So I have been hanging out the last couple of days over at Tim’s blog, Free Range International, and talking about the concept of hybrid remote camps in Afghanistan. It’s a very simple concept–use civilians to support these smaller outposts to free up the military to do their thing. Tim’s point was that contractors could totally defend a camp and assist in reconstruction efforts, all while being close to and working with the local populations in these camps for the long term. And because we are limited with troops, adding more contractors to the equation, if done right, could certainly be a force multiplier. Tim brought up a UN civilian contractor/ Special Forces hybrid remote camp in his post, and I brought up the various camp defense scenarios in Iraq with Blackwater in Najaf and Triple Canopy in Al Kut. The best point I brought up, in my opinion, were the remote camps that were completely supplied, operated and defended by civilians with the CMC (Coalition Munitions Clearance) program in Iraq.
What we are exploring with this idea, is how do you get the most bang for your buck in this war, and how do you make your combat troops more lethal and efficient? Our point in the discussion was using contractors to free up the war fighters even more, to get them out into the populations centers and do good things–like kill the enemy or protect and serve the local populations.
Civilians can set up man the defense, they can run camp services, they can run logistics operations to supply the camp, they can fix stuff, and do all the menial tasks that take troops away from the fight. We have already been doing this in Iraq, and to some degree in Afghanistan, but what we are talking about are the small combat outposts that are posted near the villages that we are trying to protect, do road construction and infrastructure projects for, and generally reduce the commute distance between the military and local populations. Tim was making the point that military units come and go, and the continuity of the operation is hindered. If there was a civilian component that was always there, and always manning the operation, that the local populations could recognize and constantly work with, then that would be good. All the military has to do is just keep moving in and out of these camps, and focus on bad guys, we can stay and ensure that the promises we made to the villages are being kept and constantly being worked on until finished.