The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries

Found in random internet travels.

1. Pillage, then burn.
2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
5. Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.
6. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
7. If the food is good enough, the grunts will stop complaining about the incoming fire.
8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock.
9. Never turn your back on an enemy.
10. Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through the hull.
11. Everything is air-droppable at least once.
12. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.
13. Do unto others.
14. "Mad Science" means never stopping to ask "what's the worst thing that could happen?"
15. Only you can prevent friendly fire.
16. Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth.
17. The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster.
18. If the officers are leading from in front, watch out for an attack from the rear.
19. The world is richer when you turn enemies into friends, but that's not the same as you being richer.
20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.
21. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
22. If you can see the whites of their eyes, somebody's done something wrong.
23. The company mess and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.
24. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a big gun.
25. If the damage you do is covered by a manufacturers warranty, you didn't do enough damage.
26.Fireand Forget" is fine, provided you never actually forget.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
28. If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you.
29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
30. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
31. Only cheaters prosper.
32. Anything is amphibious if you can get it back out of the water.
33. If you're leaving tracks, you're being followed.
34. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
35. That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.
36. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.
37. There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'
38. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients.
39. There is a difference between spare parts and extra
40. Not all good news is enemy action.
41. “Do you have a backup?” means “I can’t fix this.”
42. "They'll never expect this" means "I want to try something stupid."
43. If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky.
44. If it will blow a hole in the ground, it will double as an entrenching tool.
45. The size of the combat bonus is inversely proportional to the likelihood of surviving to collect it.
46. Don’t try to save money by conserving ammunition.
47. Don't expect the enemy to cooperate in the creation of your dream engagement.
48. If it ain't broke, it hasn't been issued to the infantry.
49. Every client is one missed payment away from becoming a target and every target is one bribe away from becoming a client.
50. If it only works in exactly the way the manufacturer intended, it is defective.
51. Let them see you sharpen the sword before you fall on it.
52. The army you've got is never the army you want.
53. The intel you've got is never the intel you want.
54. The best way to win a one-on-one fight is to be the third to arrive.
55. It's only too many weapons if they're pointing in the wrong direction.
56. Infantry exists to paint targets for people with real guns.
57. Artillery exists to launch large chunks of budget at an enemy it cannot actually see.
58. The pen is mightiest when it writes orders for more swords.
59. "Two wrongs is probably not going to be enough."
60. Any weapon's rate of fire is inversely proportional to the number of available targets.
61. Don't bring big grenades into small rooms.
62. Anything labeled "This end toward enemy" is dangerous at both ends.
63. The brass knows how to do it by knowing who can do it.
64. An ounce of sniper is worth a pound of suppressing fire.
65. After the toss, be the one with the pin, not the one with the grenade.
66. Necessity is the mother of deception.
67. If you can't carry cash, carry a weapon.
68. Negotiating from a position of strength does not mean you shouldn’t also negotiate from a position near the exits.
69. Sometimes rank is a function of firepower.
70. Failure is not an option - it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.

www.schlockmercenary.com

The webcomic this is from. Well well worth a read... Coming to the close of an unbroken 20 year arc...

What has always fascinated me about mercenaries is how for thousands of years the hiring of mercenaries by different empires and city-states was a perfectly legit and accepted practice. All of that started to change in the 19th century.

What kind of benefits do Mercenaries get? 401k? Vacation days? Sick days? Comp days? Increment weather days? Health, vision, dental insurance? Reimbursement for uniform, office supplies, equipment, travel costs, driving mileage?

If they survived the battle/war they were hired for then they got paid the agreed-upon wage. That's it.

It depends on the contract of the Private Military Corporation (PMC), but it is usually just pay and emergency care during the contract. The emergency care is stipulated “as can be arranged with other services in the region” meaning what can be provided as coordinated with other Government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). The pay is about 5 times what a government soldier gets. Almost everything is based on what can be arranged by the PMC with other organizations. It can be good to poor.

https://www.careeraddict.com/become-a-mercenary


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_military_company


https://www.mic.com/articles/40307/5-of-the-world-s-most-elite-mercenary-armies


https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mercenary.htm


https://www.jobmonkey.com/uniquejobs/security-mercenary/

Only because the ultra wealthy control the rule of law nowadays, instead of the rule of law controlling them.

Even in ancient times could the wealthy fall victim to the laws they helped write.

Without going to PWEC, Mercenaries risk jeopardizing this new normal by creating cash warfare. Mercs are expensive, and bullets and ammo don't leave gold coin casings behind.

You really don’t understand the role of PMCs. At the high point, about 20% of the personnel in Iraq/Afghanistan were PMC/Contractors.

If you are aware of what happened in Benghazi Libya with the attack on the US compounds; those were US PMC Contractors who put up the fight. They performed exceedingly well.

No doubt about that, OG. We used them heavily there. But they aren't looked at positively in the press and other "controlled" mediums.


I don't have a problem with them, myself. If folks want to put their arse on the line for better pay, by all means, go for it.

How do we become one? Get to travel to exotic countries, carry the latest weapons, kill bad people, keep this country free.

You don’t just become one. You need several years of background and you need a skill/background that they need.

The attitude in your second sentence is exactly what they try to weed out.