Files
Download Full Text (397 KB)
Description
Mercenaries are more powerful than experts realize, a grave oversight. Those who assume they are cheap imitations of national armed forces invite disaster because for-profit warriors are a wholly different genus and species of fighter. Private military companies such as the Wagner Group are more like heavily armed multinational corporations than the Marine Corps. Their employees are recruited from different countries, and profitability is everything. Patriotism is unimportant, and sometimes a liability. Unsurprisingly, mercenaries do not fight conventionally, and traditional war strategies used against them may backfire.
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
12-2019
Publisher
National Defense University Press
City
Washington, DC
Recommended Citation
McFare, Sean, "Mercenaries and War: Understanding Private Armies Today" (2019). Strategic Monographs. 10.
https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-monographs/10