How do you think mercenary organizations that have no country

>>52578259

Either money is a necesity, or something else.

>>52578259

You could have small, organised groups of soldiers to achieve the same objectives that special forces would, but with deniability, if you want to effect change in a region without committing yourself militarily.

I don't see any place for mercenary groups acting in the capacity of a standing army (or any part thereof) a la the Landsknecht though, times have changed.

>>52578618

could you provide some evidence to back up that earth-shattering hypothesis, fuckwit?

>>52578668
>I don't see any place for mercenary groups acting in the capacity of a standing army

Why though? To this day, there are entire military forces which are basically just armies for hire run by warlords. Africa is full of groups like this.

A civilized country analagous to WWI England or something probably wouldn't field contracted soldiers as its standing army but by no means would such a thing stop occuring. OP's question doesn't make any sense to me. Why would the existence of machine guns and nation-states make mercenary groups not a thing?

>>52578259
The moment you have centralised, organised, bureaucratic government that uses even most basic conscription, there is no place for mercs anymore, regardless of anything else. The moment nationalism gets involved, mercs go from useless to illegal.

>>52578259
The only reason private military organizations don't already exist in the first world is because the government doesn't allow them to exist.

Even then, a good chunk of the US military-industrial complex is actually glorified mercs, just with an exclusive contract to the US government.

>>52578723
>Why would the existence of machine guns and nation-states make mercenary groups not a thing?
Key word - nation-states.
Mercenary fights for money. When you are running nationalism in your country, mercs stand for everything wrong with NOT being a patriot serving for his country.

so who is paying those mercs when not at war?

>>52578259
Check out Shadowrun and MGS.

>>52578956
Yea if you haven't noticed something, nations saying one thing and doing another has been a pretty common trend since the nation-state thing started.

If anything the governments of these states would prefer using mercs because then they can easily wage proxy wars without having to worry about drumming up political support at home.

>>52578723

I suppose if you have internal conflict and/or a country that nobody gives a damn about (as you said, Africa) you can have significant mercenary action.

I was talking the scenario more as independent groups being used in tandem with a nation's own forces

>>52579007

... nobody? Do you think people in a profession stop being professionals if they're not currently employed?

>>52579056
>I was talking the scenario more as independent groups being used in tandem with a nation's own forces

Probably wouldn't happen in any great magnitude, though there is a precedence with stuff like what >>52578795 says. Though granted Blackwater are mostly guys who fought for the US Military and now contract out to the US military, so they're not like some Craigslist Company any country can hire. Though I'm sure those exist.

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>>52578259
>ow do you think mercenary organizations that have no country of origin or loyalty to would exist in a more modernized setting?
Dystopian (near-)future. It all started rather innocent, with oil companies hiring private guards when drilling for oil in unstable third world regions. However, as oil became rarer and rarer competition grew more fierce, and sooner or later "local rebels" started sabotaging Royal Dutch Shell drills, which over time "conveniently" were replaced with Total drills, that "for some reason" weren't attacked. Eventually these "rebel attacks" back and forth escalated to the point where companies in many countries decided that they'd more than just guards, they'd need soldiers. With a few bribes and blackmail they managed to pass bills in certain countries, and in the countries where they couldn't overseas drilling activities stopped and companies went down the drain.

These "armies" started innocent enough, with just a few hundred men on guard duty. Over time they actively started pressuring governments and other local companies, and soon their numbers swelled to unacceptable proportions. One company in Nigeria got the crazy idea of conquering a local coastal city, declaring it a city-state which was run by the company itself and then instantly passed laws granting the company the right to hire companies. And they got away with it, the absolute madmen! Needless to say many more companies followed suit. The end result: large swathes of Africa, the Middle East and India now belong to companies that now have larger armies and navies than some countries, while the few remaining "independent" ones have become de facto client states. Wars of conquest are a daily affair, and while Western governments have cracked down on these companies it is to no avail: all their HQs have been resettled abroad, in their "states". "Pacts" and "treaties" between these companies are common.

In other words: we wuz VOC but with power armor and laserguns.

>>52579893

So the US and Europe and China possibly (and Russia to I suppose) are the only major powers able to maintain their control and autonomy as whole countries are basically remade as corporate enclaves whom we can't get rid of because they make all the stuff we buy and technically their affiliation with the mercenary conquerers is one where they allow them into their newly made nation/city state

>>52579988
Pretty much, and mostly because they're consumer markets. Needless to say a lot of these richer company-states finance shadow governments in the West. Or that's what I'd assume would happen in such a setting, IDK.

>>52580067

Maybe not shadow governments but basically using the system that's in place; Having lobbyist who work in the system to get laws and legislation pass that helps the particular group/company but then you have several of them doing the same thing so it doesn't always work out never mind the fact you have the major consuming powers possibly paranoid of such groups and working on them as well.

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>>52579056
It could work like pic related
If its an african setting

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Same way they do now, ex special forces, specialist soldiers with unique skill set unsuited to civilian life make more money in an active war-zone than they would domestically.

>>52578795
>The only reason private military organizations don't already exist in the first world is because the government doesn't allow them to exist.

I suppose this is probably because mercs/private militarys work solely for money, and thus any person rich enough could take over the government?

So all you have to do to make a setting like OP wants work is not have that? Maybe a society that believes heavily in the right to bear arms, and thinks that being a soldier is a valid profession in the first place. Perhaps they think a government that can't hire its own mercs to defend itself shouldn't be in control in the first place.