Re: Mercs

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Barclay" <kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:57 AM
Subject: Mercs

> 1) Why wouldn't the Mercs Guild buy a nice AE
> rock? The rationale for a potentially deeply
> buried subterannean hard-to-destroy HQ for
> the Guild is obvious. A great place to house
> arms factories, medical short and long term
> care facilities, R&R facilities, training areas,
> recruiting offices, contract lawyers, financiers,
> reps from various countries, etc. And of course
> a decent defence force (such a Guild World
> would probably be able to call up ALL available
> Mercs on-planet for emergencies).

Exactly the kind of thing I was proposing when I floated the idea. In
fact I
have been surprised not to see something in the 'pedia.

> 2) There will undoubtedly remain Guild and non-
> Guild mercs. Many smaller or shadier ops will
> have either no Guild sanction or a fake one
> (mind you, not a good idea to get caught with
> fake paperwork....)

Of course the other thing to keep in mind is that there could be rival
Guilds...

> 3) In order to threaten the NAC in any way AT
> ALL, a mercenary company would have to be
> able to field a Division I would imagine with
> corresponding support assets. I see this as
> very uncommon. And the only people who'd be
> able to hire such a force would be the Big 4. Or
> UberMegaGatesCorp of Seattle. I see most
> merc ops as "below radar" of most powers.

Depends upon the circumstances. Picture a fringe world of the one of the
Powers, a "vocal" minority with visions of grandeur and freedom, defense
forces drawn down thanks to the KV,.... mercs could be a problem.

<<SNIP>>

> FYI:
> The real world UN is debating the concept of
> using professional soldiers for peacekeeping
> and other UN interventions. The arguments for
> it include a higher standard of training and
> professionalism, fewer "ax to grind" forces with
> inter-racial or religious issues (merc forces are
> often mixed race and staunchly irreligious), and
> a loyalty only to their employer not some other
> outside power (a BIG problem in peacekeeping
> ops). I think the GZGverse calls out for this kind
> of use for Mercs and I think it would even make
> good sense in the real world.

Could that assist in the issues of cooperative efforts against the KV,
perhaps under UNSC command?

> Ultimately, IMV, Mercs are like "working-girls".
> The fact they exist says our world isn't a perfect
> place. But they can be very professional and do
> a good job within their field and get paid well in
> their chosen* profession. A lot of times we
> dump on people for having such occupations,
> but the occupation exists to fill a viable market
> niche and we should perhaps be fixing our own
> carts (the environment that creates this niche)
> rather than beating on the people who try to
> make a living filling it.
>
> * I'm well aware that undoubtedly some mercs
> and many "working-gals" don't intentionally
> choose their field. It's what they end up doing
> and they often want out but various reasons
> keep them in their respective trades often to
> their detriment.
>
> However, that's a divergent line of thought. I
> just think there is an obvious place for contract
> service military professionals (and note they do
> tend to be very loyal to their paymasters and
> fight very hard because they might lose their
> bondability and hence lose out on the secure
> and large scale jobs). They're often a better
> option than a military riddled with internal
> dissention, factionalism, racial and ethnic
> clashes, etc.
>
> I suspect there are days Pres. Musharef (sp)
> wishes he had a bunch of Mercs instead of the
> guys he has to depend on.... less likelihood of a
> Coup with bonded professionals.
>
> Tomb.
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Thomas Barclay
> Instructor, CST 6304 (TCP/IP programming for the Internet)
> kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca
> http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/CST6304
> http://stargrunt.ca/tb/CST6304
> -----------------------------------------------------------