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Quote:I would not call that mercenaries.
Technically they could be considered mercenaries.
mer·ce·nar·y
1. working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.
2. hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc.
–noun 3. a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.
4. any hireling.
The reason I mentioned the Hanjar SS Division is because of the above reference to the Balkans.
![[Image: hanjar-book.jpg]](http://www.srpska-mreza.com/library/facts/hanjar-book.jpg)
"...quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."
a.k.a. Paul M.
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yep, you would be very hard pressed to find any european nationality who didnt have some serve in the SS, also the soviet union had lots of foreigners, but most of them lived there, a great example was a large dutch population in leningrad (st petersburg)
aka., John Shook
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Don't forget all the mercenaries from, and who fought in, Rhodesia and South Africa.
Eric
Brush-Popper extraordinaire
Gaius Decius Aquilius
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In 1971 there were recruiters for oil facility "security" in the mid-East, at the Oakland Army Depot trying to get Vietnam veterans who were being discharged to sign up. They wanted Infantry, Military Police, Communications, Engineers, Medical, and Pilots, mostly. Few if anyone signed up that I know about. They paid well and would pay your way back home after six months. Recruiting mercenaries, per se, is illegal in the US, and you loose your citizenship for serving in another nationality's military. "Security guards or experts" were OK. Pilots were always being hired by "fly by night" airline or air cargo companies who were fronts for different governments. Some wound up in South and Cental America.
As late as the 1980's former Hitler Jugen, Jean Schraum, who was a big wheel in the 60's Biafra and the Congo wars was active. He was eventually caught and executed in the Sudan in the late 80s, I think. He was the basis for a character in the 1968 movie "Dark Of The Sun".
I understand that part of the book and Movie "Dogs Of War" is strikingly similar to some actual events that came to light when a diary of a mercenary who was killed in London was found. This was after the book anad movie were released. I read this somewhere.
In Vietnam in 1970, I ran into mercenaries that were from Thailand operating in the Mekong Delta. These were Company sized units of ex-Thailand Army. I don't know much about them.
Ralph Izard
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I read once about the early 80s war between Lybia and Tchad that both governments had much outside help. Khadafi had East German 'advisors', while the French Foreign Legion had many German volunteers too. It was said that some days, most radio traffic was in German!
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Well in Chad both sides got "allied aid" from their respective alliance blocks.
So the parties involved were not officially mercenaries.
Ralf mentioned Sudan which is usually not widely mentioned in this context but it offers "employment opportunities".
Security contractors and "policing consultants" are ways to bypass "legal technicalities" but the term started appearing too much on the press so we might listen to a new "job title" in the future.
Rumor has it that communications an network consultants are in high demand and in some cases "lack of active service" might be overlooked for positions to be filled
...info provided for historical research purposes only.
Happy New Year
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remember, please keep info before 1991, thanks.
aka., John Shook
