Under what circumstances would you become a Mercenary?

[robert022614]

Well most people dont have the skills to be any kind of fighting force. It takes training that call of duty will never give you to be able to pull the trigger on another human being, much less pull the trigger and be able to hit a target period. As a U.S. army vet I would say screw you because I like living and I am not spec ops. If people were say invading our country then of course I would hop on board, but I would not like to become a pawn in some proxy war.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Give me money, give me weapons, give me a fast car, let me do whatever I want, and more money. I also want a tank and a gunship. An intelligence person, a pilot, a mechanic. And other support personnel.

I'd hella be a mercenary. Live fast, die hard.

 

[Fbuh]

I don't really have very many fighting skills, though I certainly have hte capacity to learn. I'm not a bad shot with a gun, so I guess I could learn as I go along. And I'd do it for money. They wouldn't have to cajole for very long, either.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

To price to buy a cyanide pill or bullet to make my life as a mercenary as short as possible.

Mercenaries are perhaps the greatest scum to exist. I'd rather die.

Child Molesters, Serial Rapists, the WBC? Those are all better?

In case you can't tell, I'm raising an eyebrow quizzically while simultaneously lowering the other one.

 

[Dectomax]

Most contractors require that you've had previous military experience and a lot of them are former Special Forces. This is mostly because of the age cut off.

If offered, I would probably accept. The Job requires less deployment time, you are better equipped and looked after. The morality question comes into play, only being there or doing something for money other than actual values. Yet, it would depend on a persons personal values. You could work as a Private contractor and still carry the same rules as any military serviceman, most do.

I would find it a good way to continue my military career and experience a different side of the conflict. Hell, in the British Embassy in Afghanistan, there are contractors employed to defend it and most of them are good guys.

At any rate, I would work for their standard pay - roughly "£10,000 per deployment, varying on risk/length/contract. ( Considering most of them are deployed anywhere up to 4/5 times a year depending on whether they want to or not, that's a decent amount of money, for just guarding an embassy for a month or two )

 

[Lazy Kitty]

If it turns out it gives me enough money to fund my own plans for world domination.

 

[Squiggers]

Seems like many don't quite realise the role of PMCs in the modern world. Mainly protecting convoys, individuals... its not a case of "Go out, kill that evil looking geezer over there." You aren't put in situations of having to kill people if you don't want to. Chances are, you'll end up having to kill someone because they're trying to kill you, or those you're protecting. And to me? I've got no qualms about that at all.

I'd consider it if there was actually proper support for those deployed to an area by PMC management - as theres a lot of reports that they haven't been. Proper support, and not going against my own countries interests, and i'd have no problems with it.

Obviously, this is the protection that i'm referring to, not the private army image that many seem to have stuck in their head.

 

[funguy2121]

Now, I'm not even taking "no" as a real answer, because EVERYONE has a price. And I mean EVERYONE.

So under what circumstances would YOU become a Mercenary, I'm talking a War Mercenary, or maybe even Special Operations.

I'm guessing I'd become one if I got really good payment, and ease of going back to my "home" (wherever I live) whenever I didn't have an assignment.

How about you?

EVERYONE is not a murderer. So I'm afraid you'll have to take no as a real answer.

I honestly believe that everyone is a murderer at heart. After centuries of relative peace we have grown more tame, some more than others; But I believe that when it comes down to it, every single man and woman is capable of murder, be it in self defense or otherwise. And I do think that once the first kill is drawn, none of the consecutive ones will as hard. And many people do acquire a taste for killing. But I digress, still, if you were a Merc fighting say, Zombies. Wouldn't you do it?

Let me answer for you: Fuck Yeah.

Why? Because you are avoiding killing because of moral qualms, but oh! Zombies are not alive, they're merely a shell of what used to be a man, a woman, a lover. I'd like to take this chance to link to this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8387-Extra-Punctuation-Why-We-Love-Zombies

Since I feel it fits quite well. At least down on a primal level, I'm pretty sure everyone is capable of murder. Perhaps even you would do it if you found your life at risk? After all, we do have a pretty strong self-preservation sense. WE are not a flock of sheep that would wait to be slaughtered. WE would fight to our last spit breath before dying in complacency. So yes, I think even WE would fight to protect our lives, even if it meant being a mercenary.

Killing and murder are not the same thing. Killing in war (under orders, not unnecessary killing), and killing in self defense or in the defense of others, is not murder.

I find it curious that you form your argument around a scenario that is not real-world. Even in your hypothetical zombie scenario, there would be no mercs, as everyone would be simply trying to survive. And since the understood definition of zombie, be it a chemical/biological agent-induced zomb-osis or one of the other varieties, is an UN-dead monster, killing a zombie would be no different morally from killing a tiger that threatened your life. So I reject your binary assertion that we are either MURDERERS or lemmings. The world exists in three dimensions.

Also, there's a great deal of difference between, say, Seal Team Six and Blackwater. Since you seem to be putting mercs on a pedastle and only using imaginary scenarios, let's look at some real-life private soldier and espionage groups.

Ask a soldier who's been to Iraq, and they'll likely tell you that the mercs they met over there were total assholes. They constantly got in trouble for human rights violations, only to be bailed out because Bush Jr. saw to it. They do what they do for money. They don't kill for their country, or to protect innocent life. They kill to get rich. Fuck 'em. I wouldn't lose sleep over hearing that a Blackwater agent got his legs blown off; rather, I'd be happy that he wasn't killing/maiming innocent civilians with relative impunity.

I would recommend to any person over the age of 12 that they read Dr. Phillip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect. It focuses on the Stanford Prison Experiment, but he spends a lot of time on the Abu Gharib debacle, and points out that those leading tortu-I mean interrogations, who never saw the inside of a courtroom, were privately contracted spies.

The Mad Max-esque heroes you seem to be envisioning in your little fantasy world who save the day by slaughtering all of the (fictitious) zombies - for a price - are nothing at all like real-world mercs. The real thing is really more like pre-911 movie terrorists - they slaughter innocents to get rich.

 

[NickCooley]

Well, if by some unbelievable miracle I obtain the skills of say... Matttias Nilsson I'd probably consider it.

 

[TonyVonTonyus]

1)When my country invades another for profit
2)When there is coin to be made from international wars and a constant flow of violence.

 

[Dalek Caan]

I would become a Merc if Britain was attacked and I was hired to help it.

 

[Zyst]

Killing and murder are not the same thing. Killing in war (under orders, not unnecessary killing), and killing in self defense or in the defense of others, is not murder.

I find it curious that you form your argument around a scenario that is not real-world. Even in your hypothetical zombie scenario, there would be no mercs, as everyone would be simply trying to survive. And since the understood definition of zombie, be it a chemical/biological agent-induced zomb-osis or one of the other varieties, is an UN-dead monster, killing a zombie would be no different morally from killing a tiger that threatened your life. So I reject your binary assertion that we are either MURDERERS or lemmings. The world exists in three dimensions.

Also, there's a great deal of difference between, say, Seal Team Six and Blackwater. Since you seem to be putting mercs on a pedastle and only using imaginary scenarios, let's look at some real-life private soldier and espionage groups.

Ask a soldier who's been to Iraq, and they'll likely tell you that the mercs they met over there were total assholes. They constantly got in trouble for human rights violations, only to be bailed out because Bush Jr. saw to it. They do what they do for money. They don't kill for their country, or to protect innocent life. They kill to get rich. Fuck 'em. I wouldn't lose sleep over hearing that a Blackwater agent got his legs blown off; rather, I'd be happy that he wasn't killing/maiming innocent civilians with relative impunity.

I would recommend to any person over the age of 12 that they read Dr. Phillip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect. It focuses on the Stanford Prison Experiment, but he spends a lot of time on the Abu Gharib debacle, and points out that those leading tortu-I mean interrogations, who never saw the inside of a courtroom, were privately contracted spies.

The Mad Max-esque heroes you seem to be envisioning in your little fantasy world who save the day by slaughtering all of the (fictitious) zombies - for a price - are nothing at all like real-world mercs. The real thing is really more like pre-911 movie terrorists - they slaughter innocents to get rich.

I am putting up mad-esque scenarios because I find people usually find themselves sympathizing a lot more with a scenario when a short story helps them imagine themselves in said situation.

I do not believe Mercenaries are some sort of super-heroes, that's stupid as hell. I'm merely siding with them to further expand the discussion value of this thread, seeing as most people who are pro-PMC/Mercenaries are just saying they WOULD join, while people against are being a bit more vocal about it. Trying to even the scale up.

And hey, war isn't a pretty fairy tale, nowadays there's a lot of ground rules and such. But when it comes down to it you are fighting for some reason, I can assure you that not everyone, hell, probably not even half of the people in the actual army are patriots or such. Many people just join for a steady paycheck and even having nothing better to do. So ripping on Mercenaries because "They kill to get rich." Is not only insulting to Mercenaries, it's also insulting to the army. Because at the end of the day, it's still their job.

What, do you think the army doesn't kill anyone? Mercenaries just usually prioritize their lives and their purse more than loyalty, and if that includes killing civilians which often hid or even helped terrorists in an array of ways, specially if they had genuine reasons to believe they were a threat (For instance had weapons?). So I wouldn't bat an eye if I heard that a mercenary got his balls blown off, but I don't react like a major outrage has happened when an innocent life is lost in a WAR. Besides, more civilians died in one day when the US carpet bombed entire cities than the whole mercenary innocent-kill count for the whole war.

 

[Wushu Panda]

I just need to be asked.....

Want to start a Mercenary organization?

 

[Zyst]

I just need to be asked.....

Want to start a Mercenary organization?

Haha, call it RLCoD or something like that.

 

[Crissaegrim]

Oddly I answered this to myself quit some time back, the gist of it is, well, Power Armor (Like in the fallout series or warhammer 40k, Metroid is another fine example (if a little more futuristic than the rest). If I knew that I had that sort of edge, something to negate the fact that I might be taken out by a stray, ricocheting bullet not even meant for me by the person who fired it than I would be just fine with the mercenary gig.

As for the whole killing for money, no, I don't have much problem with it (especially if the bastard is shooting at me anyway) I mean, All armies pay their soldier to kill, and I'v considered joining the army before so i imagine being a mercenary is just having better business sense (and much more freedom)

Although if this were the middle ages? Then yeah, screw it. I'd be a mercenary for a klondike bar. (The random killing power of a gun just makes the reward not worth the risk is all I'm saying)

 

[Dogstile]

I dunno, not much. Equipment, some training, life insurance and £10,000 a job and i'd be tempted as hell.

Of course, this means i'm working in a team and in a country where its legal.

(I'm well aware I might change my tune when its time to actually pull the trigger)

 

[Wolf-AUS]

You make this sound hypothetical, when it's actually my plan. I'm gonna go into armed security once I hit 21, get enough experience there for a private military company to hire me, and done.

Or, if I knew for sure that there was a Far Cry 2 situation (i.e. people sitting in a bar waiting to get hired) then I'd be out there once I had the money for a gun and plane ticket.

You should try to apply for the actual US army, specially if there's a chance of you getting deployed. Companies like Blackwater hire a lot of War Veterans, and private security ALSO pays better when you've had some real combat experience, so you might want to consider that.

I wouldn't even consider trying to join a PMC without an SF background or having trained in South Africa, probably both. They have no real desire for your average G.I, they're so dime a dozen they don't even give a fuck. So if you want the real money and real jobs, SF with South African security courses is the way to go.

 

[FalloutJack]

-Red Herring-

The thing is, you've made this all very condescending. The nature of your arguments is hinged upon knowing how ALL of humanity will react and then throwing it in our faces. And now, you have just said that anyone saying no is, essentially, childish and stupid. Well, tough. You're going to have to face the reality that you don't know everything, and that there will always be reasons not to do a thing. Sorry if this has upset your lofty comfortable assurance that everyone is absolutely reduceable to scum, but that opinion was never realistic to begin with. Now, you will cease arguing with me about it, because I'm very certain you get only more abusive as this unfolds, and I don't think you can afford it.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Money wouldn't be the first consideration. If everything I'd ever known had been destroyed/somehow taken from me, and I'd been left with no remnants of my former life but memories, and nothing else I could do, then to hell with it, I'd become a mercenary.
Should my life becomes worthless, risking it for money seems a much better deal.