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Mercenaries and Military Value by Jerry Pernoulle (time is the late Seventies) (excepts used without permission) (excerpted from David Drake's excellent Hammer's Slammers books.) ... But now both the military and anyone who studies war are held in a good deal of contempt. I do not expect this state of affairs to last-in fact, I am certain that it cannot. A nation which despises its soldiers will all too soon have a despicable army. For mercenaries are a dangerous necessity. If they are incompetent, they will ruin you. If they are competent there is always the temptation to rob the paymaster. Why should they not? They know their employers will not fight. They may, if called a national army, retain loyalty to the country - but if the nation depsies them, and takes every possible opportunity to let them know it, then that incentive falls as well - and they have a monopoly on the means of violence. And it should be clear that no one fights purely for money; that anyone who does is probably not worth hiring. As Montesquieu put it, "a rational army would run away." To stand on the firing parapet and expose yourself to danger... and be still to the Birkenhead drill; these are not rational acts. They are often merely necessary. It's a rather remarkable achievement, when you think about it. Its's even more remarkable when you look closer and see just how many mercenary units have performed creditably, honorably, even gallantly; how many of those who have changed history on the battlefield have been professional soldiers... Yet you could search through the armies of history and you would find few competent troopers who fought for money and money alone. My reason for this page is not to support paid combatants. But to bring up some arguments that many businesses forget. Companies pay lip service to the creation of teamwork, and then through their actions alienate the rank and file to the point of merely being mercenaries loyal to naught but the paycheck. The computer company that I worked for for over two years prior to leaving late last summer had this ability to hire excellent people and them drive them away to the highest bidder instead of attempting to treat them well and retain them as company loyal. Then they hired mercenaries to take the place of those they had driven off. That computer company replaced excellent company people with incompetant mercenaries. When I left them, I became the merc hired to come in and resolve what the indigs could not handle. Basically, when you think about it, what are "consultants", "temps" and "contract labor". We are mercenaries. Thus we as mercenaries fit into the above paragraph. Companies need to treat their employees well to avoid loosing experience and loyalty. For those that must hire mercs, they need to both take caution when hiring, and instill a loyalty in the mercs that they have hired. Else it can be disasterous for the incompetant employer. From a gaming perspective, it would be interesting to have a "third party" present on the gaming field but officially a noncombatant to be left alone. The gamer could "allow" his Thief (obviously he is Allied) to take some credits from somebody as an employment fee to slam the other guy for a minute. Interesting but hard to create game scenario.  |