Bochenn wrote:Hey guys, what would be the going rate for a mercenary company specializing in fortification and artillery? say each soldier was equipped with...
2 months of brutal training
A decent helmet
light ceramic chest piece and shoulder armor
ak-47 equivalent
and of course the basic stuff, with a artillery piece for every hundred men
how much would be asked for such a unit?
Depends on the client. You'd want to do some research, but I recall that the Blackwater/Xe/Whatever they are now 'private security contractors' working for the US State Department in Iraq were pretty well paid - though they had an expected lifetime of something like 3-4 years - so say... $65,000, depending on rank and position. Government tends to overpay for things because of closed bidding and collusion ('you' don't know how much other people pay for the same service, the bidders either talk out their bids on the side or are all secretly the same organization) and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to private military contractors, corruption, and competence. Anyway, the company (and thus their investors) likely get 2-3x what the contractors are being paid. Sound like a lot? It is, with the 'justification' that they also have to pay for their equipment, death benefits, medical, etc, etc. In reality most of that money goes into the pockets of the owner/investor. Figure $200,000 per contractor, per year.
And that is for ex-soldiers with infantry-grade weaponry. That's not for a 'real' military force with tanks, armored fighting vehicles, transport... So you can probably double or triple that for a realistic 'actual military mercenary force'. Unless 'you' are hiring Tagon's Toughs you're getting ripped off; Mercenaries tend towards the competence of the dollar. They want jobs where their returns are high and risks are low. If the risks are high - IE Iraq - expect to pay more. That doesn't mean the mercenaries are going to be any good at their job though. Remember that a mercenary commander's capital is their fighting force and that they will not risk it and thus their income unless the risk vastly offset by the reward. No matter how tough their training when someone who's only being paid to do the job is asked to charge into a meatgrinder, most will take their pink slip instead.