I found it amusing the DoD supports the flight time restrictions for the contract carriers. But, it's OK to take their C-17 pilots and send them out on 6 day missions that log 55+ hours with only 3 nights in a bed. 22-23 hour days being the norm with 16-18 hrs off. On top of that, the active duty crews are young with many aircraft commanders having less than 2000 hrs mostly at cruise. The first pilot and copilot might have 1000 total hours between the two of them. The missions are grueling with sub-par airfields, air refuelings, NVG operations and crazy mountainous terrain. Several C-17s have been cracked and crunched due to fatigue and inexperience. A big problem is we are also flying up there with you...massively fatigued. But hey, at least the DoD supports safety with the contract guys. What a joke.