Cpl. Finelli, who served in Second Battalion Second Marines

Just then I noticed a big vehicle driving by, one owned by a private contracting company. This thing made our truck look like a Pinto in a Ferrari showroom. [...] If only we were in one of those, I would definitely come home, and a lot of the guys who won-t would too. As it passed I stared at what I would later learn was called the MRAP vehicle (Mine Resistant Ambush Protective Vehicle). I never thought I would see something in Iraq that enticing, but there it was, rumbling past in all its glory.

I looked at my platoon sergeant. “Staff sergeant?”

“Yes, Finelli?”

“Why are the private companies driving around in these things and not the Marine Corps?” He looked at me and gave the universal sign for money, rubbing together his thumb and forefinger. And suddenly, I understood. It became clear on that November Friday in Fallujah that America’s greatest strength, economics, was not in play. A sad realization.
[...]

…America isn-t practicing the basic tenet of capitalism on the battlefield with an all-volunteer military, and won-t be until the reinstitution of the draft. Because until the wealthy have that vested interest, until it’s the sons of senators and the wealthy upper classes sitting in those trucks-it takes more than the McCain boy or the son of Sen. Jim Webb-the best gear won-t get paid for on an infantryman’s timetable.