I don't know if it's a bug, but i completed a VIP mission with boss killing, and got paid and all that stuff, but when i wanted to start a new mission, my character were back with starting gear, none of the stuff they were equipped with last, though they kept their level.
Kind of a bug. Everything should still be available (though I have a bug report saying multiples of the same item disappear) in your inventory since we basically reset the character inventories after completing the objective. This makes sense for mercs since you might not rehire them but for your characters we could keep their stuff equipped. We'll get that right in the next build.