Originally published at TomDispatch.com

Iraq remains a mess from which the U.S. military seems increasingly uninterested in withdrawing fully and Afghanistan a disaster area, but it’s never too soon to think about the next war.  The subject is already on the minds of Pentagon planners.  The question is:  Are they focusing on how to manage future wars so that they won’t last longer than the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II combined? 

There’s reason to worry, especially since the lessons of both Iraq and Afghanistan are clear: it takes years after a war has been launched for the U.S. military to develop tactics that lead to stasis.  (“Victory” is a word that has gone out of fashion.)

Here, then, are three modest suggestions for recalibrating the American way of war.  All are based on a simple principle -- “preventive war planning” -- and are focused on getting the next war right before it begins, not decades after it’s launched.

1.  Make the Apologies in Advance

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The long awaited announcement of the first LOGCAP IV task order to be awarded in Iraq has been made.

KBR has been awarded Task Order 2 under KBR’s LOGCAP IV contract W52P1J-07-D-0009 for the Iraq CTP (Corp Logistics/Transportation/Postal) effort in the amount of $2.345B.

Work is to begin under this Task Order on March 1, 2010.

Interesting...just four days ago KBR received a ZERO award fee for unsatisfactory work and is now awarded a $2.3B contract. Is anyone else gong "What the hell?"

For a list of other LOGCAP IV Task Order awards click here.

I can't even imagine how devastated people like Cheryl Harris, SSG Ryan Maseth's mother is. As you may know Ryan was electrocuted and died in his shower in Baghdad. I'm sure Cheryl is thrilled that just a few days ago KBR was being punished at least financially for their shoddy work and today they are being rewarded with a new multi-billion dollar contract.

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(Originally published HERE on MsSparky.com) By now everyone knows the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program IV (LOGCAP IV) has been split up and three contractors have been approved to submit bid proposals for the individual task orders. The three companies are Fluor, Dyncorp and KBR. I know...old news. But I keep getting asked who has been awarded which task orders. Especially the task orders Dyncorp has been awarded, after the PWC/Agility FUBAR came to light. I figured I could just "google it" get an easy answer and that would be it. Boy was I wrong. The more I read the more confused I got.

I decided to share what I've learned. (If you are a LOGCAP contract expert and find I'm in error, please contact me so I can correct it.) Not only are there three companies who have been approved to submit proposals, each company has their own LOGCAP IV contract number. Evidently task order numbers are assigned the next consecutive number under the winning companies contract after they have been awarded. That's where I got confused, duplicate task order numbers and multiple contract numbers. Unlike LOGCAP III, one company, one contract number.

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Is Dyncorp hiring employees or asking for volunteers in Afghanistan?

Experienced overseas workers know there will be a certain amount of bull sh*t associated with any contractor, job or country you might consider working in. It doesn't matter who you're working for or where you're working, there is bound to be some machiavellian manager in charge or worse yet, one who appears to have the management IQ of a carrot. And yes, this "root vegetable" will be in total control of your life in this foreign country. There are atmospheric and environmental issues.....Antarctica is too damn cold, Iraq is to damn hot and Asia is too damn humid. There are cultural issues and language barriers with the locals and the ever present separation from your family issues.

Those variables and more factor in to what I call a persons "Maximim Bull Sh*t Tolerance Level" (MBSTL). This level is the maximum level of bull sh*t a person can endure on a job for the amount of money they are being paid. Personal financial goals and situations are different therefore, every bodies "MBSTL" is as different and unique as they are. But it would appear that pay and "MBSTL"are directly proportional. The higher the pay, the higher the "MBSTL". With this information, one should be able to conclude that ZERO pay would equal a ZERO "MBSTL".

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Originally published at TomDispatch.com

In our day, the American way of war, especially against lightly armed guerrillas, insurgents, and terrorists, has proved remarkably heavy. Elephantine might be the appropriate word. The Pentagon likes to talk about its "footprint" on the geopolitical landscape. In terms of the infrastructure it's built in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps "crater" would be a more reasonable image.

American wars are now gargantuan undertakings. The prospective withdrawal of significant numbers/most/all American forces from Iraq, for instance, will -- in terms of time and effort -- make the 2003 invasion look like the vaunted "cakewalk" it was supposed to be. According to Pentagon estimates, more than 1.5 million (yes, that is "million") pieces of U.S. equipment need to be removed from the country. Just stop and take that in for a second.

Of course, it's a less surprising figure when you realize that the Pentagon managed to build, furnish, and supply almost 300 bases, macro to micro, in Iraq alone in the war years. And some of those bases were -- and still are -- the size of small American towns with tens of thousands of troops, private contractors, and others, as well as massive perimeters, multiple bus routes, full-scale PX's, fast-food outlets, movie theaters, and the like.

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