Recently the Hammer Museum, as part of their Hammer Conversations series hosted an event titled Patriots for Profit: The Rise of the Corporate Warrior. The event included an appearance by a personal hero of mine Robert Young Pelton.

Coincidentally, while listening to some episodes of NPR’s Fresh Air, I discovered two interviews on the the same topics. Namely, military contractors (Blackwater, Executive Outcomes, etc.) and the healthcare issues and treatments of those issues of non-military / civilian contractors and sub-contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The latter of the two conversations was especially interesting, as it attempts to answer questions about how we treat Americans who have been in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, possibly injured, but did not serve as military personnel. Also fascinating is the question of health coverage, and who takes care of the people that may have incurred injuries while contracted by US military.

While the conversation is not currently available via the Hammer’s podcast, I assume that it will be up soon.

The Blackwater conversation can be heard here, as can the discussion with journalist T. Christian Miller, author of Disposable Army on civilian contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan can be heard here.

UPDATE:

The video as well as the podcast download for the Corporate Warrior’s podcast can be found at the Hammer’s Watch+Listen site.