2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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An interesting article from John Stossel on private military contractors and using them to fight our wars....
A Private Military
The military uses contractors to provide security, deliver mail, rescue soldiers and more. Private contractors often do jobs well, for much less than the government would spend.
"We did a helicopter resupply mission," Prince told me. "We showed up with two helicopters and eight people -- the Navy was doing it with 35 people."
I asked, "Why would the Navy use 35 people?"
Prince answered, "The admiral that says, 'I need 35 people to do that mission,' didn't pay for them. When you get a free good, you use a lot more of it."
Prince also claims the military is slow to adjust. In Afghanistan, it's "using equipment designed to fight the Soviet Union, (not ideal) for finding enemies living in caves or operating from a pickup truck."
I suggested that the government eventually adjusts.
"No, they do not," answered Prince. "In 16 years of warfare, the army never adjusted how they do deployments -- never made them smaller and more nimble. You could actually do all the counter-insurgency missions over Afghanistan with propeller-driven aircraft."
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n 2010, Prince sold his security firm and moved on to other projects.
He persuaded the United Arab Emirates to fund a private anti-pirate force in Somalia. The U.N. called that a "brazen violation" of its arms embargo, but Prince went ahead anyway.
His mercenaries attacked pirates whenever they came near shore. His private army, plus merchant ships finally arming themselves, largely ended piracy in that part of the world. In 2010, Somali pirates took more than a thousand hostages. In 2014, they captured none.
For something like this....at least you could never say the men and women went against their will.......no draft, completely volunteer, and the pay would be a lot better....
A Private Military
The military uses contractors to provide security, deliver mail, rescue soldiers and more. Private contractors often do jobs well, for much less than the government would spend.
"We did a helicopter resupply mission," Prince told me. "We showed up with two helicopters and eight people -- the Navy was doing it with 35 people."
I asked, "Why would the Navy use 35 people?"
Prince answered, "The admiral that says, 'I need 35 people to do that mission,' didn't pay for them. When you get a free good, you use a lot more of it."
Prince also claims the military is slow to adjust. In Afghanistan, it's "using equipment designed to fight the Soviet Union, (not ideal) for finding enemies living in caves or operating from a pickup truck."
I suggested that the government eventually adjusts.
"No, they do not," answered Prince. "In 16 years of warfare, the army never adjusted how they do deployments -- never made them smaller and more nimble. You could actually do all the counter-insurgency missions over Afghanistan with propeller-driven aircraft."
------
n 2010, Prince sold his security firm and moved on to other projects.
He persuaded the United Arab Emirates to fund a private anti-pirate force in Somalia. The U.N. called that a "brazen violation" of its arms embargo, but Prince went ahead anyway.
His mercenaries attacked pirates whenever they came near shore. His private army, plus merchant ships finally arming themselves, largely ended piracy in that part of the world. In 2010, Somali pirates took more than a thousand hostages. In 2014, they captured none.
For something like this....at least you could never say the men and women went against their will.......no draft, completely volunteer, and the pay would be a lot better....