Throughout history mercs have always been used. From a warmongers POV they're excellent for many reasons.

So far as morality goes, I guess the question is wether they are used defensively or offensively, a tough question to answer what with the amount of double-speak that surrounds these issues.

Private armies have only in the last few hundred years been phased out. Feudalism depended almost entirely on them. I would suspect that it goes back farther, too. Mercenaries have indeed never been removed from the system completely; they just became less directly important with modern warfare.

Originally posted by Vinveezy


the orld is mov ing to private armies now. the "old" honorable solder is going to be no more. THIS is how wars will be fought in the future. This is not right. a Private army should not exist. before wars where won by who ever could hold out the longest. now it will be won by who can pay the firm the most money.

Further to the other comments correcting you about the role of 'private armies' throughout history, I'm curious as to how and why that, up until now, apparently, that wars won were won by "who ever could hold out the longest". It's not as if money never plays a part in "who ever could hold out the longest". Do you really think all wars are won by some 'sheer force of will' rather than obscene amounts of money thrown at a 'war effort'?

I'd hoped that gungho naivete such as this died out amidst the aftermath and grim reality check of WWI.

Originally posted by Solasis
Private armies have only in the last few hundred years been phased out. Feudalism depended almost entirely on them. I would suspect that it goes back farther, too.

It's traditionally thought that this is how the first Anglo-Saxons, in any great numbers at least, arrived in what became England: native Britons, in what became England, hiring them as mercenaries to find invading Picts from the north etc.

Untill I found out about Blackwater I was under the impression that mercs were mostly a thing of the past, I would be interested to see how/if they were used in WW1/2.

Originally posted by March of the Fire Ants
Untill I found out about Blackwater I was under the impression that mercs were mostly a thing of the past, I would be interested to see how/if they were used in WW1/2.

I could be wrong, but I think, during WWII, the mercenaries were called 'Americans' or something similar.

World war two 'mercs' , free poles, free french, Gurkha's,, Brazilians, Niponese fighting for the Americans in italy, French, fighting on th german in in Berlin, who fought against Germans fighting on the Russian side, @white Russians' fighting for the germans, and Cossacks too, Laotan hill men fighting the north Vietnamese on behalf of the Americans, etc.

Originally posted by pikestaff
World war two 'mercs' , free poles, free french, Gurkha's,, Brazilians, Niponese fighting for the Americans in italy, French, fighting on th german in in Berlin, who fought against Germans fighting on the Russian side, @white Russians' fighting for the germans, and Cossacks too, Laotan hill men fighting the north Vietnamese on behalf of the Americans, etc.

The gurkhas is a good one. Britain has a history of hiring mercaenaries the moment it gains influence over a place and the gurkhas are used to this day as paid up fighters.

the orld is mov ing to private armies now. the "old" honorable solder is going to be no more.

No, that's not true. The honourable soldiers of today no longer fight for empires, but take stands against them from the inside.

Mercinaries are ideal for use by elitist governments because they only kill for money, money which is almost infinite from the employer (IE USA). True soldiers are told they are no longer allowed to serve because they present too "radical" perceptions, simply because they fight for their people rather than some economic interest in a far away land.

I know this first hand when I tried to serve. I was told that I had no chance because of who I am, which happens to be a nationalist.

I would dare to say that Mercenaries were around a lot longer than 'Professional' armies were. I beleive it is supposed to be the world's second oldest profession (prostitution being the first).

IMHO, money is probably more honourable to fight for than some dirty theiving cheating conniving politicians wims.

I'm happy that Canada said no thank you when these guys came calling. Like one of the comments said in the article, how can you trust a military force with a background "shrouded in mystery?"

Originally posted by Solasis
Private armies have only in the last few hundred years been phased out. Feudalism depended almost entirely on them. I would suspect that it goes back farther, too. Mercenaries have indeed never been removed from the system completely; they just became less directly important with modern warfare.

What we are seeing really is the reemergence of feudalism, funded by the banksters and royals as expressed in Blackwater and Haliburton going out to do battle with the enemies of the CFR which is a roundtable group of Fabian Socialists to promote the British empire at the expense of the US taxpayers.