These, in the day when heaven was falling . . .

        In 1917 A.E. Housman wrote the short poem "An epitaph on an army of mercenaries."(you can read the poem here)
He was using the word mercenaries ironically, describing the professional soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, who were all but slaughtered by overwhelming numbers of German forces. Their existence as a unit was ended after the battle of Ypres in 1914, but they did manage to halt the German offensive. The world has used mercenary soldiers since the time of the Spartans, who, having little in the way of resources, traded in soldiers instead.

     Now, we hear that Erik Prince, founder of the infamous "Blackwater" mercenary group, wants to be granted control of the entire Afghanistan campaign, with a 10 billion per year budget and freedom to raise his own army and his own air force. Yes, that's right. He wants to run Afghanistan as his own personal Fiefdom, and be given free reign to do what he wants. I cannot tell you how bad this idea is. A man with little in the way of scruples being given control of 10 billion worth of assets and allowed to run amok in Afghanistan. This would be the equivalent of a tavern owner hiring a crew of belligerent drunks to provide over night security at his bar, and giving them the keys to the liquor storage. This was only to be expected of Trump's people, who are essentially pirates at heart. They see the world in terms of "What can I do in this situation to put more money in my pocket".
Erik Prince, brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is no exception. Oh, and did I mention that working as a Mercenary, and hiring mercenary soldiers is against International Law?
Of course, Mr Prince gets around this by calling his company a "Security Services and Training provider." But to me, it's a thin veil. A small fig leaf.