Mercenaries

I've been noting elsewhere that 2009 is shaping up into the year of the mercenary. Maybe I'm just noticing it more because of course Death Force is about a unit of mercenaries. But the upcoming Sylvester Stallone film The Expendables, the new A Team movie, plus plenty of computer games featuring mercs suggests its rich teritory for thriller and adventure writers. It certainly seems that way to me. As characters, mercenaries are completely flexible. They can seek out trouble, they can get involved in all kinds of wars, and yet they are still their own men, answerable to no one apart from their conscience and their wallet. They are, in fact, the closest you can find to cowboys in the modern world. And a writer can't find a much better subject than that.

Desperate Men For Desperate Times.

My book 'Death Force' will be out in only a few weeks time. One of the difficult things as a writer is getting the timing right. When I started with the idea, the British economy was still booming. Now it is heading into a major recession. I'm hoping that will be the right timing for a story about mercenaries heading off into war torn battle zones. Desperate men for desperate times. The Telegraph has a story today about recruitment to the armed forces rising, in response to the credit crunch. Hopefully that is a pointed that I'm onto something. We'll see.

Are There Mercenaries in Georgia

One of the great things about writing a series of books on mercenaries is that there is never any shortage of subjects. The last few days have seen an explosion of stories about piracy following the attack on the oil tanker. Today, the Russians are alleging that there were foreign mercenaries fighting in Georgia during the brief war there last summer. Of course, they might well say that, and we're not sure we trust the Russian government. There are trying to justify what looked like a war of aggression. Then again, Georgia is a very small place, and it wouldn't be that surprising if they hired some outside help.

Mercenaries Vs Pirates

The notion of using mercenary forces to tackle the pirates off the coast of Somalia is gaining ground. Indeed, the giant US private miliary corporation Blackwater has just put out a press release volunteering its services. Since shipping insurance rates have risen ten-fold this year because of the threat from pirates, you can see why it makes sense. As a plot line for the third book in the Death Force series, this is looking better all the time.

Pirates vs Mercenaries

One of the great things about writing a series of books aboug a gang of mercenaries is that there is never any shortage of things to write about. I've already been thinking about setting the third book in the series in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia. But in the blogosphere, the idea is already out there already. Excaliber Forums thinks Lloyd's shipping insurers could pay, and it's not a bad idea. After all, people pay for private security for their offices, factories or oil rigs. Why not their ships as well?

Mercenaries for Africa

The Wall Street Journal has run an interesting editorial piece wondering whether a mercenary force shouldn't be sent into Dafur to try and sort the place out. It quotes Erik Prince, the controversial founder of the Blackwater private militart corporation, advocating a force of about 250 trained men, who would in turn train up a larger force of African soldiers. Could it happen, I wonder? I suspect it might, although it will be a long time before we are ready for it. Billions are being spent on aid to Africa, but we all know the problems are more political and military than economic. Until you have stable governments, with the rule of law, there isn't going to be any real progress. That mean toppling the madmen. In the long run it would be far cheaper and far more effective to employ a mercenary force to impose order. People will resist the idea, largely because of the legacy of colonialism. But it so obviously makes sense, I suspect they will come around to it eventually.

Mercenaries wages

The Glasgow Herald reports that Private Security Corporation staff in Iraq - otherwise known as mercenaries - are making £250 a day, or £7,000 a month. It's a good wage, I suppose, although given the risk of dying, it's hardly a fortune.

Simon Mann

There's a great piece in the Independent today about the Simon Mann coup plot. A must-read.

Mercenaries

There's a nice review in The Guardian by Peter Beaumont of a new book on mercenaries called War Plc. He makes the point that warfare has been extensively privatised, with PMCs carrying out many of the tasks that used to be performed by conventional soldiers. The Independent makes a similar point, with a story about how British bases in Afghanistan and Iraq could be protected by private firms. I suspect this trend is going to continue - a theme I'm exploring in my fictional series Death Force which kicks off in January. The 20th century very much belonged to big public armies, but before that warfare often belonged to small, private armies (or at least private-public partnerships). Many people seem to think there is somehting odd about the return of the mercenaries, but you could just as well view it as warfare getting back to normal.

Mercenaries

There's a lovely piece in The Times today by Ben Macintyre about how Simon Mann fits perfectly into the fictional tradition of mercenaries. I think he's right about that. Mann gets a lot of coverage because he is a mercenary novel made flesh: a swashbuckling adventurer creating havoc in small African states. He refers at lenght, however, to Frederick Forsyth's The Dogs of War as a classic of the genre. I'd have to disagree with him there. I rate Forsyth as the BMW of thriller writers: not much character, but the most brilliant engineering you have ever seen. I re-read The Dogs of War recently, however, having first read it when it came out, and I was about 12. It's a fantastically boring book, by far the worst he ever wrote. It goes on for about 500 pages, and the actual fighting doesn't start until page 480. Most of the time, the hero is setting up bank accounts in Bruges, then getting the ferry back to Britain. As a foot passanger! Exciting stuff.