About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

39 Armed Forces & Soc'y 5 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/amdfcsad39 and id is 1 raw text is: 





Articles


Ambivalence on the

Front Lines:

Perceptions of

Contractors in Iraq

and Afghanistan


        Armed Forces & Society
                 39(1) 5-27
         © The Author(s) 2013
         Reprints and permission:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
  DOI: 10.1 177/0095327X12441322
          http://afs.sagepub.com
               OSAGE


Ryan   Kelty'   and   Alex   Bierman2





Abstract
In the past several decades, the US military has increasingly relied on civilian con-
tractors to provide a variety of core functions. Lagging behind this increased reliance
on contractors is an understanding of how the presence of contractors influences
civilian and military personnel. This research addresses this question using a unique
study of US Department of Army  civilians and military personnel serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan. We  find a substantial degree of ambivalence among   both groups
regarding the impact of contractors on the military and comparisons with con-
tractors, but we also find a noticeable trend of comparative discontent beneath this
apparent ambivalence. Results are discussed in the context of using ambivalence as a
starting point for building a theoretical approach to more systematically under-
standing the role and effects of contractor integration in the military.


Keywords
civilian contractors, outsourcing, military, ambivalence, Iraq, Afghanistan


' Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Washington College, Chestertown, MD, USA
2 Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Corresponding Author:
Ryan Kelty, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, 221 Goldstein Hall, Washington College,
Chestertown, MD 21620, USA
Email: Rkelty2@washcoll.edu

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most