This bodes ill...

Did you think that the "Iran next" craziness would be limited by our not having enough troops to fight one profit-driven war, let alone two? Think again. The government has apparently hired the Rand Corp. to do a study on ways to make fewer troops stretch further. Their (completely unforeseeable) suggestion? Hire out the support positions and put those desk soldiers (trained or not) into the field. Eep. As kos says:

Logisitic troops make up the vast majority of military personnel (somebody probably has the figure, but it's like 8-1 or 9-1 support to combat forces). The proposal would dramatically increase the number of fighting forces (though many of soldiers in support jobs will have no business being in the front lines), and the Haliburtons of the world would clean up taking over support functions.

Great. This worked really well for the supply chain, right?