The Invisible Army
Sarah Stillman on how the U.S. Army uses numerous workers, many of whom are exploited and poorly informed of their rights, to staff jobs in war zones.
Fifty Fijian beauticians competed for jobs paying thirty-eight hundred dollars a month—ten times their country's annual per-capita income. They packed sarongs, Bibles, cosmetics. In the rush to depart, none examined the fine print: their visas weren't employment permits but thirty-day travel passes. They arrived to discover they'd been trafficked.