He had some thoughts on mercenaries

....or cleaning the base portalets...ect that's the kind of stuff most the contractors do.

definitions. When the US was actively fighting Blackwater had a huge presence. We forget how fucked up it was to get involved with Iraq to start with.

Until 1973 there was a draft and when education deference's were eliminated the draft was ended. Now we have a voluntary army and paid mercenaries doing the fighting. I'm not saying there aren't non-military workers making the Erik Prince's and other connected guys rich.

Just saying that if we had been calling it as it is and using language that reflects what has been going on for years we might be out already.

You can blur the distinction by making all the actual mercenaries, the guns for hire, into bland "contractors". That makes it sound like they're all fairly harmless and mutes criticism.

Or you blur the other way, and make all the custodians and accountants into guns for hire, so that the barber is seen as the person with the assault rifle gunning down women and children. That makes them all sound lethal, right down to the guy cleaning the grease trap on the grill, and heightens criticism, outrage, and fear.

Even when Blackwater was at its height in Iraq, most contractors were strictly supply and service oriented.