Gonzaga Debate Institute 2010

Hollow Forces Adv. – Uniqueness – Tipping Point

The brink is now – continued PMF influence collapse troop retention

Singer 4 (Peter W, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, http://www.dcaf.ch/_docs/pp04_private–military.pdf, AD: 6/22/10) jl

The issue has become pointed for Special Forces units, as they have the most skills (from the longest human capital training investment) and, in turn, are the most marketable for the firms to their clients. Special Forces commanders in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States have all expressed deep concern, with the policy responses ranging from the creation of special working groups of NCOs to explore the retention issue to allowing troopers to take a year’s leave of absence, in the hope that they would make their quick money and return, rather than be lost to the market forever. In the U.S., the issue of retention among the tier one Special Forces operators, the absolute best in the field, has not yet weakened the units, but is “at a tipping point” in the words of one interviewee. This is particularly the case among the most experienced (10 plus years), members of the units who are so integral to long-term unit cohesion.

Hollow Forces Adv. – Uniqueness – Afghanistan Military

Afghan forces are down severely now

Crowley 9 ( Michael, sr editor on New Repub Magazine, The Observer, dec 27) ET

Admittedly, that was possible only because Mullen was flanked by a fearsome contingent of rifle-bearing combat troops. But, speaking to reporters, he said the American presence in the area was focused on building up Afghan security forces so they can handle security for themselves. "The plan for all of us is to transition security to the local forces," Mullen said. "I am confident the Afghan national security forces will be able to do this job." This was in keeping with the vision Barack Obama offered in his 1 December speech announcing 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan. Along with those troops – and another 7,000 from Nato – came a pledge to start transferring security duties to the Afghans and begin withdrawing US forces by July 2011. That raised the hope that an end to America's eight-year entanglement with Afghanistan might be in view. For Europe, where doubts about the war run even higher than in the States, that day can't come soon enough, a point underscored when Mullen visited French troops stationed near Kabul. "I'm reminded in particular of the 10 [French] soldiers that were lost out here about a year ago," he said. But a few days of travel in the country offers a different view. Consider the perspective of Brigadier General Maharuddin Ghori, commander of Afghan forces around Nawa. He told reporters it may be five years before Afghan troops can assume security duties from the Americans. (An off-message Afghan President Hamid Karzai said much the same earlier this month, standing alongside an unhappy US defence secretary Robert Gates in Kabul.) If he's right – and there is ample reason to think so – then Obama has to make a choice. He can mount a quick surge in Afghanistan and leave. Or he can commit America to staying until the Afghans can defend themselves from the Taliban. But he can't do both. And neither option will make his difficult presidency any easier.

Hollow Forces Adv. – Link – Generic

PMC’s hollow out the military

Valero 8 (Rafael Enrique National Journal January 9 http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0108/010908nj1.htm TBC 6/25/10)

To be fair, the benefits of a private sector supporting stability operations in failing states are significant. Contractors and their "on call" employees -- former soldiers and officers -- have experience aplenty. But as stability operations become the norm worldwide, it is certainly possible that civilian and military interests could blur into a self-perpetuating, symbiotic relationship. Experts wonder if it could lead the United States into a period of "liberal imperialism" that oddly mirrors the British, French, and Dutch East India companies of the 1600s and 1700s -- private entities sanctioned by governments to do their bidding. Furthermore, as soldiers look to lucrative futures in the private sector while serving a national flag, the military's traditional political neutrality could erode. Working closely with highly paid contractors, envious soldiers from the enlisted and officer ranks might gravitate to the private security field and, over time, hollow out the Army.

PMC’s hollow out the military

Valero 8 (Rafael Enrique National Journal January 9 http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0108/010908nj1.htm TBC 6/25/10)

He also argues that the Bush administration, through its heavy reliance on private contractors for the Iraq war and its refusal to demand sacrifice from Americans, has widened this "schism" even as it has undermined the military services. By augmenting the military with private contractors in Iraq, Wrona says, the Bush administration hurt recruitment and retention. Many soldiers left for better pay in the private sector; those still in uniform feel some jealousy and resentment toward the better-paid hired guns. The private contractors "contradict the military culture's foundation of sacrifice for the collective good," writes Wrona, who has taught at West Point and served with the 82nd Airborne Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Furthermore, he warns, with the growing demand for seasoned soldiers from private security contractors, "there is an increasing likelihood that the best segments of the military will vote with their feet, leaving the armed services to the control of less capable actors and leaving the country as a whole with a less effective military." Could the military's new embrace of stability operations create such a condition and hollow out the Army? Soldiers could enlist just to gain the experience needed to join the better-paying private armies. And the Army would then lose its necessary ethic of self-sacrifice, so crucial to defending the country.

Privatization of the army represents the emergence of the hollow army- enables rampant abuse for cheap labor

Scahill 7 (Jeremy, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater, The Independent, Aug 10, http://www.uruknet.info/?p=35239 ) ET

In many ways, it is the same corporate model of relying on cheap labor in destitute nations to staff their uber-profitable operations. The giant multinationals also argue they are helping the economy by hiring locals, even if it’s at starvation wages. "Donald Rumsfeld’s masterstroke, and his most enduring legacy, was to bring the corporate branding revolution of the 1990s into the heart of the most powerful military in the world," says Naomi Klein, whose upcoming book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, explores these themes.

"We have now seen the emergence of the hollow army. Much as with so-called hollow corporations like Nike, billions are spent on military technology and design in rich countries while the manual labor and sweat work of invasion and occupation is increasingly outsourced to contractors who compete with each other to fill the work order for the lowest price. Just as this model breeds rampant abuse in the manufacturing sector — with the big-name brands always able to plead ignorance about the actions of their suppliers—so it does in the military, though with stakes that are immeasurably higher." In the case of Iraq, the U.S. and U.K. governments could give the public perception of a withdrawal of forces and just privatize the occupation. Indeed, shortly after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that he wanted to withdraw 1,600 soldiers from Basra, reports emerged that the British government was considering sending in private security companies to "fill the gap left behind."