Manual of the Mercenary Soldier: A Guide to Mercenary War, Money, and Adventure

161 Pages·1988·2.49 MB·English

by  Paul Balor

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Jcrcenaay War,
[|iloney,
and Adventure
PAUL BALOR
PALADIN PRESS
BOULDER, COLORADO
A grateful salute to a very tough Drill In-
structor, editor Paul McCarthy, who re-
lentlessly ran me through the bizarre ob-
stacle course that constitutes book writing
and publishing.
Mawal of the Mercetury Soldier:
A Guide to Mercenary War, Moncy , and Advenure
by Paul Balor
Copyright @ tSSf byPaulBalor
ISBN 0-87364-474-3
Printed in the United States of America
Published by Paladin Press, a division of
Paladin Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 1307,
Boulder, Colorado 80306, USA.
(303) 443-72s0
Direct inquiries and/or orders to the above address.
All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, no
portion of this book may be reproduced in any form
without the express written permission of lhe publisher.
Neither the author nor the publisher assumes
any responsibility for the use or misuse of
information contained in this book.
Pholo crediL Thomas Duncan
Hardcover edition printed by permission of
Dell Publishing Company.
CONTENTS
Prcface: Classic Soldiers of Fortune and Modern
Mercenaries xi
Part 1: Welcome to the World of the
Mercenary Soldier of Fortune
1
&ctlon 1: Working the War*ls lt Legal? 7
I
American "Volunteers" in Nicaragua
:i
Service to "Foreign Princes" 11
:r.
Now the Bad News 15
ri gcctlon 2: Entry Routes to the Mercenary
1"
nhy
21
Homework 22
Entry Level Route 1: Mercenary Schools 30
Entry Level Route 2: Scam Journalism 35
Entry Level Route 3: Basic Logistics 39
Entry Level Route 4: lnternational Security
. Agencies 45
Entry Level Route 5: GIA Gontract Work 48
Scctlon 3: Employment Notes 52
Clients and Accounts 53
Learn to Say NO 57
Reduce the Risk in Risking 58
Don't Play the False Flags Game 61
ParamilitaryParameters 63
Professional Relations 64
PersonalNomenclature 67
Go the Gray Ghost Mode 68
!
Flashpoint 69
vlll CONTENTS CONTENTS
Part 2: Mercenary Skills-at-Arms 73 Field Operational Environment 156
l:
Section General Skills Orientation 76 Regional Adiustment 161
A Mercenary's Motivation 82 General Area Study 162
Shock Training 83 Regional Penetration Missions 169
Develop an Anaerobic Energy System 86 Hostile Group Encounters 173
Selected Martial Arts Systems 89 lntermediate-Level lnsurgency 177
Ninjutsu 93 Counterattacking Secondary-Stage G uerril la
Your Hazardous Environment Mode 96 Warfare 182
2:
Section Contact Combat 98 Paper Chasing 189
Help Wanted: Warriors! 99
The Basic Blow 104 Part 4: Advanced Mercenary Occupational
lmprovised Weaponry 105
Specialization 195
Classic lmprovisation 107 goctlon l: Techno-Commando Tactician 199
Bladesmanship 109
Clarifying Your Nomenclature 200
The Cobra Strike 111
Transition: La Guerre Revolutionnaire Becomes
Notes on Knives 113
3: Shock Warfare 202
Section Merc Gunnery 114
Your Basic Offensive Action: Raids and
Your Basic Weapons 117
Ambushes 206
Terrain and Weaponry 120
Speed-Concealment-AccuracY 209
Merc Rapid-Fire 121
Backup Weapons 125 Sniper Operations 210
Ammo Awareness 127 Assault Diamonds 213
Ops
Psywar 215
Part 3: Mercenary Field Operations 131 PrecisionTargeting 217
2:
Section l: Operational Area Orientation 135 Soctlon Shock Warfare Intelligence
Advlser 223
Transformation 136
Shock Linguistics 137 The General's Third World lntelligence-Doctrine 227
Making Your Transit 140 States of Siege 230
Assume the Chameleon Mode 145 lnterrogation 234
And Observe Basic Security 148 Mobilize Your Mousseblin 2gg
2:
Sectlon Operational Guidelines 149 lntegrate Your Security Systems 240
Money and Your Survival 150 Your New Clandestine Service 244
Your Personal Evasion 154 Target Individuals-Not lnstitutions 247
CONTENTS Preface
Part 5: FSIO: Full-Service lndependent Classic Soldiers of Fortune
Operative
253
and Modern Mercenaries
1:
Section Prototype Operators and
Operations
256
A Master Operator 2Sg
Tactics and Style 2Og
FSIO Personnel Problems 268
Your FSIO Rules of Engagement 221
SOF Cities 273
2:
Section Winning with Losers and
Lost Causes 281 Soldier of fortune superstar Hilaire du Berrier sees a clear
Lost Causes, Ltd. 282 digtinction between "soldier of fortune" and "mercenary."
Extractions, lnc. 286 Ag our oldest living SOF and the most renowned, du Ber-
The Exile lndustry 2Oo rler has earned the right to define the difference:
Vultures' Tip Sheet 294 Soldiers of fortune of the Sweeney, Pollock, and
Final Briefing 297 Schmidt breed (of the classic SOF era between the world
., wars) had a code that covered everything from mode of
dress to dying, and their standards were rigid. There was
no greater insult to a soldier of fortune than to call him
a mercenary. Mercenaries were human sheep with no
t
t.
ilt say as to whom they would fight or why.
,.q_i
' '.,4tL}:i
,t But, as the old warrior sadly admits, he is speaking of a
bygone era. He contrasts his "gentlemen adventurers"
with the new breed, "the bluejean- and sweatshirt-elad
generation," and finds little in common.
The passage of time and changed circumstances have
blurred the distinctions. Today the two terms are used al-
most interchangeably. And the people who actually qualify
for those labels shrink from both terms. They cringe at
being called mercenaries. And almost nobody has enough
ncrve anymore actually to call himself a soldier of fortune.
xlt PREFACE PREFACE
x1l1
The first label makes one sound like a military whore; the flght for little or nothing. At the same time you'll meet real
other like Captain Midnight. mercs who are walking clich6s of the popular conception.
There's another problem complicating nomenclature. Among both types are a sizable minority of misfits and
The soldier of fortune tag certainly doesn't apply to a guy mental rejects. The same is true of many of our so-called
who is actually in the employ of his own government. Nei- goldiers of fortune.
ther does the term mercenary in the classic sense accu- One distinction between the merc and SOF breeds is
rately describe Western government contract personnel in that the latter tend to be much looser. The SOF can laugh
foreign conflicts-although it fits the growing numbers of at himself and his world. People who call themselves mercs
Third Worlders overtly or covertly employed by Western tend to take themselves very seriously indeed-whereas
agencies in those conflicts. the SOF recognizes, and gleefully accepts, the absurdity
Many or most of our modern "mercenaries" and factor inherent in the profession.
"soldiers of fortune" are in those categories. Still, there are And it is a profession-although usually a part-time
many genuine free-lancers around-and an even larger profession. That's because too many people in the business
number whose government links are both tenuous and ghrink at the profit motive. They accept missions for nick-
temporary. There are real mercenaries and soldiers of for- cls and dimes and support themselves by honest toil be-
tune-and there ls a difference. tween bouts. Too many others have discovered that it's the
The two distinct images cited by Hilaire du Berrier still criminal sidelines to the business that really pay off. But
linger: The mercenary is a hired hand; an SOF is a free you, Joe, need not be locked into either category.
agent. The mercenary is traditionally a field soldier; the Accept the profit motive. Accept the fact that you have
SOF spans the whole spectrum of conflict. The merc is #ii to buy groceries and pay the rent. Charge for your services.
*a
motivated by money; the SOF is out for glory and adven- s: Be mercenary-just as mercenary as lawyers or doctors or
Kw.
ture as well as gold. "iF other professionals. That's the only way you can be a full-
There is a lot of basic truth in both images. But both time professional, however you define the term. And don't
definitions are misleading. You can't typecast these people be afraid of that word mercenary; any word that arouses
and what they do that neatly. ouch righteous indignation ean't be all bad. Screw'em, Joe
Today's so-called mercenaries, for instance, are mostly Merc.
idealists. It's those rogues, the true SOFs, who are the real As for soldier of fortune . . . this term broadens your
bastards. Straight mercs, particularly Americans, tend to horizons, both financially and professionally. You are not
be flag-and-country idealists. They are personally and bit- locked into purely military parameters. You become an
terly opposed to the Communists and their Third World gdventurer into the world of conflict, an environment as
allies. People like them pay their own way to the wars and broad and ill-defined as the mind of man can conceive. But
xlv PREFACE PREFACE xv
that world is very real. It's the world of sharks and sar- How good was Christmas and his nefarious crew? Damn
dines, of predators and victims. Some survive and prosper, rgood. They were ideally adapted to their time and place.
t
others perish. As a mercenary SOF you swim with the Those old guys were survival types: jungle-wise as
sharks. 'gcarred panthers, tough, smart-and intuitive, They had
SOFs divide into two broad categories. One is personi- an instinctive sense of timing. They knew when to get in
fied by Hilaire du Berrier, gentleman adventurer. and when it was time to leave. They could smell danger.
Du Berrier notes that SOFs of his era had a code for They could sense an opponent's fear or indecision. They
everything, including dress. Photos of the period show him knew how to bluff-and they were damn lucky.
and his crowd decked out in jodhpur trousers and boots, How would they have fared in the Central America of
costly leather jackets, silk scarves, doeskin gloves. you today? Or the Middle East and Southeast Asia?
look at those guys and you know that they died with their They probably would have lasted about five minutes,
boots on and spit-polished. instincts notwithstanding. Sure they had their enormous
But the prototype of the twentieth-century soldier of self-confidence, their charisma and survival intuition, their
fortune-turned into a sort of superstar by writers Richard lethal imag*but what those guys really had going for
Harding Davis and O. Henry-was a great drunken semi- them was the good fortune to have gotten their calling back
literate slob who could fight like a beast. He was General ln an era when it was no way as dangerous as it is in these
Lee Christmas. For nearly twenty years around the turn of last years of the twentieth century.
the century he was the most powerful man in Central Compadre, don't think for one moment that you're go-
America. ing to do a Lee Christrnas number on our little brown
Christmas didn't have time to wear jodhpurs. He sired brothers in the Third World. That's the mistake the con-
forty-six children and his descendants are still scattered ventionals make-and keep making. That era is over. The
around Honduras. He also found time to be a general in guerrillas and terrorists you're going up against win their
half a dozen armies, act as contract agent for the United wars. Our side doesn't.
Fruit Company, and serve as den mother for a generation That's the paradox. Your patrons and clients and causes
of tropical mercs that included such notables as Tracy will be Western oriented. They're the people under attack.
Richardson, Sam Dreber, Guy Maloney, Dean Lamb. They're the people who will pay for your services-and the
. . . By the time the shooting stopped, Christmas had other side not only won't retain you but also considers you
turned Central America into United Fruit's private empire. a natural enemy. That narrows your parameters but also
Lee Christmas then went home to New Orleans and died eimplifies the ideology issue. The lines are akeady drawn
quietly in bed. and the choice of sides is not yours to make. And that,
xvl PREFACE PREFACE
xvll
compadre, means you're on the losing side. The merce- lystems and Mercenary occupational specialties of the
nary's world is steadily shrinking. lower ranks and applies them in enterprises ranging from
So what does this mean to you, Joe Merc, in professional businesses to bedrooms. The same principles apply.
terms? Maybe you should just forget the whole thing? That's one of the curious things about this way of life.
Not necessarily. Lost causes and losers go with the job. You'll find that the people in it, their wars and the out-
As the old master Hilaire du Berrier notes: comes of those wars, are highly predictable. one reason is
The soldier of fortune is a man who chooses the war- that there is a large body of human experience for you to
rior's life for its own sake, and, by the code, faces the tap. Another is that people like you tend to have certain
fact that, if there were a chance of winning, the side for oharacteristics in common (like Mafiosi, veteran mercs can
which he is fighting would not need him. . . opot each other at a glance) and one ofthem is a tendency
. to let their profession overwhelm their personalities and
Very true-and that's why I have a section in this man- their whole existence. so do guerrillas and terrorists. And
ual devoted to losing sides. The trick is to pick the right they have all found that their professional techniques are
losing side. readily adaptable to the whole spectrum of the human con-
It also means a radical shift in your thinking and acting. dition.
old-time swashbuckling is out. your military experience is
not good enough. Nor your Agency connection. They
can't cope either. You're going to need a whole new doc-
trine to adjust to the new conflict environment. start
thinking new combat formations, new intelligence tech- ,*
niques, new tactics and technology. I'll try to point you on
your way. Let me emphasize that this is not a military text.
*
It's an attempt to outline what is involved in the making of !h
fv
a mercenary soldier of fortune. fl
,&.
We'll try to trace your probable route from lowly i&
li.,
paramilitary status to field mercenary, then give you an
&
intelligence and command capacity-which I think even #
Hilaire du Berrier would agree moves you out of the ..hu- ,ffi'
man sheep" group, into the soldier of fortune category, &
and on to full-service independent operator status, FSIO.
He's the rare guy who has mastered the techniques and
PART
1
Welcome to the World of the
Mercenary Soldier of Fortune