I think the U S grunts should make alot more than they do . But just like all trades you get paid for how well your trained and what you know .
Say What?---Blackwater is made up mostly of ex-grunts, and some ex police....Which has became one of the reasons the military is having a retention problem....
So you believe military folks are too bad of soldiers to be paid a decent wage until they are Blackstone trained-eh :???:

Good only for cannon fodder.... :???:
As far as the corporate world building bulletproof clothing and armored vehicles for Blackwater . They employ only about 1000 men . The goverment needed over 175000 at the start of the war.
BSC is one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for occupation forces
Blackwater is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors, providing a total of 987 contractors. Of the 987 provided, 744 are American citizens
It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as much as 100,000, though no official figures exist...
When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company, he declined to provide it. "We're a private company, and there's a key word there — private," Prince answered. Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA
We don't know many of the answers- because as a "private company" he spit in the face of the taxpayers that fund him- and said he didn't have to give out that info....
One source I found said that 1000 was close to the number of mercenary employees that have been killed in Iraq-- altho most sources say the number killed is around 200....Another little GW secret that's not open to the public..
Blackwater had 200 employees in N.O. alone, after Katrina...Many of the articles and the former employee I saw on TV said that Iraq is not their biggest contract with the US-and that they have many times more employees than 1000-many subcontracted to or from other agencies and other countries - and it wouldn't hurt them at all if kicked out of Iraq-- as the US has them employed all over the world, including in Afghanistan...
Now it appears to me as if there were between 20,000 to 100,000 mercenaries in Iraq alone-- that could have had a major impact on slowing down the ability to purchase and issue bulletproof and armored equipment to the troops.... :roll:
The 6 P's that GW, Cheney, and Rummy forgot about:
Prior
Planning
Prevents
P*ss
Poor
Performance