Geez, what is the ratio of civilian contractors to military on our military bases these days, and why?
Less than it was a couple of years ago. Then it was maybe one in three, at least where I worked on Ft. Hood. Then the Obama cuts began.
Why? Couple of reasons. One that's where much of the technical expertise is. Many of those are former military, like this guy. Two, they don't have authority from Congress to hire enough civil servants to do their missions. They also have ceilings on the number of military personnel, also set by Congress. OH, and contractors are cheaper, IF one includes pension costs, which are "up front" for contractors, but not even funded for military and civil servants (until the people start collecting those benefits), as well as certain other costs for military personnel, which are funded from different accounts