Mercenaries

Looking to the government, or the military, is a joke. The military only functions when it can spend an endless amount of taxpayer money, and can feed the soldiers. Those who join the military are not efficient, and they're not inventive, they're dictatorial. The likelihood is that they would go AWOL, form gangs and setup kingships, and will not steadily organize food and water preparation out of some loyalty to an entity that was no longer there to take care of them. They will become mercenaries, or become rogue operations. They just won't be there, at best, or will be a problem themselves, at worst. How many soldiers in other countries become mercenaries? What are the statistics? Not a pretty picture. The facts are that a certain percentage of soldiers and the like, when denied their normal profession, become mercenaries.

Offered by Nancy.

I agree that looking to the government or the military would be fruitless. And I agree that there will be some number of military units that will see their weaponry as the means to acquire what they need. But to make such sweeping statements is inaccurate. From time to time I read Soldier of Fortune magazine and have seen some statistics. Within the US, less than 0.01% ever consider the idea of becoming mercenaries. Actually, world wide, the percentage is a function of the economic state of their home country, and their social values. Even there, the actual number of mercenaries in the world is very small compared to the number of soldiers being continuously released from their military. Those who have ever served in time of war know what I mean when I say that living under those conditions is sickening and the primary thought in one's mind is "I gotta get out of this place". On only one occasion was I in a squad which included an individual who actually liked what we were doing. He was considered by everyone else in the squad to be a psychopath.

Offered by Ron.