Have the military service branches contracted too much work out to civilian companies?

Oh for the days we were assigned KP and other noxious duties.

Lit a fire under my butt, I wanted to get promoted and leave the "dirty" kids behind.

I was a dock worker when I enlisted, Boot Camp was a vacation. On my boat (sub), as an ENFN I graduated to the esteemed position of Oiler. Standing watches in 130 degree heat monitoring two water distillers. Messcooking looked pretty good.

Thanks for that input SFC Joe S. Davis Jr. About the Food Svc & Truck drivers. When I first joined it was AFRES. I was enlisted as a Cook, I took the by-pass test in basic. I had good friends in the Reserves that got me the CDCs I needed to study up. I also had worked for my great Aunt at her restaurant. (.I started there when I was little going on weekends and half days of school.. I shucked beans and peas(real old fashioned cooking there.) cleaned corn, clean potatoes that were brought in from the field .. so moved up as I got older. Finally I worked and ran the Cook line.. To me being a Cook was a no-brained... I knew how to do it..
It was doing it the Military way, their recipes.. ect.. So I worked it out with recruiters and others in the know.. I visited a active base not far to see How they went about doing Military meals.. when able and of age I joined the Reserves, I had already studied the CDCs, I took that by-pass and was done in an hour.. they gave an hour and 45 minutes I think it was. I mulled over but didn't change one question, I got a 98% I think.. I'd had the AFJROTC in high school, did good there.. I was interested in moving up, complete the Cadet enlisted program and earning the award I needed to gain A1C out of basic tng. I finished and was able to do my Senior year. They gave me a small hassle.. I said look at my paperwork I never Quit school.. I completed Basic in the Summer.,, got back with a few days to spare (where the hassle came in, they said I would of had to quit to join..
S'body up and down the ladder kind of looked the other way.. I didn't want to quibble over it, just let me do my Senior year and Graduate. The State Dept. Of Ed granted me a reprieve.. By the time it got to the School district i'd. Even back in school three weeks. I still had a drill coming up.. I was told by my Unit I was taken care of as far as duty because I'd been in basic during the summer. I begged, pleaded with them.. I got to go in October and beyond. Drill was a blast, I enjoyed cooking them breakfasts lunches and dinners. What I hated was going home ! Them guys knew I could cook and didn't hold me back.. no getting stuck in the scullery for me ! Every month I went on them Drills. I talked to 1SG and the Cmdr if they could find another Unit close by... like Wright-Pat AFB. I'd been there, Grissom,
and some others that needed fill in Cooks.. Went up to Kincheloe, Absolutely fabulous working in SAC... the bad part about the additional weekends was I couldn't really talk about them. S'times u
I got back on a Tuesday, needed to rest up a little more .. Those checks were looking good ! My grades didn't suffer, got my homework and late assignments took care of.. In Spring '71 An opportunity came along to go Active Air Force, I went for it and got good endorsements.. No loss of rank due to meeting the neees of the AF.. I had earned my 5 skill level, did real good on that too ! I hadn't been in long enough to get a promotion because I hadn't been in long enough.. no prob... I would I and my Unit explain my being a Sgt. at 17-1/2? I earned the position of being a 1st Cook.. I'd had to fall back to 2d only because the 1st Cook came back from leave. 1st Cook is right back of Shiftleader as far as responsibility on the shift.. S'times the good get punished. Y more work.. I didn't look at it that way.. it was responsibility being left back in the kitchen while others are at lunch, they knew they could depend on me to keep things tidy, from being burned and ready for placement on the line.. filling additional pans to place in the warmer.. I always being looked at in my off duty time and I strived to let them know they could depend on me to be a good example to my fellow Airmen.. does it read like as if I'm bragging some.. I'm guilty as charged, Being a good example is hard work, I will admit that, even when it's almost 2d nature. Even when one is not being observed by
People in their own unit, there are others all around, including community members observing our conduct. There are other good members aware of being observed and conduct themselves like they are. It's the ones that think: "I'm off duty, time to be me .. it almost made me ashamed to have known them.. I have stepped up and let them know if their conduct is/was
Questionable. Had been asked what was my authority, I told them the UCMJ and my I.D. card. (this was when I was Sgt. and SSGT.... ).
I'm done...

LTC John Shaw Thanks for sharing that information. It's amazing what you can learn here on RP when you ask the right individuals.

Very correct! I ran into that in Iraq as a contractor. Not enough signal assets to go around. As an example, a FOB my team was sent to had a Reservist SGT Medic as the S-6, simply because he had a Network A+ cert. He was working his butt off, but was just overwhelmed. He had a SPC4 working for him (another medic), essentially just answering the phone.
As it was with the Signal assets that were in place their systems more often than not, were over saturated with too many users.

Strategic communications relies upon continuity which is what military personnel cannot deliver due to constant movement of personnel. Korea is a fine example of that.
What we need to keep a pulse on is tactical 'strategic' build outs like large FOBs. The larger and more complex the base/camp, the less a troop will have the capacity and training to maintain it. Enter the contractors.

A prime example was 1st SIG BDE in Vietnam. They had to install a large phone switch to accommodate the comms requirements and therefore, a strategic piece of kit. Contractors came in to install and operate it. They formed Signal University to train troops on the new kit since it wasn't military issue.

Sounds familiar....

LTC John Shaw this means the force has been cut too deeply. We need to staff with Military personnel, in order to do this we need to increase the size of the force, perhaps by offering more active Guard and Reserve or more Short Active Duty tours to reserve members. We could increase the size of the Guard and Reserve, and staff these civilian positions with them, on short tours, it would cost less than civilian contractors yet save that job experience for deployment needs. Another pool of possible manning is military retired. After all we are already getting paid. Short tours for Retirees would also be a solution.

SGT Eric Knutson - Eric, what the holy heck are you talking about, some posts must have been deleted.

SSG Roger Ayscue - Yes Roger, looks like several were removed, the gist if I remember was about things like replacing Mess NCO's (and the associated cooks) for Rice Industries (and their ilk), as for the last of mine, I think it was about gays in the service, and my point was that they have always been there, and only a fool thought otherwise, it was only brought up when a puritan came in (until dealt with) or when it was shoved into everyones face. I MAY be wrong, but I think that was the point of my last

SGT Eric Knutson - Ok, Yeah We all know that there were guys in our units that were batting for the other team. What I have a problem with is the normalizing of a mental illness. Gender Dysphoria is and always has been a mental illness until the Liberals needed more votes so they embraced yet another special interest group. The media is now beginning to demonize men who will not even consider dating a transgender woman. I am one such man, I want my women to be natural from birth women, who have a Hoo Hoo from birth not from surgery.
Remember, if your doctor has to cut it off, grind it down, form it, fit it, make it, implant it, split and invert it, and then give you massive Hormone treatments to make you into it...YOU AIN'T IT. Boys have "Outties" and Girls have "Innies" and if someone can not figure this out, then they are too "Lop Sop Noi" to serve in the military. The Army has in it's regulation that a Soldier who meets the Body Mass Index, but presents an appearance that indicates they might be over fat can be flagged, and entered into the Army Weight Control Program, and the DA Boards will not consider you for higher promotion if you present a poor appearance in uniform, because it is not Soldier like. This is totally subjective, yet it exists. I can think of nothing that presents a more ridiculous and un Soldier-like appearance than a Soldier in a female uniform that has a huge Adam's Apple and 5 o'clock shadow. But be on duty still and say one word about this and you can kiss your career goodbye. It boggles my mind. I wonder what will happen to the Transgender Soldier that deploys and God forbid gets captured, and they can not get their hormone shots... What kind of havoc would that wreak on them and all those around them?
Someone is going to read this and get it removed and I will draw all kinds of hate for it, but it is true.

I feel you, I remember when Burmiester was pounded down over in 327 (5?) but we had a guy who ETS'd and waited his 72 hours to come back and tell us that "I bet you guys didn't know I was gay?" which we did, and didn't care because when he was in green, he was GREEN, and showed up and was a SOLDIER first last and all the time at Campbell. kept his business in Nashville