Convenience
Everything's off the books.
They do what they want, go where they're told, and with centers being set up for them here in the US, it's an illegal way to make them legal.
I liked James Brown's comparing them to the Praetorian Guard.
You're absolutely right. Seeing as this is a war where private interests are winning, they knew the publuic would complain loudly about using the military for "personal preotection".
The whole thing makes me ill.