Dark Water

Scott Hardie | October 3, 2007
I've been playing fantasy video game Elder Scrolls IV for ages now. If you join the law-abiding Fighters Guild, one of the major subplots involves a rival mercenary group called Blackwood Company. They're cheaper and more efficient, so they win the down & dirty contracts. But they're sloppy and out of control, so they wind up slaughtering civilians during their raids, and eventually you have to put a stop to them.

Sounds eeriely like the news, huh?

I have nothing serious to say about Blackwater tonight – the news is graver than my pen – so I thought I'd open the floor to your comments about the controversy.

Amy Austin | October 3, 2007
HA! (That's all I can say about that...)

(For now.)

Lori Lancaster | October 3, 2007
[hidden by request]

Tony Peters | October 3, 2007
please do not assume that because someone works for Blackwater that they are scum only in it for the money. I have a number of old friends who retired or were otherwise discharged from the service and chose employment with Blackwater as a means to support themselves and their families.

Lori Lancaster | October 3, 2007
[hidden by request]

Tony Peters | October 3, 2007
The thing about groups such as Blackwater and other security/mercenary groups is that they are essentially on their own....they have little to no support unlike say a platoon of marines who can always call in air support. The people drawn to this type of work are by nature some of the best the services have ever trained and have chosen for whatever reason to join the private sector. But something to remember they aren't looking for a fight they are looking to stay alive to spend those big pay checks (and they do get BIG paychecks). Looking for a fight shortens your lifespan and those they are paid to protect so more often than not those guys will beat a well organized retreat, most often with guns a blazin because it's easier to hide behind a hail of bullets than in front of one.

As for the need of these mercenaries.....well 2 presidents chose to trim the military down to less than half of it's pre BRAC strength and then to use it twice as much as to was used pre BRAC. This too is a statement of fact....holes were worn in the steel flight decks of 3 aircraft carriers, squadrons of Navy F18s were switched with USMC squadrons because the the Navy Airframes had exceeded the number of carrier landings they were safe for. Amy once spent 2-3 weeks in Guam while her carrier redid the noneskid on the flight deck the Lincoln did the same thing in Perth Australia. The Army was perhaps the hardest hit, they have been pared down to probably half of what they had during Bush the first's term...and yet they are short cycled back to the war at a rate that causes more problem than is solves. The lack of available troops in uniform means that jobs that could be done by a private now have to be done by Private businesses. I read yesterday that there are roughly 180,000 "contractors" in Iraq....of these I'm guessing maybe 40,000 are "private security" the rest are just normal people doing normal jobs. Of the 40,000 doing security most are doing the average rent a cop stuff (albeit in a much more hostile environment). The Special Ops guys (the kind of people who are traditionally thought of as mercenaries) make up a very small portion of these numbers because there just aren't that many of them to begin with and most don't do the work for long. Our country has been lead by two presidents who severely degraded the defense of this country both in material and personnel. As such when there is a job to be done we have no choice but to rely on the private sector. I recently read a quote which I find applicable to how we as a country have mired ourselves in Iraq
"We are at war, to allow any segment of the population to pretend it is safe is dangerous. It makes defending the nation a task for warriors alone. People come to regard them (warriors/soldiers) as they would gardeners or other servants. They allow themselves to become insulated from the reality facing them. Either a people is united behind a leader to guaranty the destruction of it enemies or it's effort is futile. If anyone is allowed to think that they are exempted from involvement, the war is lost" - Michael A. Stackpole