something that appeared distinctly different than the way I had served in Iraq or he had served in Vietnam- his service in Iraq as a contractor seemed impure.

My father has never been known to wax poetic or bloviate about his job- he is a man who reserves his opinion for those times when it really matters. With characteristic reserve, he told me how he saw the contracting issue: He sees a stark distinction between logistics contractors and security contractors, a distinction that isn’t always clear to citizens. He believes that logistical contractors like himself provide a tremendous value to the military, whereas many security firms actually do more harm than good because of the way they perform military operations with little discipline and seemingly no accountability.


As we drank our glasses of dark bohemian lager, and lazily pulled on our cigars, he explained his staunch support of civilian contractors and their value to the US military: “Contractors put more military personnel into the warfighting mode rather than having to perform service related tasks which consume large amounts of manpower e.g. food preparation and serving, billeting personnel, servicing equipment, moving material.” But despite these benefits, he does believe that there have been some fundamental flaws in the relationship between the military services and LOGCAP program.


My father wishes people saw contracting as he and his peers see it- an extension of service to the country. When I asked him why he chose to go to Iraq he told me: “I wanted to contribute to the war effort due to patriotism and service, and my military skills and talents could be an attribute to assisting in the war effort.”

Like my father, many contractors are middle-aged with families and serious obligations. Most would never have been allowed to enlist in the military after 9/11. Many truck drivers, engineers, and logisticians jumped at the chance to do their part for their country. My father and his colleagues cringe at the suggestion that they are in Iraq solely to make money. He told me he wished America understood that “the contractor loses personnel at the same ratio as the military and is subject to the same indirect fire and improved explosive device warfare as the military.” For him at least, being a civilian contractor is about a lot more than dollar signs- it’s about continuing to serve.


Many opponents of civilian contractors will say that there is an inherent conflict of interest in American business profiting from wars that our government begins. However my father contends, and I now agree, that a distinction exists when profit made is the result of work requested by the government. “Companies provide a service at the request of the government and expect to be compensated for their services. Just like you expect a salary from an employer when you work for him and there is no conflict of interest.” What civilian contractors are profiting from is simply the inability of the American military and government to meet all obligations during war. Combat operations require a tremendous amount of resource allocation— all of which is strategically disadvantageous for any military to provide in its entirety. Thus, in the greater context of warfighting, civilian contracting is a vital source of support for the military, that is as long as our country intends to maintain its military at current size and fight wars of the current scale.


As we left the pub and walked through the streets of the European city we were visiting, my father and I discussed the upcoming election and our hopes for the country that both of us have had the privilege to serve. I asked him if he thought the war effort has benefited from contractors. He told me that it assuredly has because at the end of the day civilian contractors allow the military to focus on combat operations and there are fewer soldiers responsible for menial tasks.

Finally, I asked him what it was like to be a Vietnam veteran contracting in this war. He told me: “Other than not wearing the uniform and not having to engage [fight] on the military side, not much. It is very similar.”

In his mind, he's still serving his country.