Measuring contractor performance.

• Author: Brannon, Tom
• Position: Readers' Forum

This is in response to the article, "Contractors on the Battlefield," March 2011. Having been a contractor in Operation Freedom and throughout The U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, I witnessed The relationship between military and Contractors first hand.

One of the circumstances not addressed is the systemic rotation of military units and military personnel into and out of an area. We contractors taught air command and control through the use of the Theater Battle Management Core System (TBMCS). Our task involved teaching deployed individuals and units how to report unit and airfield status. We were accompanied by an armed active-duty Air Force officer in the combat zone who was there to provide transportation between facilities and units among other things. Units arriving in theater had little training in TBMCS.

Thus, the reporting and currency of a broad range of information to the Air and Space Operations Center essential to the effective employment of airpower across the theater was abysmal. From a training perspective, we were constantly starting at zero. At the end our "line period," reporting up the chain of command was adequate. A few weeks later it was back to zero.

Most contracts deliver a definable outcome...