They work for a Virginia security firm; most of this sort of contractor -- and yes, they are private contractors -- employ Special Force personnel at better terms of employment than the government does. The armed forces do not have enough manpower in country to provide as much security as it turns out is needed, due to a misestimation on the part of the Bushites on what the locals would do in repsonse to the invasion. As a result, they hire private contractors to fill in for security services they cannot provide.

I forget the name of the firm but it has been in the news and there has been plenty of discussion about it.

A