The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have doubled down on the practice, with the number of contractors more than doubling the number of uniformed personnel on the ground at various points over the past decade.

And it's a trend that continues in Afghanistan, where the 10,000 US troops there are dwarfed by the 39,600 contractors supporting their training and advising mission, 14,200 of which are American citizens.

In Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said in an email, DoD contractors are tightly focused in their activities, "primarily performing translator/interpreter, communications, logistics, and maintenance functions."

Overall, there are about 5,000 mainly State Department contractors in Iraq which represents a relatively modest footprint as compared to previous years, where there were over 160,000 during the height of the fighting. There are also 54,000 civilian contractors working across the Middle East for US Central Command.

But more could be on their way to Iraq.

On March 3, the US Army issued a solicitation for Security Assistance Mentors & Advisors to support the Iraqi Ministry of Defense "with designing, implementing, and sustaining systems that increase its institutional capabilities."

Asked about the document, the Pentagon's Mark Wright explained that while the contract does not specify any particular number of advisers, "it is not anticipated to be greater than a half dozen ministry advisors. These persons are not required to be armed and are not intended to directly support combat operations, but to provide administrative assistance."

And its not only civilian personnel that are being tapped to support the uniformed personnel in Iraq. On Feb. 27, the US Transportation Command issued a Request for Information looking for a contractor to provide eight "heavy Rotary Wing aircraft."

While not an official solicitation just yet, the US government said that it is looking to identify contractors who can provide birds that can each ferry a minimum of 12 passengers and move a load of at least 5,000 pounds. The aircraft and their civilian crews would be positioned at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, and "missions may involve destinations throughout Iraq" transporting troops, food and water, fuel, and ammunition.

The Diplomatic Support Center is a 350-acre facility run by the State Department next to the Baghdad International Airport, which is also thought to house the US Army Apache helicopters sent to Baghdad last year.

While their numbers are still relatively small in Iraq, the use of contractors in American military deployments in recent years has stirred plenty of controversy—particularly the use of security contractors. Critics have charged that the use of civilians to perform so many non-combat functions has served to downplay the true size of the American commitment.

There have also been plenty of issues revolving around poor contract oversight, human rights issues revolving around contractors from third-world countries, and plenty of waste, fraud, and abuse. In fact, the Commission on Wartime Contracting has reported that as much as $60 billion was lost to waste or fraud in Iraq, as contractors often subcontracted out to other contractors and the trail of money went wobbly.

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ISIS fighters now control a piece of territory the size of California across Iraq and Syria and are threatening to seize total control of Anbar Province, the border of which is only 25 miles from Baghdad. They are also poised to take the Syrian town Kobani, raising concerns about a civilian massacre and potential spillover violence in bordering Turkey.

While the Kurds’ 150,000-soldier-strong Peshmerga army is roughly four to five times the size of ISIS, they are woefully underequipped and outgunned by ISIS fighters who, despite more than 6 months of U.S. and coalition airstrikes, are still on the offense.

Yet the Iraqi government continues to stonewall the transfer of weapons and equipment to the Kurds. And the U.S. hasn’t been much more helpful.

So far the U.S. has supplied the Kurds with some AK-47s, fewer than 100 mortars and a few hundred rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). This type of support is reminiscent of the U.S. supplying the Ukrainian army with meals ready-to-eat as they stared down a combined regular Russia army/rebel invasion—but I digress.

Despite their precarious logistical situation, the Kurds may be the last, best option to prevent using U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan

The U.S. military is turning its armored personnel carriers and airplanes into scrap metal and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have misplaced hundreds of thousands of U.S. weapons.

Nolan also adds, while stationed in Afghanistan last December as a war correspondent, he walked by seemingly endless rows of abandoned Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, and other trucks and equipment destined for Afghanistan’s scrap yards.

At a cost of $1 million each, the ugly tan beasts known as MRAPS have saved countless lives and absorbed or deflected thousands of insurgent bomb blasts in teeming cities, desert flats and rutted mountain roadways. The lumbering vehicles are so beloved that soldiers have scrawled notes of thanks on their armor.

Much of the equipment destined for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) would be more useful for U.S. strategic interests in the hands of Kurds.

According to a July 2014 report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), 747,000 weapons given to the ANSF (including rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers) have gone missing and could end up in Taliban hands. The report added that Afghanistan’s military received 83,000 more AK-47s than they needed in 2013 alone.

As the U.S. seem to get closer to ground war in Iraq, the Kurds are our last option to stay out. We have to give them every advantage, even if that ruffles a few feathers in Baghdad, Ankara or Kabul.

Sources include: Blue Force Tracker / Los Angeles Times / SIGAR