A question on the Worldbuilding SE site about military contractors / mercenaries / “evil henchmen” / whatever caught my attention and I responded. A discussion started between myself and another guy who has contracted before in the same places, but on the tech side of the business instead of PSD. I’m preserving the conversation here because it illustrates the point I was trying to make in my answer, but doesn’t really fit within the answer and will certainly be deleted by the mods:
@zxq9 I’m impressed by your answer. I worked as a contractor as well, and ran a bar at night in one country (Middle East). Lots of the guys I worked with were former Ranger / SF. I did tech instead of PSD, but some jobs we were responsible for our own security, travel, etc. All the guys I saw ended up going back to the States (or the Philippines…) after contracts; nobody really hung out in theater after jobs. Are those little communities you’ve referred to really that common? Because I’ve yet to see people hang around after the fact.
– hathead 15 mins ago
@hathead If you were ever in Baghdad you might remember that along the main E-W road between the traffic circle and Triple Canopy’s base Olympia was a mish-mashed neighborhood with a few shops and restaurants, and a couple of smaller contract company offices working out of houses. (Near the “Hot Tomato” restaurant that was always weird.) That neighborhood is exactly the sort of spot I’m talking about. Kabul has something similar. I think most of that may have been invisible to you if you didn’t work PSD or base def (and therefore have your own wheels) — but its there. Similar in Kampala.
– zxq9 10 mins ago
@zxq9 – I remember the neighborhood but didn’t spend a lot of time out there. People bought alcohol there. I worked on Bes-maya, I guess you know where that is. My glory days were in Kabul, though. There we all lived on the economy and would pop into the embassy / base to do work, or speed out to Bagram. Kabul was always weird- you can get whatever you needed and half the guys at the bar were wanna-be journalists. Tourists even popped in sometimes. This neighborhood you’re talking about in Baghdad – it seemed like it was within the confines of base (checkpoint controlled). Was it not?
– hathead 7 mins ago
@hathead I also forgot to mention… There are contracts in the southern Philippines, Indo, Malay, Cambodia and Thailand , too — and there are two SF association houses (the front half of which are really bars, like Garfield’s in AC and Tilac II in Pattaya). The neighborhoods near there are full of older SF guys who married locally and never left, and sometimes its easy to source logistics or meet the right folks to get a crew together locally. Pace of life is a bit slower there, but the shape of things is fairly similar — but not everyone wants to have anything to do with contracting.
– zxq9 6 mins ago
@hathead The neighborhood wasn’t, but right next to it was the former finance minister’s house and apartments for his wives — which was turned into a business development center. The edge of it was right on the NW edge of the circle and had walls + a guard force from TC (which I was in charge of for 6 months once). That place gave the impression the neighborhood was controlled, but it was just that one facility. The volume of alcohol trade there always surprised me! A lot better than the “parts cleaner” thing the Poles had going on down in al Kut.
– zxq9 3 mins ago  edit
@zxq9 – half the ex-Army guys I worked with had houses in the Philippines. You probably know some of the same guys. It’s not easy getting work as a tech with a PMC but I managed to find it with a big name (closed now, but you’d know them) and it was a lot of fun. Hanging out in Turkey now. It’s not hot enough yet that a worthwhile expat community has established. Yet.
– hathead 2 mins ago
@zxq9 – The Europeans had fine alcohol, it was just a matter of finding it. They had a bar on Liberty that was wild. Panties stapled to the ceiling. I only saw it once; kept out of that sort of thing mostly. Did brew my own beer, though.
– hathead 1 min ago
@hathead Likely do know some of the same folks. They’ll put this thread in chat or delete it pretty soon. My url is the same as my alias here: zxq9.com . Drop me a line. Turkey is an interesting place right now, too!
– zxq9 46 secs ago
@zxq9 – I’ll drop you a line, and delete my previous chats if I’m still able.
Sent an email, it may have been sent to your spam folder.
– HH
Got it!