MERCENARY ARMIES ARE NOTHING NEW TO THE WORLD
Sean McFate, professor at the National Defense University, published an interesting article in The New York Times entitled Prigozhin’s Real Legacy: The Mercenary Blueprint addressing the future of the world’s most dangerous private army. Whereas Putin forced many Wagner mercenaries to surrender their weapons to the Russian military following his embarrassment in a coup attempt by Prigozhin, Wagner’s best fighters are in Africa. The Russian government will likely take control of this lucrative enterprise to improve the finances of both the government and Putin. The hired gun labor pool is quite extensive with Wagner having become the model under Prigozhin’s direction until he started drinking his own whiskey and had to be removed from the face of the earth. Nonetheless, there are many vulnerable places around the world with natural resources that can reward mercenary armies by merely destabilizing existing governments.
Accordingly, Prigozhin began life as a chef for Putin but saw an opportunity to make some serious money in the dangerous enterprise of mercenary guns for hire. The psychology and potential financial rewards of this line of work would make an interesting case study for most any business school though many of the university graybeards would find it offensive. It served Russia well for many years, but it is unlikely many permanent Prigozhin monuments will be erected in Russia though a temporary one is shown below.
Nonetheless, The Washington Post reported there is a Wagner troop monument in the Central African Republic where the mercenary army has had a presence for over five years in this poor but resource rich country. We can expect this monument to remain as, although Wagner operated independently of Moscow during this period, command central is seeking to bring this lucrative enterprise under its control.
Mercenary armies have been around for much of the recorded history of mankind. Some of the more prominent ones are worthy of mention should anyone have issues of their place among the more righteous of you folks out there. The Swiss Guard is one example that operated during the Renaissance period from the 15th to 19th centuries with over a million soldiers. They were the first army to perfect the use of their trademark pikes against more heavily armed foes which earned them the reputation as the most effective army money could buy. You might recognize the papal image below as The Swiss Guards became the royal guard of the Vatican. It does seem a bit incongruous to see a hefty Swiss Guard displaying his pike to deter unwanted visitors from seeing the Pope. The Swiss Guard were also a favorite mercenary to support the French Army over their formative days.
It is a small world in that the French Army evolved over time to become effective mercenaries to support General Washington’s rag-tag army in the U.S. War of Independence. Between 1778 and 1782, the French provided supplies, arms, ammunition, uniforms, troops and naval support to defeat the British. The French navy fought off a British fleet and protected Washington’s troops in Virginia. The British like French wines and cuisine but relations obviously soured over their support for the evolution of a colony to become a free country. On the other hand, neither the French nor the British colonists were anxious to free their own colonies.
The United States got its first taste of creating mercenary armies which in fact was an air force leading up to World War II. Claire Lee Chennault, or “Old Leatherface” as he was known, commanded the 1st American Volunteer Group of pursuit aircraft nicknamed Flying Tigers. U.S. Army Air Force pilots, mechanics and technicians resigned from the armed forces and received a pay increase to train Chinese pilots to fight against the Japanese in 1941. The U.S. mercenary pilots were also known to fly missions on their own. There were some U.S. fatalities, but no aircraft lost. The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, shown below, was the aircraft of choice. You will note an impressive array of Japanese flags indicating aircraft shot down in aerial combat painted on the fuselage.
Sadly, Dwight Eisenhower convinced Truman that the U.S. should support the French return to Indo Chine following World War II despite the direct plea of Ho Chi Minh that the Vietnamese path of choice was to create a free democratic republic. In pretty short order, the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. Vietnam was separated into North and South Vietnam with an undertaking to have a reunification referendum in the future which never happened and was unnecessary when North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam in 1975. When it became obvious after the French defeat that the North Vietnamese were moving arms and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, there was a repeat of the old China hand days in the early 40’s.
The CIA undertook to conduct its own “illegal” war in Laos with all aircraft, combatants, fuel supply services and whomever serving as civilians so there was no official U.S. presence on the ground which would have been in violation of peace accords. Accordingly, all of us who happened to be there were in fact mercenaries. To the extent possible, hill tribe Hmong fighters were utilized to fight on the ground and fly T-28 prop planes as shown below in Luang Prabang, Laos. Various unmarked aircraft were fueled in strange locations, loading rockets and a bomb under each wing for a very short flight to the combat zones.
It was an exciting time as there were no identification markings on the aircraft and no uniforms worn by the few gringos in these forward locations. Occasionally, commercial DC-3 aircraft operated by Corsicans would fuel up to take on passengers in a cabin surrounded by opium as it was the currency to pay the Hmong troops. Most of the opium came from what is now Myanmar through Thailand or Laos. At times things could get dicey as the Corsicans often operated at cross purposes with the CIA causing the fuel suppliers to keep their heads down. Samsonite hard case briefcases in Laos were reserved for passports with visas to travel within the country and handguns rather than business papers. If you were a young guy, it was fantasy island—no rules, no fear and no one telling you what to do. Therefore, we should all be careful about speaking disrespectfully of mercenaries as not all of them are bad folks.
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