Is there a military history text that summarizes the roles of mercenaries in US wars?
Just looking for another slant on history. Thanks.
Try google or bing or yahoo or any other search engine.
In this day you don’t need to ask if there is anything out there, go look! Don’t be intellectually lazy.
:) check out the Mattis required reading list.
Stories on the Flying Tigers
There is a difference between contractor and mercenaries
A contractor has allegiance to his flag within the scope of his work, and some would probably do the job for free
“Is there a military history text that summarizes the roles of mercenaries in US wars?”
Probably not. It wouldn’t suit the timbre of our national mythology. It’s still there, you just have to wade through it war-by-war.
But it’s been going on pretty much non-stop since the Revolutionary War. Washington himself hired some prominent foreign nationals to train and command Colonial troops (notably Frederick William Augustus, Baron von Steuben and the Marquis de Layfayette) because few Continentals had the breadth of military knowledge that these life-long European soldiers did. A few Hessians also defected and came to the Colonial side, some because they were paid to.
The US Congress voted to hire a French pirate whose name you might be familiar with — Jean Lafitte — to aid in the fight against the British in the War of 1812 through a clause still in the US Constitution.
And during the War for Southern Independence, Yankee recruiters lured foreigners to come to America and enlist in the Union Army in exchange for an “enlistment bounty,” usually ~$200. That’s how Joseph Pulitzer, he of Pulitzer Prize fame, came to America from his native Hungary.
Fast-forward to 2017 and there are more than 20,000 resident aliens (non-US citizens) serving today in the US military, down about 10,000 in the last 10 years. There’s a path to citizenship for resident aliens in the service but not all will take advantage of it. I personally know one man who retired from the US Army still a green card holder and a Canadian citizen but Dutch by birth (long back story there). So what constitutes a “mercenary” isn’t always cut and dried.
The Pope has been being guarded by mercenaries for more than 500 years. And who am I to argue with His Holiness?
Whatever works, works. If your national defense strategy works better with hired soldiers than without, it would be stupid not to use them because you’re standing on protocol. Or because you’re afraid of a word.