An extra weird thing for me (as a contractor and pretty "free range", since it was in-theater awarded, and multiple parallel contracts) was I could be at a par

An extra weird thing for me (as a contractor and pretty "free range", since it was in-theater awarded, and multiple parallel contracts) was I could be at a party in the IZ, then sitting in the back of an old BMW with just a Hi Power between bases, working on some weird UNIX network driver issue or RF interference problem, video conferencing with an O-7 and his staff, riding on a medevac helicopter sitting in someone else's blood (always look first), shopping at a huge PX and stocking up on discounted thorlo socks, knives, etc., on a super sketchy Uzbek cargo An-12, and then driving 200kph to a 4.5 star hotel, all in a few days, with basically no one telling me what to do or particularly responsible for me. Plenty of other contractors basically stayed on one base, lived under close control, and had basically one job for 12 months (or on some contracts, especially guys from Asia, they were there for years in the same place). And other contractors were doing convoy security, or vehicle recovery, or other close-to-military jobs.