Guns For Hire

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - NOVEMBER 5: Private security contractor, Neil Gary, keeps a sharp eye open for potential threats while providing security for a convoy November 5, 2005 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gary and his fellow security contractors often wade into traffic yelling at drivers to get out of the way. Gary works for the private military company Crucible providing security for U.S. State Department contractors in Afghanistan. The men who decide to work as a private security contractors often base their decision to do so upon a combination of a feeling of patriotic duty, a desire for action, and the ability to make lots of money. Thousands of private military contractors are working in Afghanistan while some thirty thousand are working in Iraq often with little oversight from the U.S. government. These private soldiers make up the second largest troop force in the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq and have reportedly exchanged fire with other security companies, U.S. forces, and Iraqi insurgents. The U.S. endeavor in both Afghanistan and Iraq relies heavily on the services these hired guns provide. (Photo by Matt Moyer/Getty Images)