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Someone Else's War: Mercenaries From 1960 To The Present
The world's most elaborate military missions have been conducted by mercenaries. They are highly trained soldiers that have participated in many of the world's elite military units and are capable of quick results, even though they may be outnumbered 100 to one. Featuring actual photos, this book details the work of mercenaries from 1960 to the present day. December '98 publication date.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 1998
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March 17, 2025
Soldier of Fortune view of the "small wars" of the late 20th Century
Anthony Rogers is a British journalist who served in the UK Royal Marines and Rhodesian Light Infantry in the 1970s. His journalism career took him to many of the hot spots of the latter Cold War in the 80s and 90s. After having served in Rhodesia and discovering that many of the small conflicts he covered were populated by the same mercenaries he had met in Africa, he was inspired to write this book.
"Someone Else's War" is the story of the small wars of the latter 20th Century, roughly from the beginnings of the African Bush Wars in the early 60s through to the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent conflicts in the Balkans in the late 90s--all seen through the eyes of mercenaries who came to these conflicts for gold, glory, to escape boredom at home, or to do their part in the crusade against communism or for democracy. He covers the three most common mercenary types of that time period -- the romantic soldiers for hire such as those in the Congo in the 60s; the professional soldiers of the 70s and 80s who mostly hated communism or who had skills to sell in the only way of life they enjoyed living; and the legacy government-sanctioned mercenary formations of the French (French Foreign Legion), the Spanish (Spanish Foreign Legion), and the British (Gurkha Regiment) armies. It concludes, appropriately, with the formation in the 1990s of the Private Military Corporation (PMC), global companies that provided "security services" in the form of highly paid, professional soldiers to those who could afford their services. The PMC, with names like Blackwater or Triple Canopy in the US and Wagner Group in Russia, now dominate the industry.
Anyone who has ever read the old "Soldier of Fortune" magazine will likely be familiar with the content and writing style of this book. But that doesn't take away from its value. While I found the testimonies of the various mercenaries involved to be somewhat repetitious and disinteresting, Rogers fills each chapter with enough backstory and history of each small conflict that one gets a pretty good picture of just how many of these "wars and rumors of wars" are going on all over the world at any given time. I liked this material very much... but then again, I have experience in this area during much of the covered period -- the 80s and 90s. So I was quite a bit more comfortable with the material than other readers might be.
The book ends in 1997 and thus misses out on the greatest three decades of PMC dominance in mercenary history, coinciding with the so-called Global War on Terror, the Cartel Wars in Mexico with their Zetas, and the various misadventures in Africa by all of the global forces of military opportunism and professional soldier employment unleashed in the 21st Century.
While somewhat dated, "Someone Else's War" is still good reading. And recommended.
Anthony Rogers is a British journalist who served in the UK Royal Marines and Rhodesian Light Infantry in the 1970s. His journalism career took him to many of the hot spots of the latter Cold War in the 80s and 90s. After having served in Rhodesia and discovering that many of the small conflicts he covered were populated by the same mercenaries he had met in Africa, he was inspired to write this book.
"Someone Else's War" is the story of the small wars of the latter 20th Century, roughly from the beginnings of the African Bush Wars in the early 60s through to the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent conflicts in the Balkans in the late 90s--all seen through the eyes of mercenaries who came to these conflicts for gold, glory, to escape boredom at home, or to do their part in the crusade against communism or for democracy. He covers the three most common mercenary types of that time period -- the romantic soldiers for hire such as those in the Congo in the 60s; the professional soldiers of the 70s and 80s who mostly hated communism or who had skills to sell in the only way of life they enjoyed living; and the legacy government-sanctioned mercenary formations of the French (French Foreign Legion), the Spanish (Spanish Foreign Legion), and the British (Gurkha Regiment) armies. It concludes, appropriately, with the formation in the 1990s of the Private Military Corporation (PMC), global companies that provided "security services" in the form of highly paid, professional soldiers to those who could afford their services. The PMC, with names like Blackwater or Triple Canopy in the US and Wagner Group in Russia, now dominate the industry.
Anyone who has ever read the old "Soldier of Fortune" magazine will likely be familiar with the content and writing style of this book. But that doesn't take away from its value. While I found the testimonies of the various mercenaries involved to be somewhat repetitious and disinteresting, Rogers fills each chapter with enough backstory and history of each small conflict that one gets a pretty good picture of just how many of these "wars and rumors of wars" are going on all over the world at any given time. I liked this material very much... but then again, I have experience in this area during much of the covered period -- the 80s and 90s. So I was quite a bit more comfortable with the material than other readers might be.
The book ends in 1997 and thus misses out on the greatest three decades of PMC dominance in mercenary history, coinciding with the so-called Global War on Terror, the Cartel Wars in Mexico with their Zetas, and the various misadventures in Africa by all of the global forces of military opportunism and professional soldier employment unleashed in the 21st Century.
While somewhat dated, "Someone Else's War" is still good reading. And recommended.
Displaying 1 of 1 review