Comments by "Spring Bloom" (@springbloom5940) on "Why are Russian oligarchs forming private armies? | DW Business" video.

  1. How many PMC do you think the US has? Just guess. Hint: I work for one you have never and never will hear about. We work with at least two others you have never and never will hear about. Ive also worked for Haliburton and Dyncorp, which you have heard of. American PMCs have their own PMCs, which is where the one I currently work fir started; a specialist division of a security division of Schlumberger.
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  2.  @gabri770  Just saying there's nothing whatsoever remarkable about Russian 'oligarchs' having PMCs. Its literally a case of 'everyone is doing it'. The outfit I work for was directly involved in taking down Blackwater, for whatever that was worth. So, I have a bit of an inside look at how how a lot of these outfits operate and recruit. Blackwater was basically a biker gang. They preferentially recruited soldiers involved in unnecessary gunfights and police officers with records of questionable shootings, excessive force and generally bad conduct. That is an exception, but it was tolerated, until Karzai publicly protested the conduct of contractors in Astan. That prompted DoD to launch a covert audit program and sent undercover investigators under auspice of an exchange program, where PMCs would exchange personnel for cross training. Im getting a little out into the weeds, so Ill wrap it up. A lot of contractors were involved in outright illegal conduct, by any standard, but they were the exception. In general though, all of the contractors were doing things that pushed the limits of their legally sanctioned operations, as 'security' personnel; numerous cases of them responding QRF for Army and Marine units conducting offensive operations. But, rather than reigning them in, we changed the laws and regulations to allow it. If the US were engaged in a near peer conflict, where we were facing an adversary capable of defending itself and taking significant casualties, there is zero doubt that we would be putting PMCs on the front line in offensive combat operations, just like Wagner; and would be recruiting the same quality of personnel.
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  3.  @NewBeginnings413  Not terribly bright, are you?
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  4. The gaslighting is astounding. Just about every G/O and general contractor in the world has their own PMC; Kellogg, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Dyncorp, Grumman, just to name a few that everyone should recognize. Ive been on the circuit since '99 (Haliburton, Dyncorp) and aside of all the shenanigans PMC have been into, you better know that if we were engaged in a near peer war, American and British PMC would be on the front. We've been quietly changing laws specifically to allow just that, since the late 2000s.
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  5. How about just a list of all Western companies with 'private armies', since that's the subject, here?
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