Myth of the 20th Century: Soldiers of Fortune – From Mercenaries to PMCs

The rise of the Private Military Contractor, or PMC, may seem like a recent phenomena, but the tradition of hiring mercenary armies is an ancient one. These enigmatic ‘soldiers of fortune’ wear no flag, offer seemingly little loyalty to anyone other than the highest bidder, and operate globally using the latest in military hardware and techniques – all under the cover of secrecy when doing their job right.

— References —

– The Man Who Would Be King, Huston (1975)
– The Dogs of War, Irvin (1980)
– Predator, McTiernan (1987)
– See No Evil, Baer (2003)
– Syriana, Gaghan (2005)
– The Kingdom, Berg (2007)
– Executive Outcomes – Against All Odds, Barlow (2007)
– Metal Gear Solid IV: Sons of the Patriots, Konami (2008)
– Serbian immigrants seek answers about the horror, Grossman (2010) – https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2010-09-05-ct-met-balkan-war-lawsuit-20100905-story.html
– Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder, Mazzetti and Hager (2011) – https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html
– Simon Mann Says He Was Asked to Help Start the Iraq War, Chitty (2013) – https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dp4byw/an-interview-with-simon-mann
– Inside The Private Air Force Of Erik Prince, Fighter Sweep (2016) – https://fightersweep.com/5228/inside-private-air-force-erik-prince/
– ‘A Total F***up’: Russian Mercenaries in Syria Lament U.S. Strike That Killed Dozens, Bennan (2018) – https://www.newsweek.com/total-f-russian-mercenaries-syria-lament-us-strike-killed-dozens-818073
– Behind Erik Prince’s China venture, Fisher et. al. (2018) – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/05/04/feature/a-warrior-goes-to-china-did-erik-prince-cross-a-line/
– Standard Operating Procedure – Torture and the Abu Ghraib Scandal, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/standard-operating-procedure-torture-and-the-abu-ghraib-scandal/
– Merchants of Death – Brothers in Arms, Myth of the 20th Century (2019) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/merchants-of-death-brothers-in-arms/
– Flag of convenience – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_convenience

Myth of the 20th Century

If pessimism is despair, optimism is cowardice and stupidity. -Francis Parker Yockey