Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force

Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by cm2187 on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @04:59AM (#11486745)

That's a very nationalistic position. You are basically saying that every soldier should have the nationality of the army he fights for. Mercenaries are a very old tradition and I don't see what is intrinsically wrong with it, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_mercenaries.

And what about the European and American nationals who joined the kurds to fight ISIS in Syria? Are they traitors and should be jailed because they fight for a foreign army?

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by eveningcoffee on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @06:02AM (#11486942)

I think that there is a difference between an individual who volunteers in a foreign army and a company of paid professionals outside of army formation.

I do not have definitive answer (opinion) for your last question.

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by spacecowboy_lon on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @05:49AM (#11486897)

And their are Uk nationals who join the US armed forces

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by gadders on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @06:22AM (#11487014)

Not to mention the French Foreign Legion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion or the UK's use of Nepalese Ghurkas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by eveningcoffee on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @11:56AM (#11489307)

Foreign Legion and The Gurkhas are not private mercenary units.

These are regular army units where the enlisted are not native nationals.

The first sentence from linked article about French Foreign Legion says that The French Foreign Legion is a military service branch of the French Army established in 1831, unique because it was created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces.

I repeat if it did not sink in: Foreign Legion and The Gurkhas are not private mercenary units, they are not private armies.

The main argument of calgoo was that "Private militarizes armies should NEVER be allowed to exist.".

This is very far from being "a very nationalistic position". He did not say that foreign nationals should not be enlisted into national armies.

So please, could we stop this bullshit now?

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by gadders on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @01:02PM (#11490033)

I didn't mean to imply that they're mercenaries, merely that they are fighting for a "foreign" army.

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Re:Founder of Blackwater's Drive to Build a Private Air Force by eveningcoffee on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @01:47PM (#11490430)

Yes, I understand your position, and I hope that you now understand the difference between calgoo and cm2187 claims and understand the context in what you made your comment.

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