Protecting civilian logisticians on the battlefield: now more than ever before in history, the support of U.S. military forces is inherently tied to the success of contractors on the battlefield

Army Logistician, July-August, 2006 by Richard J. Hornstein

The kidnappings, murders, and attacks directed against civilians supporting the rebuilding efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to demonstrate the importance of force protection for noncombatants. Now, more than at any other time in our Nation's history, the success of our strategic mission in war is closely linked to the success of our contractors on the battlefield. It is imperative that support commanders have a clear understanding of the tactical planning and effort required to protect the contractors and contracted logistics convoys that enter the theater.

Three years before the initiation of hostilities in Iraq, the grim spectacle of the videotaped murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl became the horrifying prologue to the killing of four American contractors in Fallujah on 3 March 2004. These crimes were an even darker prelude to other high-profile abductions and videotaped murders of contractors.

Logistics Support in Theater

Logistics is the lifeblood of any successful Army. General Omar Bradley is quoted as saying, "Amateurs talk about strategy; professionals talk about logistics." History has supported that premise. It is clear that, without the right mix of supplies routinely provided to the force to ensure its effectiveness, the mission will fail. The majority of logistics support in theater is provided by Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) III contract. This competitively awarded contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity cost-plus-award-fee contract. LOGCAP uses multiple task orders throughout the theater to provide flexible, responsive support to the ground combatant commanders at multiple operating bases and camps. KBR performed worldwide contingency contracting in the Balkans and established a dependable reputation for delivering a full range of support.

In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait, KBR has taken over most of the delivery and sustainment of all classes of supply, and it is fully responsible for managing and distributing many of them throughout the theater. The unimpeded flow of these supplies is critical to successful operations and is directly tied to the Army's combat capability. Most of these supplies are moved in, out, and within the theater by convoys of commercial trucks operated by civilian contractors. Combatant commanders and the contractors themselves must provide adequate resources and techniques to protect these essential convoys.

Protecting the Civilian Force

The responsibility for protecting contractors falls directly on the combatant commander. Field Manual 3-100.21, Contractors on the Battlefield, states--

   ... the Army's policy has become that when
   contractors are deployed in support of Army
   operations/weapon systems, they will be provided
   force protection commensurate with that
   provided to DAC [Department of the Army civilian]
   personnel. Commanders must understand
   that contractors are subject to the same threat as
   Soldiers and must plan accordingly. Contractors,
   when placed in a position of risk, must
   be protected, or the support they provide may
   be degraded....

      Protecting contractors and their employees on
   the battlefield is the commander's responsibility.
   When contractors perform in potentially hostile
   or hazardous areas, the supported military forces
   must assure the protection of their operations
   and employees. The responsibility for assuring
   that contractors receive adequate force protection
   starts with the combatant commander, extends
   downward, and includes the contractor.

The contractor's civilian leaders also are responsible for force protection and must do everything they reasonably can to safeguard their personnel and Government-furnished equipment from battlefield threats.

Although security still remains fragile in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of contractors on the battlefield has grown since the initiation of hostilities. During Operation Desert Storm, 9,200 contractors deployed to support military operations--a ratio of approximately 1 contractor to 50 Soldiers. During the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, the ratio increased to 1 to 10. This statistic was derived from figures compiled as the mission matured and troop strengths were drawn down toward the end of the 1990s. The current contractor-to-Soldier ratio in the Iraqi theater is hard to determine because the number of contractors in theater at any specific time is not known. However, the estimates are comparable to the Bosnia numbers.

The increased number of contractors in theater has brought a concurrent increase in the number of contractor casualties. Although exact casualty figures are not known, approximately 275 contractors have been killed in the Iraqi theater since the beginning of hostilities. This figure alone eclipses the total number of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan by 30 at the time this article was written. Although contractors are successfully filling many logistics roles traditionally performed by military personnel, they lack the ability to protect themselves as well as the Soldiers they replaced could. This fact adds an unforeseen security consideration to the battlespace that most combatant commanders did not anticipate when operations began. Commanders have adjusted rapidly to meet this requirement. However, the resources needed for this mission and the vast number and size of the supply routes and contractor convoys have taxed the sometimes tenuous mobile security forces that are often composed of support troops.