Private military company refers to a private company that specializes in providing armed forces.
It is different from the traditional concept of mercenaries. Its clients may be state departments, government agencies and their affiliated armies, or international organizations, commercial enterprises or other non-governmental organizations, providing them with professional knowledge and skills in the military field and various military services.
Unlike mercenary organizations, private military companies employ, in addition to combat personnel, various technical personnel, legal personnel, expert consultants and other non-combat personnel, and the services they can provide have far exceeded the scope of traditional mercenaries.
The military services provided by private military companies are similar to the military missions performed by national armies or military police, but are usually carried out on a smaller scale.
Its specific tasks can be summarized into two categories:
one is military support, such as the collection of military intelligence and the defense of military targets; the other is logistics or non-combat operations, such as security protection, military advice and consultation.
Generally speaking, private military companies do not directly participate in attacks or defenses because according to the "concept" in the Geneva Convention and some clear provisions of different laws, private military personnel participating in attacks on the battlefield can be identified as illegal armed forces and will not be protected by international law.
Just like in the future Iraq War, private military companies, as military contractors, mostly appear after the war is over. They enter the occupied areas and carry out daily security and defense.
For example, according to the information, the main business of "Empire Shield" in Africa is security and helping some local armed forces to train their troops.
Relatively speaking, the safety of their missions is relatively high - risk is often proportional to reward, so the income of "Empire Shield" is definitely not as high as the income of some companies that directly participate in the conflict or even form their own forces to seize mines and other resources.
For this reason, three years after its establishment, the scale of "Imperial Shield" was still not large, and its employees were mainly retired soldiers of the British Army.
After Barron had a conversation with Graf Eaton, the commander of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Forest Regiment, and learned from him some information about the "Imperial Shield" military company, Barron secretly had an idea, but he did not rush to act. Instead, he first asked the intelligence team to start collecting information about "Imperial Shield" and their founder Melvin Coy.
Only after making sure that there is no other force behind the other party can Barron try to invest in the other party. His ultimate goal is to have a force that can provide him with security and help him do things that are inconvenient for him to do.
As the saying goes, "It is a crime to possess a treasure." The wealth that Barron will possess in the future will be enormous, relying on the experiences of the future development of the world in his past life.
But you also have to know that the world's overall wealth growth is very slow. Basically, if you gain extraordinary benefits, it will naturally affect some people's cake.
As the saying goes, "Robbing someone's money is like killing their parents." Even if Barron did not rob them, sometimes no one will really reason with you. Some people even feel like they have lost out if they make less money.
Moreover, the wealth you possess is itself original sin, and hatred comes from this.
Even if you are very good friends, when you become successful one day, the other person may feel more upset than your enemy.
This is human nature, and we must be on guard against it.
What's more, some of Barron's investments may even affect some powerful forces or countries.
If he came openly, given his status and network of relationships, he wouldn't have to worry too much.
But the dark side of this world, the more it reaches a certain level, the more it needs to understand that the law of the jungle is real - and physical destruction is the simplest and most direct means.
The reason why Barron returned to London from New York ahead of schedule this time was because after getting the contact information of McVeen, the founder of "Imperial Shield" from Graf Eaton, Barron's men contacted the other party. McVeen also learned of Barron's identity from Graf. It happened that he had something to do in England, so he wanted to meet with the Duke of Devonshire.
Now that the results of the investigation into "Imperial Shield" and McVinny came out, Barron felt relieved and made an appointment to meet with McVinny Coy at the Devonshire Hotel.
…
"Hello, Your Highness, it's an honor to meet you."
"Please take a seat, Colonel Coy."
Melvin Coy is 45 years old and has nearly 20 years of military experience before this. This can be seen from his speech and behavior, which all show his military toughness.
"I learned from Graf that you donated £1 million to the Worcestershire and Sherwood Forest Regiment to help the soldiers. I once served in that unit, and please allow me to thank you on behalf of those boys, Your Highness."
From Mai Wen's expression, Barron could tell that what he said was not just polite words, but was expressed with sincere emotions.
At the same time, the conversation about Worcestershire and the Sherwood Forest Regiment initially brought the two closer together.
"In fact, I have also heard something about your 'Imperial Shield' from Captain Eaton. I am very interested in it. And I know that your scale is not very large, and the reason is also limited by funds. Colonel Coy, can you tell me about the situation of 'Imperial Shield'? I know that you were very promising in the army before. Why did you decide to quit the army and create this military company?"
McVin Coe was prepared for Barron's question. After all, the general content of their conversation today had also been discussed when they agreed to meet.
So he spoke directly:
"Ten years ago, I participated in the Gulf War as a peacekeeping force. I am sorry that I cannot describe my experience in words. I can only say that war is always very cruel... I led some young soldiers at the time, all of them were great guys, but after that, some of them stayed there forever..."
Maiwen told Barron that at that time, he felt sad for his men who died in the war, but after the war, he realized that sometimes dying in battle was not the worst thing. What was even more sad was those who survived the battlefield but could not return to normal life because of that experience.
He has personally witnessed many people who were once passionate about life, but after retiring from the army became addicted to alcohol, and some even became addicted to illegal drugs.
In order to help those people, Mai Wen spent a lot of time and money. Some people returned to their lives, but some people could never live like normal people, and even hurt innocent people under some stressful conditions.
Eventually he decided to retire and founded the "Imperial Shield" military company in order to provide a place for those soldiers who could no longer return to normal life.
"I also want to help those people. That's why I met you today, Colonel Coy. What I want to ask is, does your 'Imperial Shield' accept investment?"
From the contacts so far, Barron could tell that Colonel McWen had a strong military style and was very direct and concise in conversation.
Therefore, Barron decided to state his purpose directly.