Ending the draft drove the military to hire cheap foreign contractors.

Evidence

The use of contractors grew as the war in Vietnam continued. Amid nationwide resistance to the draft, contractors were one way to solve the military’s labor problem, which became permanent with the end of conscription in 1973. In the era of the all-volunteer force, hiring contractors reduced the need for the military to recruit new troops. Instead, it passed the labor problem to the contractors, who have frequently searched the globe for the cheapest possible workers. Often, these have been Filipinos and other non-U.S. citizens from formerly colonized parts of the world who are willing to work for much less than uniformed troops. By recruiting foreign workers, the government and contractors could also often avoid paying for the health care, retirement, and other benefits provided to U.S. troops. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 681

Categorization

• XREF: Shows how base privatization exploits formerly colonized labor pools — connects to the reader’s interest in bases as structures of global inequality.
• QUESTION: Worth investigating: how much did the shift to all-volunteer force specifically drive the foreign-worker pipeline?