The Swiss were famous for it, the Hessians gave it a college try, some even wonder if the US military haven't been in the game as the armed extension of the House of Saud. That's as maybe and it's all going on in the Ukraine today. LL makes the compelling point that if you want to fight in a "stand up war" join a PMC (Private Military Company), with a sponsor, and people who know what they're doing.
That in mind, we remember the world's most famous mercenary in recent times, Mad Mike Hoare. Born in British India to Irish parents, Hoare fought in WWII and retired at the rank of Major to Durban, South Africa, where he worked at the insufferably dull job of accountancy until recruited by Moïse Tshombe to put down the communist Simba insurgency.
Mad Mike's final exploit was in the Seychelles, where his team were arrested at the airport. The BBC comments:
When officers found a dismantled AK-47, the man panicked and revealed that there were more weapons outside.
At this point the entire plan unravelled, and amid the ensuing conflict at the airport the mercenaries commandeered an Air India plane and flew it back to South Africa.
When they arrived the mercenaries were jailed for six days...
There is, when you think on it, something remarkable about Hoare and here at DLC (Dallas Light Cavalry) HQ he's required reading. He was, miraculously, 100 years old when he died in 2020.
Rest in Peace, Colonel,
LSP
