Expendables Wanted: How to Hire an Actual Mercenary

The Expendables 3 finds Sylvester Stallone and his fellow action stars emeriti once again deputized by the CIA to perform some off-the-books black ops, this time in Somalia, to nab a former Expendable gone bad (Mel Gibson). Yes, it’s an excuse for bullets and macho banter, but it also raises a practical question for moviegoers: Can you actually hire mercenaries? And what will it run you? Short answer: Yes, and it’s not cheap..

The three secrets to finding a good team of mercenaries? Contacts, contacts, contacts. “Normally it can be done,” says Soldier of Fortune editor Lt. Col. Robert K. Brown (USAR, ret), “assuming the person putting together the operation has a military background and uses the old-boy network.” And for those who don’t hang out with snipers who can blast off a kidnapper’s melon at 1,500 yards? “I would contact someone retired from Delta Force or the Navy SEALs and tell him what I had in mind, and let him activate the old-boy network.” Plenty of special operators who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, or in a foreign legion, says Brown, “left the service and make more money doing their thing as a contractor.”

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On screen, the only rule for a mercenary is usually — as the cliché goes —that there are no rules. (Well, that and “No paunches allowed.”) But in the real world, a private team of action heroes do come with some restrictions. Unlike in the Expendables films, where the fighters perform their “wet” work under the CIA’s “Mr. Church” (Bruce Willis) — and, therefore, under the ostensible blessing of the U.S. government — actual mercenaries don’t have that governmental protection, and so are hesitant to take a gig that will break any local or international law. (At least, on the record.)

"You really fall under the local law," mulls an ex-SEAL whose Malibu-based company, SEALs on Security, recently recovered goods and hostages taken by Somali pirates. (He prefers to go unnamed, for “security reasons.”) In the Expendables films, Stallone’s team often stealthily drops into other countries to extract people who have been kidnapped. However, says the ex-SEAL, “if you were to get caught for kidnapping within the country, you are just as guilty as the kidnappers themselves.”

Often these freelance security forces protect wealthy clients who fear for their family’s safety because of potential kidnappings, thefts or worse. “I would look into going on the offensive, maybe working with the FBI if [the one making the threats was] a known arms dealer,” says the former SEAL. But, “I wouldn’t go so far as to just take him out. Then you’re looking at murder charges.”

However, if a security-for-hire company doesn’t work with the FBI or other government agency, there could be some more wiggle room. “The FBI has to follow strict guidelines. A security company can bypass [some of that]…. I don’t know too many guys who are willing to risk murder. But if I were a multimillionaire, someone might do it for the money.”

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Which is not to say that SEALs on Security would do a paid hit, mind you. But even staying within legal limits can pay well for a mercenary. It’s not Stallone-salary money, but the former SEAL says that for their protection services, “We charge, for 24-hour security for one guy — which is actually two guys, one day shift and one night — it would be at least $500,000 a year. A real legitimate threat costs over $2 million a year, and that is on the low end. There are not too many firms who can provide that level of protection.”

Or Statham-level enthusiasm, for that matter. “This is adrenaline, which is almost like money for us. You don’t sign up to become a SEAL for the money, but to do the job you do and being the best at it.”

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