jhungary
MILITARY PROFESSIONAL
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The issue here I think is that, anyone cannot do any work without pay, that's basic right for a person. I mean, If I do something that take my time away, I am expecting that to be paid, unless I am volunteering my service. Even then I would still wish to recoup my expenses. And military is just like any kind of job out there, just that your jub description is to defend your nation.Here, the highlighted, we have the shared nationality clause which would disqualify the soldier from being a mercenary. If he switch side, from KMT to CPC or vice versa, that would be switching political parties.
The Poor Man’s Fight: Mercenary Soldiers in the Civil War: An Interview with William Marvel
By Ashley Whitehead Luskey Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with William Marv…gettysburgcompiler.org
CWI: How does an understanding of Civil War soldiers as mercenaries reshape our understanding of the relationship between soldiers and the state during the 1860s?Marvel: I should point out that I don’t really consider most Union soldiers mercenaries in the popular, pejorative sense of the word, although men who enlisted because they needed the money met the technical definition....opportunity to improve one’s economic condition and social status drew men into the army at least as early as the Revolution.
Wars always attract those who would fight for money and not necessarily amount of money that would be 'excessive' comparable to regular soldiers. That you have to pay your soldiers is inevitable. If we pull in things such as no taxes shopping at the PX/commissary and paid college tuition, that you and I enjoyed when we served, would make us both technically mercenaries if only pay and other in-kind benefits are summed and used.
So absent shared nationality and patriotism, you have no choice but to pay some enlistees extra to entice them to risk limbs and even lives in the fight for the cause. This, I believe, is where the AVG qualified as mercenaries under today's criteria.
The question here is, what is "excess pay", so every jobs comes with a paygrade, but then at what mean this is being "excessive"? I mean was giving every soldier imminent danger allowance of 250 or whatever dollar a month, I forgot how much..., here is excessive? How about that $25,000 reenlist bonus, or sign up bonus? How about GI Bill that I used to pay for my tuition? Those are payment or privilege after the job's basic pay. But then one would also argue, was end of years bonus, and location allowance that offered by numerous corporations to stay competitive also in this category?
I don't know about you. but I am not very patriotic, and said it probably thousand time that you really should not join the military if you are patriotic, because you may expect something very different than what military do. I sign up because I see this as a job and most the recruiter had me when she said they are going to pay for my college. If that makes me a mercenary working for the state, then I guess I am.
