[GZG] "Realistic" Mercenary TO&

> On 10/19/06, Charles Lee <xarcht@yahoo.com> wrote:

Want in one hand, crap in the other.

Are proven and battle capable troops who are interested in fighting freelance
available?

In the midst of a major war between the powers whose national armies provide
the majority of this pool, the only people open for hire are likely to be
those who for one reason or another the national armies don't want.

So expect folks who have criminal convictions and the like, and whose "proven"
skills are questionable.

Mercenaries are a trope of the genre because a lot of authors have a glamorous
and romanticized view of the type. In reality, mercenaries arise in response
to very specific economic and social conditions. Military expertise has to be
highly concentrated and entirely portable (like a knight with his horse, for
instance) and there has to be no other option at hand for those folks to earn
a living which they are willing to do.

In a modern era, such mercenaries as have managed to operate in the modern era
have been largely light infantry forces due to logistical reasons. A force of
tanks is not terribly portable and requires a logistical chain all the way
back to factories which produce the spare parts and replacement vehicles. A
force of infantry riding in jeeps and land rovers can find parts in any third
world mechanic shop.

> At 6:57 AM +0300 10/19/06, John Atkinson wrote:

Why did blackwater get a nastygram from the Joint Chiefs?

Capable troops with offer of MUCH better pay than what the government gives
them, will drift towards the job.

> Mercenaries are a trope of the genre because a lot of authors have a

Ghurkas are another good example. Singapore gets the "Dross" and they still
get excellent troops too.

> In a modern era, such mercenaries as have managed to operate in the

At a point, it might be effective for a manufacturer of the armaments to
provide operators too. One stop shop, Tanks, ammo, mechanics, crews, all you
have to provide is an objective.

One thing that hasn't been addressed in this thread is how such merc units
would get from planet to planet and travel between systems? I am assuming that
the lesser units would be reliant on their employers for space transport. But
how reasonable is it to assume that a mercenary unit would be able to assemble
its own transportation? I may be trying to apply to
much realism to a sci-fi setting but having a good sense of what is
reasonable helps me bend the limits.