The David and Goliath Story Shows How Armies Treat Civilian Contractors

I was honored to be asked to address a group of WW II army veterans on Veterans’ Day.  I thought they’d want to hear that the aspects of the army which most aroused their anger and frustration were driven by human nature and not by anything inherent in the army.  I said:

Let’s look at history to see if anything in the army or in the relationship between government and civilian contractors has changed.  You guys can fight my wars any time.  I saw your handiwork when I lived in Japan right after WW II.  Force projection means we fight over there instead of here.  I appreciate your track record!

You know the story of David and Goliath.  It’s in Chapter 17 of the First Book of Samuel which was written around 3,000 years ago.  We’ll see if anything about armies or government procurement has changed in all that time.

Read I Sam 17

The Jews under King Saul and the Philistine soldiers were camped on opposite sides of a valley.  The Philistines had a campion named Goliath who was about 9 feet tall.  He challenges the Jewish army for 40 days, saying that if anyone could defeat him in single combat, nobody else would have to fight.

That wasn’t true; Saul’s army had to fight even after David killed Goliath.  Enemy promises are worthless.  Should we believe anything the North Koreans or Iranians say about giving up nuclear weapons?  Not with following President Reagan’s advice, “Trust, but verify.”

King Saul loses status by the challenge.  He issues a Request for Proposal (RFP) saying that anybody who killed Goliath would get a lot of money, he’d marry the king’s daughter, and his family would no longer have to pay taxes!  Wow!  He made his RFP attractive, but nobody bid on it.

David’s older brothers are serving in Saul’s army.  His father Jesse wants to know how they’re doing so he tells David to visit the battlefield and tell him what was going on.

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.  I Samuel 17:17-18

Has the army changed at all in 3,000 years?  Saul was their first king, the Jews had never had an army before, but somehow, Jesse knows to send food because army chow isn’t very good.

Jesse sends special goodies to the captain of his sons’ “thousand.”  In our modern army, a battalion can have up to 1,000 men commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel.  Jesse wants to help his sons get favors from their colonel.  3,000 years on, do people still schmooze officers and swap food for favors?  Do soldiers complain about chow?  Are the Navy, Marines, and Air Force any different in terms of basic operation?

General Patton, Chesty Puller, General Custer, Smedley Butler, General Eisenhower, they can’t fight a war alone, they need competent subordinates.  That’s a big problem for rulers and leaders:

Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.   Ecclesiastes 7:28

Leaders are hard to find, how many privates make corporal, now many corporals make Sgt.?  Go to West Point or OCS, how many 2^nd Lieutenants make 1^st, how many make Colonel?  It has always been very hard to find competent subordinates, what did David do after he became king?

And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.  I Chronicles 11:5-6

David offered a battlefield commission as we do today.  Has anything changed?

Read I Ch. 11:10 – 25, 12:1-3.  These passages describe vital military skills.  The table of organization in I Ch. 12:24-37 shows how David organized his military.  Has anything changed?

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.  Judges 20:16

Training is needed.  Slinging stones that accurately means hours and days of practice and drill.  A trained archer could fire 10 arrows a minute into a man-sized target at 100 yards.  Archery takes a lot of drill, but drill isn’t any fun and it gets boring.  In 1336, King Edward III of England banned bowling so his troops wouldn’t be distracted from archery practice.  Were any of you ever bored during drill?

Has the human part of the military changed?  Only the technology.

David gets to the camp and hears Goliath challenge the Jews.  He’s offended that Goliath claimed that his god was more powerful than the Lord God of Israel.  David wants to answer the challenge, but his first question is, “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

That’s a fancy way of saying, “What’s in it for me?”  What shall be done for the man” is asked today.  They ask “What shall be done for the man who builds a road from Boston to Washington,” and people bid the job.  It usually works out that what shall be done for the man who buildeth the road is giving the man some money.  A successful contractor rarely gets to marry the President’s daughter in this day and age.

Information moves fast in an army; someone tells David about the RFP and someone else tells the King that David is bidding on the RFP.  The King thinks David isn’t a qualified bidder because he’s too young to fight Goliath.  David tells the King that God helped David kill a lion and a bear.  David knows that God will help him kill the giant.  That makes David the only qualified bidder.  The King accepts David’s response to the RFP as “sole source procurement” which we have unto this day.

The king offers his own armor and sword as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE).  David tries on the armor and rejects the GFE because it isn’t suitable to him.

David supplies his own Commercial off The Shelf (COTS) ammo – he picks 5 smooth stones out of a brook.  His first shot hits the giant in the forehead and knocks him down.  David uses Goliath’s sword to cut off his head.  He brings Goliath’s head back to the King as proof he’d met the contract terms and conditions.

David fulfills the contract without any GFE.  He had 5 rounds and expended only one.  On time, under budget, and HE DOESN’T GET PAID!

The very first recorded instance of a government contract with a civilian ends with the government stiffing the contractor even after receiving proof of completion!

Saul later issues a sole-source RFP offering another daughter if David kills 100 Philistines.  David over-performs by killing 200 Philistines and marries the 2^nd daughter, but he never gets paid for killing Goliath.

Has anything changed in military procurement?  Has the human part of the military changed?  Only the technology.

One thing has changed – we have more paperwork.  No modern government money moves without paperwork in triplicate.  Merely bringing back Goliath’s head wouldn’t suffice in the modern military.  David would need a pile of paperwork at least as tall as Goliath in order to get paid.