Re: [GZG] Interesting mercenary idea

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 10:11 AM, Tom B <kaladorn@gmail.com> wrote:

> 1) The UN and every other nation, to one extent or another, employs
> mercenaries. If we define a mercenary as a soldier who works for pay,
then
> pretty much every army fits that bill. Try to not pay your first world
army
> for any length of time and see just how well that goes over...

I quibble with the definition--to me a mercenary is one primarily
motivated by and specifically NOT motivated by national loyalty.
While a national army probably would desert or mutiny if their pay was
stopped completely (although the year the US Army was cut off from
funding, it didn't mutiny) it doesn't meet the definition of a
mercenary force.

> 2) It has its own manpower base. Tax base must mean a manpower base. I
> assume it actually does recruit from veterans of other national fleets
and
> armies. It may also have basically opened UN citizenship to a lot of
the
> smaller spots on the world (small island nations, and so on) to drum
up a
> base population - if sea levels rise, maybe the UN helped them get
setup off
> world and thus gets something which evolves into its own population
base. I
> assume UN manpower base is not as large as its tax/financial base
(which
> could be driven largely by scientific patents), but it has to be
enough to
> provide some decent number of recruits for a small UNSC Marine force
and a
> UNSC Navy.

One thought I had was the idea of UN citizenship, which comes at the
end of a term of service to the UN in a full-time professional role.
I like 25 years, but that's my unrepentant Republican sentiments
peeking through.  With UN citizenship comes tax exemption from a
nation's taxes. . . Potentially a powerful motivator, especially if
hereditary.

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani

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