Mercenaries

Lately i've become interested in wanting information on Mercenaries. im suprised with the rules About Mercenaries:
A mercenary:
1. Shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.
2. Is any person who:
(a) is especially 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.

Ive known about the French Foreign Legion also ive known about Black water who changed Its name to XE to then change its name to Academi.
so what is your opinnion on Mercenaries compared To the regular military?

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In peace sons bury their fathers. In war fathers bury their sons.

I don't like them, personally. War is brutal and terrible and is about sending your own people to fight a battle the nation believes in. Another thing I don't like is that contractors are not necessarily held to the same ethical standards as conventional military forces. That they are needed for the current conflict in the middle east is proof enough we don't belong there. :/

Not quite sure if this is serious discussion. War should never be a method used for personal gain, thus mercenaries are not suppose to exist.

From (What little) research I did, I looks like most mercenaries work more like operators than than ground troopers, Directing and training troops, rather than going into battle like grunts. I would'nt mind a mercenary group handling problems that the military would deem too cost-prohibitive or insignificant to halndle. What I would be worried about would be the mercenary group being associated with the country it's based in, If an international incident ever arised.

War is used almost intirely for personal gain, ever since tribal times, to modern day, poeple/leaders have been greedy and wanted to take. Wars have been about the freedom of poeple from opperssive ruler, But thats unfortanilty not as common as what a war should be about.
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On topic though, PMC Contracts *CAN* be grossly misunderstood, there are not alot of poeple who go into a Contract becuase of money, or power not controlled by the military. But rather, belonging to a small nip-picked group of expeirenced fighters. Many of them are hired for patrols, first contact, protection of private propertty and what have you.

I am/have been, friends with poeple who have worked in PMCs' alot of them are good men/women who want help protect some of the innocents cought up in wars, and some don't want to be assiocated with some of the practices the Officail Militaries get into.
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But seeing as war is war. There are so real fucktards in them too, But the U.S. Army easly has them outnumbered about 1/15.

Anywhat, I may be biased on this becuase of relations, But I support the use of PMC for protective uses, and becuase of just how hard it is to get into them, even just a small PMC.

They don't fight for anything but money. That's never a good cause. Hiring mercenaries is no different from hiring hitment.

Mercenaries are more like hired Guns. Pay them to fight on your side. And their loyalty will always come to highest bidder.

Well to be quite frank, the simple way of living to fight is one that is at the same time gruesome, but also a "truthful" way of living.

I dislike the fact that they come into conflicts with the sole objective to gain money. But at the same time their lives are on the line, so I might say even though their work is not one that I respect, I understand its necessity and its place in the world of war.

There always have been mercenaries in our world.

Check out The Wild Geese a nice film about mercenaries in modern days.

It is quite different actually.
We are talking about war, after all. Killing war combatants with hired help is not the same as an assassination in times of peace.

I've always hated "hired guns", it's just another way the government can slip in more armed people into other countries like Iraq to "keep an eye on things".