VSE Corporation Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Business Segments and Customer Information (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) segment	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)
Segment Reporting, Disclosure of Entity's Reportable Segments [Abstract]
Number of reportable operating segments \| segment			4
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 172,780	$ 137,396	$ 476,889	$ 389,313
Operating income	13,623	13,243	38,243	35,423
Operating Segments \| Supply Chain Management Group
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	51,152	50,315	152,080	144,429
Operating income	8,749	9,235	26,600	26,222
Operating Segments \| Aviation
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	34,688	32,976	100,298	87,644
Operating income	3,950	2,116	9,896	6,833
Operating Segments \| Federal Services Group
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	75,377	42,240	189,679	117,774
Operating income	666	1,152	2,383	529
Operating Segments \| IT, Energy and Management Consulting Group
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	11,563	11,865	34,832	39,466
Operating income	984	1,169	2,658	3,872
Corporate, Non-Segment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating income	$ (726)	$ (429)	$ (3,294)	$ (2,033)