Now Hiring: MERCENARIES, Blackwater & Triple Canopy

how true is the rumor that some of the AFPs best and brightest have quit to enlist in socalled private security firms - in short theyre going mercenary?

mahilig ka siguro sa tsismis ano kaya kung anoanong walang kwentang balita ang nahagip mo

Askal, why not resign from the army and become a merc yourself in Iraq, one less troll mucking up PDFF

Instead of going merc in Iraq, why not try New Zealand? Its much more peaceful there.

Defence Force looks overseas for soldiers

30.08.2004
By RUTH BERRY
The Defence Force is being forced to recruit soldiers from overseas as it tries to combat staff shortages.

Its annual report reveals that personnel numbers have continued to drop despite a series of pay rises and other measures designed to stem departures from the ranks.

Ten years ago Defence Force numbers totalled 17,547. That figure now stands at 12,853.

The Defence Force has now turned overseas for recruits, but believes its efforts have been hindered by immigration requirements.

It has negotiated some changes with the Immigration Service and wants the service to make more changes to its skilled migrants category in order to further "reduce barriers".

Officers, soldiers and new recruits wanting to train for a career in the armed forces are being sought.

New Zealand First defence spokesman Ron Mark said that while New Zealand had previously recruited overseas officers, it was "news to me" that soldiers and untrained personnel were being sought.

He believed the main reason for staff shortages was that pay rates were still not high enough.

He was also hearing that, like police, defence personnel were being lured into giving up their jobs by private agencies contracting them to work in places such as Iraq. Others were leaving to join better-paid defence forces overseas.

Attrition rates at this time last year dropped from 15.5 per cent to 12 per cent after one pay rise. But a further 2004 pay adjustment designed to close the gap between military pay packets and those in the wider state sector does not appear to have stopped the exodus. The Army raised concerns last year that staffing shortages would be exacerbated by the arrival of the 105 light armoured vehicles.

Mr Mark said real questions now needed to be asked about whether that and other big re-equipment projects under way and together costing about $2 billion could actually be crewed and maintained.

In the annual report, Defence Force Chief Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson said the force "has once again faced a period of continued international challenges that have placed significant demands on our personnel and equipment.

"Coupled with this are the efforts to maintain our current capabilities while meeting the Government's modernisation plans."

The report says a wide range of operations have been affected by personnel shortages.

These included infantry battalions, land combat support units, the Special Air Service and aircrew personnel.

A Defence Force spokesman yesterday was unable to provide details on the overseas recruitment. Defence Minister Mark Burton could not be reached.

untrained personnel are also welcome, an opportunity for OFWs banned from going to Iraq.

some of the mercs going out of control...

Crackdown on rogue mercenaries

Daniel McGrory
August 31, 2004

THE British Government is planning tough new laws to control security firms who supply armed bodyguards to work in war-torn countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been asked for help by Iraq's interim Government, which fears that some of the thousands of gun-toting guards now roaming the country are out of control.

Mr Straw is believed to want the Blair cabinet to consider urgently ways in which Britain might regulate these hired mercenaries.

One measure might be aimed at British backers of private armies such as the group put together by Old Etonian Simon Mann, allegedly to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

Mann reportedly had a list of British millionaires prepared to invest in the project. It was the South African police investigation into Mann's alleged backers that led to the arrest of Mark Thatcher, who has strenuously denied involvement in the coup plot.

In the past fortnight, drunken security guards on private contracts are accused of killing four Iraqi civilians in late-night shooting rampages.

The number of private military contractors operating in Iraq has doubled in the past year, with an estimated 1500 Britons among the 20,000 mercenaries thought to be operating in the country.

Government officials in Baghdad admit they have no idea of the number of foreign mercenaries in Iraq, while US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has predicted there could be 100,000 there within the next 12 months to help Western forces provide protection for foreign diplomats and businessmen.

Britain's Foreign Office pays £15 million ($38 million) to private contractors to guard its staff and buildings in Iraq. Some former SAS troops claim to be earning pound stg. 1500 a day as bodyguards, while British security companies are said to have quintupled their turnover since the invasion of Iraq, and the business is now worth more than £2 billion a uear.

Mr Straw has told cabinet colleagues any law would be difficult to enforce, but to be effective it should apply all over the world.

The problem is that, while security firms may be based in Britain, they hire guards from a score of different nationalities. One Whitehall source said: "Do you prosecute the company in the UK, or the private security guard in his country, or in Iraq where they commit an offence?"

Another concern is that there is evidence of rogue companies having no proper vetting for new applicants.

Former British soldiers who signed up to work as bodyguards in Iraq have told how they have been sent recruits from Britain with no military training and who lied about their backgrounds on application forms.

One British army veteran who has just left Baghdad said: "You see Americans, Serbians and South Africans strutting around with guns and knives strapped to their thighs like something out of Rambo.

"There is no shortage of alcohol here, and at nights there are firefights involving some of these cowboys.

"I have never heard of some of the firms the new recruits work for, but you can get a gun for hire in Iraq from dozens of rogue operators who advertise on the internet."

Some British firms are shifting their headquarters and training camps to offshore bases in the Gulf and eastern Europe to evade any attempt to regulate them or their mercenaries at home.

The army veteran, who recently led a team protecting an Arab banker in Baghdad, claims some British private security firms are being allowed to use RAF aircraft to move men and equipment into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics say the legions of foreign mercenaries in Iraq enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution.

MPs from all parties in Britain are demanding the Government step in. Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "It is almost impossible to prevent the spread in the use of private military companies. It makes sense to ensure they are regulated."

The Times

The Angelo De La Cruz issue scrapped the whole thing and the government put a ban on "workers" going to Iraq. No way now that "security firm" would consider hiring Filipinos soon.

BTW, they started recruiting in Thailand .

Sayang, ano?

Filipino mercenaries in Iraq working for Blackwater USA? It's mostly about the Chileans, but read it carefully...Can someone please verify if any former Scout Rangers are there?

http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/Age-Chile_hiring.html

Padre, meron. Mga OCW. Walang baril pero may pala, martilio, pako, cemento o kaldero!

Cactus jack, might be a possible one that filipinos were involve in mercenary actions. After cooking, hammering the basecamp they are hired in other activities.

But they better hire those separatest group in our country like NPA..

Why them? Ang daming AWOL, early retired and disgruntled AFP and PNP personnel.
Guys, pagkakataon na para maging OFW. Bagong Bayani ka pa ng Bayan!

Blackwater actually sent recruiters for 500 former AFP SF, SR and SWAG last year for Iraq. It was cut short because of the Angelo De La Cruz hostage issue and the subsequent ban on Filipino OFWs to Iraq. They went to Thailand instead.

Wasnt there a plane full of Pinoy "PMCs"...not the Marines, that got stopped in Italy trying to head for the Balkans during one of the conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia?

Where can I apply for that mercenary job? I would like to have an adventure, who knows I might get lucky and catch Al Zarqawi, he has a 25 million dollar bounty

If you fit the requirement, good luck!