How do you feel having your job stolen by contractors?

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 00:45:21 -0400

Too often I am seeing our best resource (Soldiers) not being utilized in their career field. Just like in the civilian world you have people doing jobs that has nothing to do with their degrees you have cooks who have to find to do something else. With rare occasion overseas it is all contractors and local nationals cooking or handling food. I only heard of Soldiers being cooks on small FOBs and in secure areas (CG mess). The same with quartermasters doing laundry services.

Even on post stateside it is next to impossible to get cooks and laundry services to do their jobs unless we are in the field. Even then we need to jump through hoops to get food (any kind, good food is even harder to get) for them to cook.

I have a great and big kitchen at my unit but they took the cooks out of my unit after we got a new kitchen. So we never used it at all. Why not put cooks back into the companies to support ourselves during battle assemblies in the Reserves and support AC units in the field? Why not have cooks cook while stateside too?

How do you feel that contractors stole your or your Soldier's jobs?

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Jul 23 at 2014 6:17 AM

MSG Wade Huffman — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 06:17:57 -0400

Sir, much of this came about due to simple numbers. All the branches have capped end strengths which are set by Congress each year, even during periods of war (or conflict). If the services need to put more personnel into the 'fight', their only choice is to shift support jobs to the contractors; that number of personnel slots can then be used in traditional war fighter roles.
The most easily understood example of this is Recruiting. Remember the big push for civilian recruiters several years back? Each civilian recruiter freed up another slot that could be used in the fight.
If the Army replaces 5000 slots with contractors in support roles, that's 5000 slots that can be used for more traditional combat roles.
So, it's really more about personnel numbers than it is about the budget (although some roles contracted at a cost savings).
This may not be the entire answer to your question; but I"m very confident it is a big part of the answer.

Response by CPT Jacob Swartout made Jul 23 at 2014 8:22 AM

CPT Jacob Swartout — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 08:22:48 -0400

If they put MPs back at the gates, then all of them will likely open again. We have a few here that are closed because the budget won't allow for anymore contractors to man them. I have one that I can go out of when going home but, I have to around the long way to get to work.

Response by SPC Dennis Mullins made Jul 23 at 2014 8:34 AM

SPC Dennis Mullins — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 08:34:45 -0400

Pink slip next, just kidding but it's real as it gets in today's day and age!

Response by CAPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 23 at 2014 10:27 AM

CAPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 10:27:43 -0400

Pay in mind it costs $1 million or more to deploy a servicemember downrange for a year, and some estimates are much higher. Employing local nationals is going to cost only a tiny fraction of that. Also, WRT contractors, some make more money, but many don't cost as much as an active duty servicemember when benefits are factored in.

Response by MAJ Jim Woods made Jul 23 at 2014 4:30 PM

MAJ Jim Woods — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:30:35 -0400

CPT Brian Maurelli........ I am/was one of those contractors. I think that MSG Huffman has it right. I was one of the last Americans out of Iraq (last Gryphon plane out with their office equipment 12/2011). Most of the troops had gone home by Mid November.The only ones who remained were Embassy Personnel which included some PSD Contractors. The Embassy could not supply enough security for it's own personnel so they augmented with the contractors.

We were contracted by DOD to provide a polygraph school for the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense Federal Police. We also certified 4 instructors so the school could be self sustaining. We provided polygraphs to several agencies to vett intel sources. We lived on a FOB (moved about 6 times in 10 months) but would go where needed by helo or escort. Our range was as far north as Sinjar/Mosul and as far south as Basrah. It probably helped that one of use was a Retired (30 years) police officer and the other had Military experience and was a police officer for 15 years. These are totally different skill sets than most government/CID/NCIS/ polygraph examiners have. My partner just got back from Nepal doing the same thing minus the intel stuff.

Point being that most of the contractor jobs were in support of objectives that free up soldiers. As the Military slims down, more contractors will be used to fill positions that used to be filled by soldiers. The AVERAGE contractor does not make as much as they like to brag about. As a Captain, you make far more in a year with benefits than a team leader. Some, however, do make over $100,000 a year but only because they have a specialty that is needed.

Response by CPT Laurie H. made Jul 23 at 2014 6:07 PM

CPT Laurie H. — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:07:19 -0400

We recently put up a blog post on some details regarding this shift - check it out here:

http://blog.rallypoint.com/2014/07/dod-may-trade-service-members-for.html

RallyPoint.com: DoD May Trade Service Members for Civilians to Cut Costs

Response by CW2 Ernest Krutzsch made Jul 23 at 2014 6:10 PM

CW2 Ernest Krutzsch — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:10:49 -0400

They did not steal, they were given an opportunity

Response by SGT Alicia Brenneis made Jul 23 at 2014 8:35 PM

SGT Alicia Brenneis — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 20:35:43 -0400

I am in the medical field and I struggle with working with contractors. In my opinion and experience, we have become an Army of assistants. We no longer do what we are trained to do. Mostly we just fill in when they call out of work (and they call out a lot). We are runners and go get me soldiers. It is very frustrating to try and explain to a fresh soldier that we are more than vital takers and lab runners. The relationships are strained because more than a handful treat soldiers with disrespect and have demanding attitudes. I understand the necessity during times of conflict and war. We needed the help keeping the home front running but if your going to cut military numbers.... start with the contractors and put soldiers back in their original positions.

Response by Cpl Brett Wagner made Jul 24 at 2014 7:23 PM

Cpl Brett Wagner — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:23:09 -0400

CPT Brian Maurelli In 1986 the Navy chow hall at Great Lakes Naval Station the entire chow hall was manned by civilians. Heck in 1981 I was at Patrick AFB the chow hall & barracks were run by civilians, So this has been going on for at least 30 years. My guess is it goes back way before that date. I worked on an AF project in 2007 when the General of the Air Force decided to replace 1,000s of blue suiter telecom types with contractors. I thought it was the worst idea ever because when it comes time for a contractor to go in harms way to do that job they could refuse or quit. I have heard about these guys going over to Iraq & Afghanistan & making well over $100k but depending on where you live that might not be that great. In the DC area rent for a 2 bedroom could be anywhere from $2k up. So your rent would be $24k alone. If your single that &100k might sound great but when you have a wife & a couple kids it gets really small. Not to mention at least as an old IT contractor I'm in no shape to be serving in a combat zone. Probably one reason you don't see a lot of 52 yr old soldiers in the sandbox.

Response by LtCol Garret Whiteside made Jul 25 at 2014 12:23 PM

LtCol Garret Whiteside — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:23:14 -0400

I work for a company that is just now gaining traction in the TEM/NEM contracting space. We have to work at a lower margin and pay the engineers less per hour when they are working on a DOD contract. During the last shut down we had to take on the extra work load as the government non-essential personnel went home at no increase in contract funds. As it was a Fixed Price Contract. Where we were going to increase Federal Contracting work we are now moving back into the enterprise market as our primary focus. So no - contractors do not normally see direct benefit when the Federal Civilian Workers are cut.