Mercenary soldiers have a deservedly bad name in history, both for their conduct and for the fact that they have not generally lived up to the expectations of those who hired them. But, under the more appealing name “private military contractors”, they have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years.
This piece in Salon by PW Singer concludes
If we judge by what has happened in Iraq, when it comes to counterinsurgency and the use of private military contractors, the U.S. has locked its national security into a vicious cycle. It can’t win with them, but can’t go to war without them.
Note: I omitted the link, but have included it now
John Quiggin 
Not all mercenaries, PrQ – the Gurkhas provide a perfect example of a good, stable mercenary force.
I thought the mercenary bands roaming northern italy in the renaissance, particularly the siege engineers, had a good reputation. What about the Swiss Guard for the Vatican?
But yeah, that’s what happens when the accountants rule policy. Mercenaries look better on paper.
It would be interesting to trace out precisely the adverse incentive effects of contracting private individuals to engage in military work rather than employees of a public army. What are the issues of opportunism and inefficiency that arise? I have not seen it done.
Other than the recent spates of massacres and accusations of torture, they have done an “efficient job”.
The US has allowed repeated falls in qualifications required for Regular Army and Reservist soldiers who then are eligible to be posted to Iraq on higher rates of pay than they are ever likely to otherwise see.
As a consequence it might be a bit hard to tell if the description “people with criminal records who are prepared to overthrow a government and kill the citizens of a country for money” refers to the US Army or a merc unit.
I’d suspect that this would have a bearing on hc’s hypothetical study, in that the Army recruits may well not be laying it on the line for King (president) and country, but for cold, hard cash. If the motivation is identical at the footsoldier level, then many of the problems are likely to be as well.
I think the recent example of mercenaries for Papua New Guinea was possibly a better solution than their endemically corrupt armed forces.
Arguably almost all soldiers in Western democracies are mercenaries, in that they made a free personal decision to join the armed forces as paid work. After the Viet Nam War and until some eight years ago, most people who joined the armed forces didn’t even seriously expect to have to actually fight. Armed forces recruitment advertising, especially for officers, largely sells the experience as “educational”, learning “leadership” and various trade skills, even a degree.
Granted this decision is a great deal less free in the USA than in Australia or the UK, as the USA has a barely functional social welfare safety net; the US Army scoops up a lot of near-unemployables who in Australia would spend their lives moving between the dole, “training” schemes, and low-paid, boring, dead-end jobs.
don’t confuse the warm, lovable, modern-day democratic swiss with the men of the pike companies who dominated renaissance warfare. those guys had a reputation for being tough and nasty, even by the undemanding standards of the day.
John, is there meant to be a link to ‘the’ piece by PW Singer?
There is almost a Paralell with Cyrus’ 10,000 Greek Mercenaries that he utilized in his attempt to overthrow his brother Ataxerxes. the Mercenaries, their tactics hardened by 30 years of civil war, carried all before them during the campaign right up to the final battle at Cunuxa, just outside Babylon, not too far from the current site of Bagdad. At Cunuxa they again proved unstopable and came close to defeating an army many times their own size, however Cyrus insisted on leading a final charge and was killed by his brother’s standard bearer. The Greeks were of course abandoned and Ataxerxes attempted to have them destroyed but in the end about half to two thirds made it out. Alexander carried a selection of the Greek accounts with him when he marched into Asia. all the info I’ve ever read came from Greek sources, I’ve never seen a Persian account.
I’m sure that the Blackwater crowd has access to suitable transport shoud the time come to split. These Mercenaries do have one major difference with those of yore in that Mercenary bands were recruited by and marched with a leader who shared their experience, a successful band leader inspired confidence by the fact that they were still alive, and were willing to have another go, these “private military contractorsâ€? should bear in mind that their recruiters and paymasters are a long way away and share none of their risks.
Ash – your comparison of professional soldiers with mercenaries is beneath contempt.
Your claim about the near-unemployable standards of the US Forces is a load of crap. Do you have any hard evidence of this. The same sort of crap is rolled out time and again, yet is unsupported by the demographics of the US Military. In particular, Americans of African and Latino origin are under-represented in the US Forces if your claim were true, and they under represented in the casualty lists, if your claims were true.
The facts are that a modern military requires literate and smart soldiers due tothe technology they apply. Until you can produce hard data supporting your claims I call you a liar.
As for the claims about taking people with criminal offences. Firstly, I find it laughable that those on the left howl about this whne they are the same people seeking things like leniency in sentencing, decriminalisation of dope, decriminilization of drug crimes etc etc – you can’t have it both ways! And secondly, many of the best soldiers I had the priviledge of serving with came from the old system of being given a last chance by the Judge.
As for the US employing contractors/mercenaries – one of the driving factors in that type of decision is the political reality that Western Voters are scared of taking casualties because of the screaming of the lefties. If we weren’t so lilly livered about doing the long hard yards and taking casualties then we wouldn’t need to employ contractors for security roles that should be done by the military.
Toughen the f888 up.
Mr. Prince Goes to Washington: Blackwater Founder Testifies Before Congress
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/03/1349239
Mr. Prince goes to Washington. That’s right, Erik Prince, the founder and chairman of Blackwater USA, testified before Congress on Tuesday in his first extended public appearance.
Prince was called before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform amid a public firestorm over the role of private military firms operating in Iraq and a string of probes into Blackwater’s conduct.
Blackwater has come under heavy scrutiny since an attack last month in Baghdad in which between 11 and 28 Iraqis were killed. Although the incident triggered Tuesday’s hearing, the committee agreed not to discuss specifics of the incident following a Justice Department request that it wait until an FBI investigation is concluded.
California Democrat Henry Waxman chaired the hearing. His staff produced a scathing report on Monday detailing Blackwater’s activities in Iraq. In his opening remarks, Waxman summarized some of the report’s findings….
The oz government, while desperate about Army numbers, has refused to lower its standards, although in private officers complain about today’s standards having been dumbed down.
Razor wanted statistics: In 2006 the US Army doubled the number who failed its aptitude tests but were nevertheless accepted (to 4% of the total). 17% of its recruits had ‘medical, moral or criminal’ waivers applied. The Army’s key criterion was a high school diploma. Finally, the ‘King’s Shilling’ was for two thirds of recruits a sign-on bonus of $11,000. Some got up to $40,000. this enabled the Army to meet its recruitment target for the first time in years.
But the problem doesn’t stop there. A lot of those posted to Iraq (I don’t have a figure to hand) are reservists, not Regular Army. They don’t go through the (now somewhat less) stringent testing that the Army boys and girls do.
2 tanners – the small numbers you quote do not reflect the comments made that inferred that virtually the whole of the US Army is made up of low socio-economic dunder heads.
Razor: Ash – your comparison of professional soldiers with mercenaries is beneath contempt.
What do you see as the distinction between a mercenary and a professional soldier? A figleaf of privatization?
Your claim about the near-unemployable standards of the US Forces is a load of crap.
That’s because you’re ignoring the word “near”. I ask you this: consider a typical intake cohort of the US Army recruits in the last few years. How many of those people have immediate alternative employment options that pay at least as well as the Army does? My expectation is, almost none. The people who join the US Army are making an economic decision to take up the best-paying option that they personally have access to. How does that differ from a mercenary’s decision?
As for the claims about taking people with criminal offences. Firstly, I find it laughable that those on the left howl about this whne they are the same people seeking things like leniency in sentencing, decriminalisation of dope, decriminilization of drug crimes etc etc – you can’t have it both ways!
Um, what? It’s perfectly consistent to believe (a) too many things are considered crimes, and too harshly; (b) people with criminal records ought to be properly vetted before letting them in charge of guns.
In fact everyone should be properly vetted before letting them in charge of guns, which is another thing you people screw up.
And secondly, many of the best soldiers I had the priviledge of serving with came from the old system of being given a last chance by the Judge.
And the people who spend most time in front of judges to be given a last chance are … ?