Simple question. Tougher answer. If I was to build my own private army what sort of money are we talking about in terms of average cost per soldier+necessary supplies and equipment?
We talking a PC or an organization for hire? If you were to hire a PC, it's generally on a commission basis (unless you're going for a guard, in which case you're prolly gonna wanna hire a guard, not PC). For the most part they'll supply their own gear, unless there's special requirements (helicoptor needed or whatever), in which case the cost of rental, purchase, and subsequent repairs will be be factored into an expense bill. No extras, you're generally looking at anywhere from (Prices in USD) 500k to 5mil, depending on what's what. If you're talking about creating your own private army, a lot. A LOT
If you want a private army, the price is going to be in the high millions because fuel, rations, munitions, vechiles, guns, and men are not cheap by any standards. Though it really depends on what you want to out fit your force with, that's what is going to make or break your bank.
Like other people are saying it would depend a lot on what you're hiring them to do, for how long, etc. If you use Blackwater as an example though, you're often looking over $100 million per job it seems. I did some quick research and it appears that DOS signed a $120 million contract to have them protect US Consulates in Afghanistan while they are being constructed, and the CIA made another contract with them for about $100 million. I've also seen the financial records for an individual employed by one of these kind of contractors in Iraq, and he was making (low) 6 figures a year. Not something your average US solider makes.
Which kinda makes you wonder why the US army uses them. They don't exactly have a shortage of soldiers at the moment, or at least not enough of a shortage to make a team the size of blackwater matter.
Never mind, I just looked up the numbers. Official guesses are that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 security contractors working in Iraq. Dang that's a lot.
Accountability. If the US Army screws up and bombs the wrong building, the media shreds it, the govt, the people in charge, so on and so forth. Blackwater screws up and massacres a bunch of innocent civs, they change their name to Xi and all's well.
I was just wondering how many soldiers could Bill Gates afford to send to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
I can't find any figures for how much he had in 1994, but in 1990 he was worth 2.5 billion, and by 1999, 100 billion (Due to antitrust suits, this dropped quickly, worth 54 bil right now) The answer is prolly around 750-1000, depending on outfitting cost.
