WEBVTT - How Mercenaries Work 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.040 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.360 from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.960 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is always a 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.520 smiling Chuck Bryant. I'm smiling. How are you doing, Chuck? 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.360 I feel like I was just whisked in here, like 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.160 Elvis or something. You were you like Krusty the clown 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.400 when he comes in to do the recording for a 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.920 Crusty Doll? Right you remember? Yeah again? Hey, Hey, that's 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.960 my best. Yeah. So Chuck came in on a sick day, 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.479 on a wing and a prayer. I just walked in. Yeah, 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.440 traffic is bad, it's nasty out, raining, raining, cold, and 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.320 we're going to talk about something else that is cold. Hey, 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:54.760 nice mercenaries, Yeah, Chuck, we've talked about Delta Force before. Remember, 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.920 we had to keep our composure sure, because we were 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.760 tittering and excited and all that. Yes, you're taken to 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.160 task a little bit by liking violence that's not necessarily 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.880 going to happen in this one. I have a feeling mercenaries, 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.880 which are as I think everybody knows our soldiers for 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:16.920 hire are pretty much universally hated by everybody. Yeah, okay, 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.679 I didn't get that. Yeah, nobody likes a mercenary. One 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.880 of the reasons why is because when you go to war, 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.160 because people go to war because somebody is getting pushed 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.000 around by some other big jerk country or um, you know, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.880 there's some dictator that should be toppler. It's ideological on 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.000 the suite, on the surface, and that's what attracts you know, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.080 brave men and women, braver people than us much who 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:45.560 go into service not for money, but because they want 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.320 to protect democracy or freedom or what have you. Mercenaries 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.960 don't do that. They go and say, uh, this country 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.080 is paying a lot right now for this war that 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:57.400 they're in, and I'm gonna go kill for them. Sure 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.640 for money, I'm killing for money. They're pretty much man. Yeah, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.120 I didn't realize that the fascinating history of the mercenary 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.520 until I read this. No, and William Harris, by the way, 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.760 did a hum dinger of a job. Job. Yeah, So, Chuck, 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.600 let's talk about mercenaries. Where did they come from? Well, Josh, 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.040 the earliest account that we know of is about twenty 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:21.600 four hundred years ago when uh Persian prince in general 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.600 Cyrus the Younger, which I like that Cyrus the Younger, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.960 not to be confused with Cyrus the elderly guy, right, 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.239 the bald Uh he hired the ten thousand, which was 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.880 an army of Greek mercenaries, to seize the throne in Persia, right, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:40.320 and what a sarces? Yeah, and I'm not sure, but 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.000 I've seen the movie three hundred, so I bet the 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.400 ten thousand were pretty tough. Yeah, And I was wondering, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.519 are the three hundred and the ten thousand related? Are 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.680 the three hundred the remains of the decimated ten thousand? 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.919 If so, they're tough dudes. They were tough dudes. That 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:56.720 was a great movie. That's stupid disfigured guy gave him up? Yeah, 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.320 and oh the abs did you know? In that movie? 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.040 They they wanted to recreate what these guys probably looked like. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.320 So when they were training, they didn't use any equipment. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.160 They did things like roll tires up hills, did like 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:16.320 real like earthy um, like the Strongman competition very much. 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:18.840 It carried like concrete beer kegs and stuff, right, and 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.519 like pickup tractor trailers like the beer cakes what a 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.239 waste of beer. Seriously. So yeah, so that was back 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:30.440 in what four oh one BC, right, and since then 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:37.400 we've pretty much used mercenaries almost uninterrupted. Yeah, they made 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.040 a pretty big splash, I guess you could say in 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.120 the Hundred Years War, which lasted longer than a hundred years, 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.240 But they did. But I mean, they're not gonna say, 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.080 what the hundred and sixteen year War that doesn't have 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.920 the same ring between the English and the French from 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.960 s to fourteen fifty three. Well, that's the problem with 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.120 the long War is that your armies are going to 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.920 be decimated precisely, so you have to turn to the 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:03.720 you know, the paid for higher guys. Well, not only that, 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.960 the standing political army didn't really appear until I think 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.920 the seventeenth century. So back back in this time, all 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:16.960 these disparate landowning earls and dukes and princes, Um, they 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.480 had their own private armies and they were all for pay. 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.040 But um a lot of them were drawn from their 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.320 own countrymen. But yeah, you make an excellent point. When 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.320 you have a hundred year war, you're gonna go through 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.160 a lot of your countrymen. That's just kind of one 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.000 of the aspects of war. So yeah. Um. In the 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.080 Hundred Year War, a guy named Edward of Woodstock who's 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.520 known as the Black Prince, which, by the way, from 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.760 now on, I want you to call me the Black Prince. 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.479 I was gonna call you Josh of Woodstock. Not for 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:48.360 many years, buddy. Um. He made use of mercenaries in 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.520 what how do you pronounce this, chuck, I'm gonna go 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.640 with cheval sha yes, which basically means burned, pillage, loot 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.160 and rape. Yes, And that's our war. I think fans 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.760 of Blazing Saddles might know that better as the number six. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.280 That was where they go riding into town whipping in 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.719 a wamping every living thing. Yeah, yeah, that's what they 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:09.800 say in Blazing Saddles. Then they also had a number 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:14.080 six dance later on, which was a really great line dance. 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.720 Maybe so, probably not. I think it's a little more 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:22.080 bloody and horrifying. Yeah. Um. And then the the Hundred 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.880 Years War ends, and I guess the use of mercenaries 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.119 kind of dried up for a little while, right, Yeah, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.800 So my earlier comment about them being used uninterrupted was 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.880 totally baseless. Well, I bet you there were some mercenaries 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.039 used here and there, just not as widely. Right, Let's 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.680 talk about some famous mercenaries there, Chuck, Okay, like the 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.719 Swiss Guard. I think that's pretty tough. Yeah. They made 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.560 the point in here. William made the point in here 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.799 that sometimes a soldier would get a specialty, a combat specialty, 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.880 so they would be sought out because of a particular 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.640 war or a battle they might be in. And the 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.560 Swiss Guard was such because they were masters of the pike. Right, 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.679 and they're still around. There's a pretty cool photo of them, um, 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.840 and they are holding their pikes and they look Yeah, 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.720 it's it's it's pretty awesome. It sounds like a euphemism. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.160 They're holding their pikes. Yeah, I'm not gonna go there. 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.360 What about the other one? You speak German? I found 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.880 out Chuck speaks Germans and Chuck, how do you pronounce 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.160 this one? And you're gonna ask this and I practiced it. 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:26.400 I'm gonna go with lan. Okay, that's better than what 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.240 I was gonna And you know I do speak German, 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.480 but that's a really tough one. Even if you are German, 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.960 I'm gonna can you can you say say hello to 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.760 my little friends Zach to mankind and freunden. Yeah, checks 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.440 of Beverly Hills Chuawa fame by the way. So yes, 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.400 those German soldiers actually also used the pike, and but 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.920 they also used guns, which was kind of new in 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.480 the fifteenth and sixteenth century, right, muskets, arquebus, arquebus. Yeah, 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.280 so those guys made a pretty big impression. One of 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.119 the reasons why they were I guess heavily sought after 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.520 was because unlike the Swiss Guard, they I mean they 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.040 specialized in different weapons, but they had like different aspects 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.080 of their companies, Like you know, somebody would use the 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.080 must get, somebody else would use a pike, somebody else 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.560 would use a sword. So they were like everything you 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:18.200 needed all in one right. And actually, did you know that, um, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.240 in the Revolutionary War there were tons and tons of mercenaries, 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.440 not until this and I'm surprised I have not made 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.400 a film about it yet because William and he even 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:32.480 has this uh sourced said that during the Revolutionary War 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:37.000 Americans probably fought more Germans than they did English British. 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.800 Is that true? Is that possible? I could see that. Yeah, 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.560 it's crazy. You never hear about that. And uh, the 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.480 one of those um. One of those mercenaries, German mercenaries, 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.280 I think they're called hessians um, turned out to be 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.520 the headless Horseman. Oh yeah, yeah, well they could Bud. 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.520 It could Bud's foe. Oh yeah, that's right, sorry, it 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:01.320 could was the he was the nerve act manager. So yeah. One, 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.280 Like we said, standing armies kind of became popular in 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.720 the sixteenth century and never really the popularity never waned much, 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:13.239 unlike the twist um they so you know, political standing 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.080 armies have been around for a while, right, you mean 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:20.640 the dance a twists um. So as a result, mercenaries 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:26.840 have kind of fallen to the wayside until um, World 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.400 War two, Yeah, which kind of changed everything and a 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.360 lot of a lot of World War two was a 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.960 probably the most landmark event in the last I don't know, 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:41.320 since the Magna Carta. Maybe everything changed after that. You know, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:45.719 Germans got volunteers actually, so technically they weren't mercenaries. We'll 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.120 go over in a minute what the Geneva Convention actually 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.480 says as a mercenary, but I think the Germans actually 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:56.400 had volunteers from other country but Fry will just call 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:00.520 them free willie free willies. So yeah, was in World 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.480 War Two. Actually they were um. Yeah, and since they 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.520 were volunteers and they weren't paid, they weren't technically mercenaries, 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.960 but they fulfill a lot of the other stuff, a 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.160 lot of the other criteria. Um. So then yeah, after 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.040 World War Two, UM, part of the Geneva Convention, this 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:19.839 agreement among all the warring nations and the allies on 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.800 the Rules of War UM, mercenaries and their use and 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.680 their definition is very much addressed, right, Yes, in the 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.440 first Protocol of nineteen seventy seven. Should we go with 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.160 the criteria. Yes. In order to be considered a mercenary, Josh, 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.559 you must be specially recruited to take part in the conflict, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:40.880 but not a member of the armed forces of the 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.360 state that recruited you. Right, that's kind of a big one. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.800 Like the German volunteers and World War Two, they're from 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.440 other countries. Exactly. You need to actively engage in hostilities, otherwise, 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.760 I guess you probably wouldn't be very good mercenary. If not, 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:57.719 you're just some guy standing on the sideline. Exactly. Uh, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.160 you were motivated by private gain and your p its 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.040 substantially more than the ordinary armed forces of that state. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.920 Soldier of fortune. Yeah, we'll get into that too, though 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.240 it's not quite as lucrative when you factor in some 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.400 other things. You know, I was kind of surprised about that. 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.000 And um, what else is that the last one? Yeah, no, Chuck, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:16.640 that pretty much does wrap it up. I think you 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.000 covered all the big points, um. And even earlier than that, 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.319 mercenaries were kind of put on the fringes um, right 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.760 after World War Two when the original Geneva Convention was established, 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:31.640 because they created the definition for a lawful combatant. Yes, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.800 basically what we think of as a soldier, somebody who 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.000 belongs to a nation that's important to that's a war right, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:42.880 because if you're a lawful combatant, Um, you can engage 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:46.360 in offensive conflict, yeah, with with people in other countries. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.160 You protect people, and if you're caught, you are expected 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.719 to be treated as a prisoner of war. If you're 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.120 a mercenary, you're way far out there on the edge. Yeah, 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:57.520 you're kind of on your own, like you can be 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:02.960 tried for murder and half towards whatever. Um. And remember 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.680 I think in September two thousand seven, Blackwater, very very 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.480 famous UM outfit. I thot you're talking about the DeBie 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:15.319 brother song No black Water. No, No, we're not talking 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.480 about that one different guys. Um, yeah, you know Blackwater? Right. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.200 Actually I responded to someone asked to do something on 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.880 black Water, and I responded, yeah, maybe we should do 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.040 one of the Dubie Brothers as a whole. And he 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:27.959 didn't get the joke at all. He wrote back and said, no, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:29.640 that's weird that you thought that I was really talking 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.800 about black Water. Well that's weird you didn't get the joke, right, Yeah, 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:39.360 Um you remember. Okay, so you are aware of black Water? Okay. 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.319 And they I think that right after this they changed 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.720 their name to Blackwater Worldwide and now there's z x E. Yeah, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.760 they keep changing their name with very horrible travesty. But um, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.599 you know a lot of people call them them mercenaries. 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:57.160 They're now called private military contractors, but basically they supply 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.959 soldiers of fortune, right, yeah, for secure mainly. And um 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.000 that we remember in two thousand seven there was this 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.760 horrible thing that went down in Baghdad where I think 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:12.800 seventeen Iraqi civilians were killed. Um when when black Water 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:18.400 um contractors opened fire, Yeah, got real trigger happy, and 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.800 I think they found that fourteen of those deaths were unjustified. Yeah, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.960 they broke the deadly forced rules, right, and Iraq was 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.840 chomping at the bit to prosecute these guys. And I 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.160 believe the US stepped in and protected them, but I 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.440 mean they it was very possible for them to be 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.640 prosecuted because they weren't lawful combatants. Well, the US uses 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.480 a lot of these UH contractors, as it turns out, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.480 because I saw the U n Pastor resolution in the 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.760 late eighties outlawing this kind of mercenary, but the US 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:52.120 conveniently has still not signed that document because what we 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.880 want to hire the mercenaries because they What happened is, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.040 and William makes a great point, is with UH the 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.400 different rules of warfare. Now you have lots of weapons 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.480 systems and UM soldiers that are trained to man these 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.760 systems and operate these systems. So what happens is they're 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.120 spread a little thin with UM some of these day 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.280 to day duties like UH security of like high ranking 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.280 civil servants, that kind of thing, right, which the military 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.560 would usually take care of. Right. UM. Anytime you see 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:22.080 hummed cars, I you'll see a couple of white guys 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.560 who wear Oakley sunglasses and have beards with um, I 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:31.319 guess uh Heckler and cock um guns. And they are 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.960 I think former Delta Force, but now they work for Z. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.360 They're not smiling, no, but they provide security. And they 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.920 can do that lawfully. You can provide security. You can 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:45.400 provide um a defensive security where you're not engaging in 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:51.199 any offense whatsoever. Um supposedly, right, and then you're a 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.000 lawful or your your a mercenary under the Geneva Convention, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.560 the guidelines and the protocol and all that. Right, I 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.640 gotta staff for you. Okay. It's said that the US 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.640 likes to use these these soldiers of fortune. There's uh, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.200 there's no hard numbers, but they suggest that more than 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.480 a hundred and eighty thousand of these contractors are working 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.520 in Iraq alone, and that all together, all over the world, 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:19.600 that they outnumber the United States military in total. Yeah, 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.440 and we've spent about a hundred billion dollars in the 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.720 Iraq war on these mercenaries, which I think something like 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.280 a quarter or a third of the total that we 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.120 had spent. Yeah, when this article was written, I think 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.560 in late two thousand and eight, right, which of course 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:37.360 is smaller now. So Chuck. You know, Africa has been 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.880 a big site for mercenaries and it still continues to be. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.440 That's what I hear. There's pretty much anytime there's a revolution, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.040 a coup attempt, something like that, and anybody has some cash, 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:50.320 they hire outside mercenaries, right yeah. Uh. And there's a 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.760 guy named Simon man Do you remember this, Yeah, back 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.560 in two thousand four. In March two thousand four, man 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:01.240 Um was the head of two companies UM that were 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:07.400 private military companies, contractors, but basically mercenary outfits. Right, yeah, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.880 sand Line International. And I love the name of this one, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:14.440 Executive outcomes, right. I don't know what that means, yeah, 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.480 but it sounds so shady. Yeah, it does. Executive Like 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.880 you can just see like their their company headquarters, executive outcome. 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.240 It's like one of those offices that you wander into 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.240 to ask, like to use the bathroom, and they never like, 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.080 what is this place? What do you guys do here? 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.880 And you just escorted out. When you wake up and 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.000 on the park bench and take a lump on your head, 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.800 you have like ink on your fingers. Right, So well, 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.960 man Um in March two thousand four led a group 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.560 um of mercenaries from South Africa and I guess his 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.440 company um to Equatorial Guinea and he didn't make it. 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.600 He got picked up in Zimbabwe at they were going 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.520 to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. UM the president 0:15:54.600 --> 0:16:00.080 Teyodoro Obang A right nice and uh they got picked 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.400 up and held and apparently he was just recently pardoned 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.200 by President Obang and released in November. UM and he's 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.600 out and he is naming names. The story that he 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.480 tells now he's back in Great Britain is that Mark Thatcher, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.360 Sir Mark Thatcher, whose last name he might recognize. His 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.880 mom was the PM for a while UM and as 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.280 some other people from around the world had an interest 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.000 in the oil fields at Equatorial Guinea and hired allegedly 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.520 hired time and man to overthrow the government so they 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.960 could move in uh and get these oil revenues or 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.800 control these oil fields. And he was condemned pretty roundly. 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.040 Man was but he was fully pardoned by Obang. He was. Yeah, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:43.880 it was in prison for five and a half years, 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:48.600 but he did have to shut down executive outcomes apparently, right. Yeah, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.000 and sand Lie, Yeah, they're they're probably opened up under 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.960 another name. Though probably probably not. But if you think 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.920 about thinking about how people think of Blackwater or UM. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.360 You know, Simon Man, no one cared. He was in 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.000 prison for five and a half years, like and the 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.720 reason why is because he was a soldier of fortune. 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.080 These are mercenaries, you know, and people just don't think 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.280 of them very highly. True. You can we name some 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.360 of these other companies? Yeah, sure, just because I thought 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:15.760 it was kind of funny some of them. And if 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:17.800 I had a mercenary company, I don't know what I 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.679 would name it, but it would probably not be the 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.160 Olive group that was one of them. Yeah, And triple canopy, 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.639 that's that's probably a military term. And what's another goal 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:37.160 on this? One's good kroll k R O L L Government. Yeah, 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.920 that probably stands for something. UM. The one that got 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.439 that I think stands out above all the rest is 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.800 Global risk Strategies. I can see us if you go 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.640 to Guatemala calling on Global Risk Strategies to come get 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.560 us out. You know, I'd love to have that number. Actually, 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.680 maybe we should look that up. So, Chuck, let's talk 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.080 about another famous group of mercenaries that aren't necessarily and 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.960 a look down upon UM. The French Foreign Legion. You know, 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.160 the guys with the white Caps with the with them. 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.840 Do you remember in the eighties, like when did you 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.000 break dance? No? Do you remember those hats though? They 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.240 were like baseball caps, but then they had the flapping 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.040 back yeah, yeah, yeah, they were kind of based on 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.040 the engineers hats and what's up with that? Who knows? 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:28.399 Weird time. They're always leading the way fashion forward. Alright, 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.399 So these guys with the white Caps, right, yes, the 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:36.520 French Legion are technically you could call them mercenaries, although 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:42.359 they they can't eventually gain French citizenship through joining the 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.119 Foreign leagus right after three years and they have to 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:46.800 sign up for five year tour of duty, five year contract. 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.560 And the French Foreign Legion was established in eighteen thirty 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.480 one because when the French Revolution happened in July of 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.720 eighteen thirty apparently this opened the floodgates for people I 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.600 guess seeking their fortune in the newly free France for 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.199 French republic Um. And so the French said, well, you 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.720 know what, let's put all these ragamuffins and no good 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.080 knicks to good use, and they started the French Foreign Legions. 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.000 So if you came in if you wanted to become 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.120 a Frenchman. Uh, and I guess you're an able bodied man. 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:18.439 They said, sure, you can become a friendman. Sign up 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.600 five years, we'll put you in the foreign legion. After 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.440 three years you can become a citizen. After the fifth 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.440 year you can come back and do whatever you like. 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.000 And many were no good knicks actually in the early days. 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:33.919 And still it's Mike joining the circus or you know, 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:36.679 sometimes we have some no good knicks that joined up 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.719 in the army at eighteen because they're you know, parole 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.600 officer says that might be a good move for him, 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:44.680 and the army will shape them up and turn them 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:50.320 into good citizens hopefully or vengeance killers. So can we 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:54.440 talk more about the legionnaires. I think we should. Yeah, okay, Well, 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.760 they get um recruited and they get a proof of 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.920 preselection and that means you get a little medical check 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.480 up and what they call a quote confirmation of motivation. Right, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.000 they want to make actually do want to do this? 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.760 Or you're aware that you're signing up for five years 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.040 to go be in the military, right, And once you 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.960 pass through that stage, you go to another set of 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.720 like more thorough questioning and medical uh checkups, and then 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.240 you go to basic training for fifteen weeks a little 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:25.560 country town in the south of France. And at the 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.760 end of that they introduce you to your you know, 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.159 your comrades and your military life. They teach you French 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.159 ideal you can speak a little French at the end 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:34.679 of this. And then at the end you get your 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.120 cape blanc, which is that goofy looking white at right, 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.879 And it isn't it? It is? And it kind of 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.359 stands out it's not very practical. No, and uh, there's 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.280 a picture of a modern foreign legionnaire, French foreign legionnaire, 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.240 and he does he's wearing like a beret and camo 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:52.960 and all that stuff. So I think it's kind of 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.600 like their dress. Sure thing. Um, but so okay, so 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.600 you have gone through basic training, you're a legionnaire now. Um, 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.680 apparently there's eight thousand of them at any given point 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.960 in time right now. They hail from a hundred and 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:11.760 thirty six different countries, strangely including France itself. How does 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.359 that work? I don't know. We'll have to find out. Yeah. Um, 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.960 so the uh, they after you get through basic training 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:21.000 and you're you're now a legionnaire. They send you to 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.840 I guess one of eleven regiments all over the world, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.879 Chad Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, all over the place, some places 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.080 you don't really want to be. I would imagine you 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.639 want to get a Chad. No, I got another staff 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:36.520 for you. Eighteen thirty one, Josh. Since then, more than 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.440 thirty five thousand legionnaires have been killed in combat. Right, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.399 it's a lot. Yeah. I think part of the reason 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.200 we mentioned that legionnaires aren't necessarily looked down upon, even 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.639 though they are pretty much a mercenary group, because they 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:51.720 do get paid and they don't they're not doing it 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:54.480 for ideology. But I think the fact that you sign 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.000 up for five years, you can attain citizenship through this, 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.560 and you're serving a specific nation kind of ads like 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:02.600 kind of a military tinge to it, you know what 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.960 I mean. Well, they're no more as soldiers instead of contractors. 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.480 Let's talk about the contractors there, chuck. Yeah, these guys 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:16.679 are typically ex military or former police officers. Um, the 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:21.160 batter the better, you know, like Green Berets as Delta Force. 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.879 This is who you want in your PMC. Yeah, Like 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.160 Simon Mann was a x S a S guy. Right, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:30.960 So these these dudes are brought in, they are paid 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.400 UM it says six hundred, seven hundred dollars a day, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.600 sometimes up to a thousand dollars a day for their work. 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:40.760