Gonzaga Debate Institute 2010

Spec. Ops. Adv. – Uniqueness

Special Forces crisis now
Smith 4 (Richard Victor October 29-30 MA Candidate War Studies Programme, Royal Military College of Canada http://www.cda-cdai.ca/cdai/uploads/cdai/2009/04/smith04.pdf TBC 6/25/10)

These private military corporations often hire former SOF members to partake in their contracts. According to the media a former SOF member can make up to $1500 a day in Baghdad and other high risk areas of the world.32 Many S.O.F organizations are actually losing men to PMC’s. In fact, elite forces could be facing an imminent crisis because of record numbers of men are asking for volunteer leave early because they are lured by the high wages offered by the growing defense industry.

Spec. Ops. Adv. – I/L – PMC’s Steal Spec. Ops.

PMC’s steal South African special forces
Isenberg 4 (David BASIC RESEARCH REPORT September http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/2004PMC2 TBC 6/25/10)

PMC’s are employing personnel from several countries, not just the United States. Contractors from Britain, Nepal, Chile, Ukraine, Israel, South Africa and Fiji, are doing a wide variety of tasks in Iraq but the common link is helping, in one way or another, to provide security. According to David Claridge, managing director of Janusian, Iraq has boosted British military companies' revenues from £200m ($320m) before the war to over £1bn, making security by far Britain's most lucrative post-war export to Iraq.36 More than 1,500 South Africans are believed to be in Iraq under contract to various PMC’s, including members of the South African Police Services’ elite task force and former members of the South African National Defence Force. Reportedly some active members are resigning from the SANDF to go to Iraq.37 All South African security companies working outside the country are required by law to register with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), headed by Minister of Education Kader Asmal.
The higher salaries of PMC’s are causing an exodus of the most highly experienced SOF members just as special forces are becoming pivotal
Isenberg 4 (David BASIC RESEARCH REPORT September http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/2004PMC2 TBC 6/25/10)

The lure of higher salaries is reportedly causing an exodus of the U.S. military’s most seasoned members of Special Operation Forces (SOF) to higher-paying civilian security jobs in places like Baghdad and Kabul, just as the special forces are being asked to play an increasingly pivotal role in combating terror and helping to conduct nation-building operations worldwide. Of course the same problem exists in many other areas of military specialism, such as information technology. Why work in the Army’s tech operations when you can get a job at three times the remuneration in the private sector? Reportedly, exhausted American and British special forces personnel are resigning in record numbers and taking highly-paid jobs as private security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. Competition over elite troops from private companies is so intense that the U.S. Special Operations Command has formulated new pay, benefits, and educational 26 incentives to try to retain them. “Competition with the civilian world has never been greater,” said Gen. Bryan "Doug" Brown, commander of the 49,000-strong U.S. Special Operations Command, in congressional testimony.59
PMC’s kill British special forces – in the status quo the best 1/6^th of the forces leave
Isenberg 4 (David BASIC RESEARCH REPORT September http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/2004PMC2 TBC 6/25/10)

Similarly, British officials say more than 300 soldiers have left the armed forces in six months to take up lucrative jobs with private companies such as Olive Security, Armour Security, Global and USDID.61 In particular, the demand from PMC’s operating in Iraq for former Special Air Service and Special Boat Service soldiers is such that between May 2003 and December 2004, between 40 and 60 men are expected to have sought premature voluntary release from the army and Royal Marines. In operational terms, this could mean that the equivalent of one entire Sabre squadron out of a total of six in the SAS and SBS is on its way to seek its fortune in the new Iraq. 62 According to one British press report there are more ex-SAS soldiers acting as advisers for “private military companies” than currently serving in the elite, 300-man regiment based near Hereford. More than 40 regular SAS soldiers are understood to have applied to leave the Army in the last year, many because of the lure of short-term contracts in Iraq.63

Spec. Ops. Adv. – I/L – PMC’s Steal Spec. Ops.

PMC’s cause a brain drain of special forces
Holmqvist 5 (Caroline Stockholm International Peace Research Institute January http://books.sipri.org/files/PP/SIPRIPP09.pdf TBC 6/25/10)

Finally, problems of oversight under skewed market conditions can also manifest themselves in a depletion of state resources. Given that the state has no influence over salaries or other conditions of employment in the private sector, it has no leverage over the ability of the private sector to entice away highly trained individuals from state service, especially in special operations forces.146 Concerns about a ‘brain drain’ of special operations forces as recruits begin to desert to private companies have been voiced by members of the US congressional House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, who warned that the US military may be losing covert forces faster than they can be replaced.147 Such is the level of exodus from both US and British special forces that military commanders are finding themselves obligated to formulate new financial and educational incentives to retain personnel.148

PMC’s drain special forces, they’re attracted by higher wages.
Chakrabarti 9 (Shantanu “Privatisation of Security in the Post-Cold War Period” Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses December http://www.idsa.in/system/files/Monograph_No2.pdf)KM

Another major concern, in this connection, has been the large scale exodus of highly skilled and trained personnel from the defence services into such PSCs. In particular, there is a high incidence of Special Operations Forces (SOF) members joining the PSCs in large numbers. The high salaries on offer for the PSC employees in Iraq and Afghanistan have reportedly caused record numbers of elite soldiers from the British and the American armies to retire early from their regular forces. According to one newspaper report, while senior enlisted members of the Army Green Berets or Navy Seals with 20 years of experience or more can earn about US$ 50,000 in base pay, and can retire with a US$ 23,000 pension, the PSCs are offering salary figures ranging from US$ 100,000 to nearly US$ 200,000 a year, to the experienced army veterans.27 According to another report prepared by the United States Congress Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in February 2007, salaries for private security personnel can be as high as US$ 33,000 a month.28 In order to stop the exodus, the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) came out with a special remuneration package plan worth US$ 168 million in 2004.29 In August 2006, the British army was also compelled to increase pay for Special Air Service (SAS) and other Special Forces personnel by 50 per cent in order to stem the rate of defection to PMSCs.30 So far, such policies have been unable to stop the attrition within the army units to any significant level. As the dependency on private contractors continues to rise, it has been suggested that the US policy should consider involving both the private contractors as well as soldiers in the SOFs.31 In spite of problems, the PSI, thus, seems destined to be a vital part of the Western (particularly, American), military interventions in the future. For the American policymakers, at present, the PSCs provide flexibility as an adjunct to the US military presence.32
PMC’s are financed by the government to hire away their best special forces units.
Pascal 6 (“How Privatized is War?” Pujya J, July 13, http://www.monitor.upeace.org/pdf/PMC’s.pdf)KM

The lure of higher salaries is reportedly causing an exodus of the U.S. military’s most seasoned members of SOF to higher-paying civilian security jobs. While few details have been released about the amounts involved in specific contracts, it is estimated that of the $18.6 billion allocated by the Bush administration for Iraq’s “reconstruction,” at least 25 percent will be used to pay security companies.13 David Claridge, director of a London based security firm has estimated that Iraq contracts have boosted the annual revenue of British-based PMC’s alone from $320 million to over $1.7 billion.14