Soldiers of Fortune

Shortly after leaving the Army in 1971, I was working a construction job in Morehead City, North Carolina. For those not familiar with Morehead City, it is a small port on the Pamlico Sound. As young, single guys are wont to do, I soon found the best place to drink and meet people. It was a little run-down dive up the sound in a place called Beaufort (or, as they say, Bow′furt).

One night, while enjoying a brief respite from a hard day of hauling bricks in wheelbarrows to masons, I was approached by an Army buddy with an offer. Would I be interested, he asked, in making $10,000 a year in Mozambique or Angola? (If my calculations are correct, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis, that’s over $49,000 today.) I was a little interested.

As we talked, my friend told me of a man staying at the Holiday Inn in Wilmington (N.C.) who was looking for soldiers to fight for Portugal against rebels in some of their African colonies. Apparently, the government of Portugal could not recruit enough men for the regular forces, so it had established a clandestine arm. Experienced tank crewmen warranted a premium salary, it seemed.

As tempting as the offer was, after 13 months in Vietnam, including 37 days in the 24th Evac Hospital in Long Binh, I declined. I’ll fight for my country: anytime, anywhere. But I won’t fight for money. I find that vulgar.

The reason I tell all this is because of the suit a family has brought against Blackwater, a North Carolina security firm doing business in Iraq. It would appear that the U.S.A., like the Portuguese, cannot recruit enough bodies for its regular forces.

Be that as it may, I do not believe that these opportunistic survivors have a right to sue Blackwater. I am sure the men who died knew the dangers. Blackwater is not the government and they operate by different rules.

I have talked to men who fought in Angola against those rebels. If I had gone to Africa in 1971, I would have been expected to provide a side arm, uniforms, boots and such as that. Only a tank would have been provided. Such is the life of an irregular.

I am sorry these four guys died. I am sorry their bodies were mutilated and dishonored. But they signed on the dotted line. And they got paid well.

War is hell when you are a regular. It is beyond hell for the mercenary.