Recently, I have had several civilian contractors hire me for actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. During their work with the military in these deployed environments they have been the subject to either investigation or suspension.  The interesting thing is that the military officers that have dealt with these contractors seem to be acting without clear guidance from higher headquarters and are very erratic in the way that they treat the civilian contractors.

The Contractors seem to be without much due process in dealing with allegations that are brought against them while being deployed.  A couple of my clients were subject to unwarranted searches and have had personal belongings seized.  Getting these items back has been extremely difficult.

In one of the cases, the FBI is doing the investigation, but has never formally arrested or charged my client.  The investigation seems to have been brought about because of a commander’s suspicions, which at the point are both unwarranted and probably negligent.

In another case, my client brought concerns up to a commander about the safety, both OPSEC concerns and personal safety concerns.  The response was to ignore the problem and send my client home. The commander seemed to believe he had complete discretion.

I would be interested to hear about other experiences like this that contractors may be having in a deployed environment.