Agreed. Paid mercs have been here with us since the beginning of time. Nothings changed. Just gave them a new name along the same vain of administrative assitant vs secretary.

-S

Yeah but mercs have no loyalty, so if you think loyalty is a valued character trait, a merc is definitely not a good thing in the traditional sense. Also, anyone can be a merc, even without military training...another negative there. Thirdly, mercs have been responsible for much of the coups in Africa over the last century and in actual fact there are reports thay'd fight for both sides in the same conflict. :lol:

A Mercenary is a sort of fighting prostitute...that's what I told the mod. Don't think he appreciated it. :88)

*shrug* im pretty ambivalent about it. To me it's just a job. Kinda like a security guard "rent a cop". Not a job i would personally take, but just a job. And if it's an honest living, i personnaly can't knock it much.

One thing that does worry me however, is how it may effect our image. I mean, put yourself in a ragheads towel for a minute. Not only do you have American troops on your soil, but how now you got these yahoo rednecks in pickuptrucks sporting 50 caliber machineguns. Id be asking myself, "WTF!?!".

They're doing a job guarding convoys. Troops can't do it nor can they use military equipment. They probably work for the same company that operates the convoy. Calling them mercs is a long stretch. They are armed guards nothing more, nothing less.
Brinks and Wells Fargo use armed guards. They aren't mercs. What makes this any different.

Ahh - they act like Mercs - watch the vids and you will see why. These guys are nothing like a simple security guard from Brinks!

Where do you see these video's?

http://www.militaryvideos.net/

Blackwater is the Merc vids. There are like 3 of them.

-S

They are mercs. Brinks and Wells Fargo don't operate in war zones or draw their paychecks from whichever side of the conflict that funds them. Further, as they are in a combat zone where they are not bound by the ROE that the U.S. Military is yet are paid by the same U.S. Government (through contracts with Blackwater etc) and U.S. Corporations, they have a lot more latitude in how they can behave than the grunts or any Brinks guard who is bound by both the rules of his employer, but more importantly by domestic U.S. criminal and civil laws.

By definition, you would be correct!

A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations.

1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war. 2. A mercenary is any person who: (a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict; (b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities; (c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party; (d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict; (e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and (f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.


Take #1 up there and apply that to captured forces from other countries - seems to me that Guantanamo guys don't even get the rights of enemy combatant status!

What I'm seeing is a bunch of defensive actions as in providing security under Blackwater Security Inc..
These guys aren't used in offensive actions like assualts, raids, movements to contact, ambushes etc. They are used to provide security to CPA facilities. They stay in static positions. I'd call that armed security/guard and I'm not even saying that in a belittleing way. These guys are ex SF and Seals and can kick ass but they are still armed security/guards and not mercenaries (in my view).
Some word games can be played with that definition so I guess it just how one interprets it.

What rights?

Perfect! I still don't know why we don't follow the Geneva convention which I think demands they be put in front of a firing squad and shot? Problem solved.

-S

:roll:

They stay in static positions? Is that why they have pickups?

These guys are trigger-happy mercs. Do I need to show you the video where they shoot up innocent civilians just because they don't see a sign which says "STAY BACK 100 METRES"...which can't be read over distance of more then 20 metres even with perfect vision and is written in English which most Iraqis cannot read?

Oh yeah....and those kick arse Seals and SF had thair arse handed to them on more then one occassion. Don't make me post the "Camel" video....you forget that what makes the SF so special is also the support they get...you know, minibird, AC130 Spectre etc. These guys only have a Toyota HiLux as back up. :roll:

They are mercs...they leave the service and join these dubious companies cos they pay more.

That Geneva convention sh*t is based off a RECOGNIZABLE UNIFORM. The requirement was intended to make guerrila warfare much less attractive.

Amazingly enough (to me, anyway), throwing on a pair of black pajamas with some kind of rank insignia and carrying an AK-47 is enough to validate this requirement. And when the Russians went through Berlin, they shot non-uniformed bastards on sight; they were fortunate enough to have that luxury, however, since they had very little use for intelligence (pun intended). It's too bad we need intelligence as much as we need dead jihadists. C'est la vie.

It also occurs to me that people are confusing "freelance mercs" with "nationalist mercs". American mercenaries are nationalists -- they intend to return to America and live in America. They sign contracts which, along with an NDA and a form of the UCMJ, includes a non-competitive clause. Meaning that unless they become freelance mercs (and consequentially be hunted across the "western world"), they have to abide by that contract.

Freelance mercenaries are the ones that go for the most cash. Blackwater does not employ freelancers. The CIA and NSA probably do on a routine basis.


Oil. It all comes right back to oil. And general anti-Americanism, which is based off the need for oil and fear of a fatwa on you.

Do you think any American really gives a **** about what some whackjob Islamic cleric says? All we see is a nutjob in a black turbin spouting alot of bull****. And the instant kneejerk reaction to any threats that they make, is the overwhelming desire to kick their asses.. I don't know what it is, but its just something about us as a people. Fear and intimidation tactics will almost always do nothing but make us very aggressive.

errhh... sorry for the hijack.

Now back to merc debates. :roll: