Bored or unemployed soldiers have been hiring themselves out to fight since the start of history. The Greeks and Romans made extensive use of mercenary troops. In western Europe the most famous mercenary troops were the Swiss Pikemen, Italian Condotiere and the German Lansknechts of the 14^th and 15^th Century who hired themselves out to almost every side in the Hundred years war. They were true mercenaries who fought for who ever payed the highest and often changed sides during battles – sod the causes!

It was in Africa during the 1960s that modern "freelance" mercenary soldiering really took of. The Congo civil war saw 'Colonel' Bob Denard and "mad" Mike Hoare and his band of warriors in action on behalf of the breakaway state of Katanga. When the Angolan civil war broke out in 1976 the CIA-backed rebels tried to repeat the Congo experience. It all ended in disaster after the self appointed Colonel Callan started executing his troops and the Angolans put their captured mercenaries on trial.

Rhodesia and South Africa then became the main recruiter of foreign volunteers looking for action, but with the retreat of "white power" they have now dispensed with the services of their volunteers.

For government supported mercenaries the Middle East was the boom market during the 1970s and 1980s, with every Arabian oil shiekh looking to hire a British bodyguard force or beef-up his air force with British pilots. The Sovjet invasion of Afganistan was the next big thing thanks to the desire of western intelligence agencies to give the Russian Bear a hard time. Various deniable operations were mounted to capture Sovjet kit or advice Afghan guerrillas how to use western supplied arms. All these activities required manpower that didn’t come with official tags so the American CIA and British SIS(MI6) turned to the mercenary market.

The break-up of Tito’s Yugoslavia has been a great boost to freelance volunteers who have fought on all sides in the conflict since 1991. The U.N. arms embargo has made the former Yugoslavia strictly off limits to Government sponsored mercenaries.

Since the demise of the Sovjet Union, Eastern Europe is the boom market for people wanting to sell military expertise, both with or without official support. Every newly independent former Sovjet Republic wants its armed forces, police and presidential bodyguard trained by people who have nothing to do with the old Sovjet armed forces or the new Russian military. As conflict spreads in the former Sovjet Union it looks like Eastern Europe will continnue to be the big growth area for mercenaries.

Getting work as a freelance soldier is no different from any other line of business. You have to find customers, offer them a service they need, negotiate a rate of pay, do the business, then collect the fee.

While you don’t need a MBA from Harvard Business School to be successful as a mercenary, some basic business principles are useful. For obvious reasons advertising is not really an option when trying to get costumers so most mercenaries have to rely on contacts to get work. That is why ex-senior military officers and former special forces soldiers with experience in the Middle East have that part of the market sewn up.

Bodyguard companies who work for foreign governments develop contacts with their top commanders and political leaders, so they are in a good position to provide them with more advanced military expertise or put them in touch with someone has the required skills. It is common sence really, if you are a foreign government that want to hire someone to fight for you at great cost then you are not going to take on someone you can’t trust. It’s too late to wait until the bullets start flying to find out your mercenary soldiers are just bullshiters with no real military experience. The only way potential employers can find out that type of information, is through recommendations or personal contacts.

If you rock up out of the blue to some foreign capital to offer your services, unless they are really desperate for cannon fodder you are likely to be expelled, thrown in jail or get it in the neck!

At the start of the Yugoslav war, the Croat and Bosnian forces were critically short of skilled manpower so anyone who could claim some sort of military background was in. Now the situation in the former Yugoslavia is very different. Manpower is not a problem any more but security is a serious headache. So any would-be "volunteer" who try to join one of the armies in the region is likely to get a serious going over before he is accepted. Even the slightest suspicion will result in the potential recruit returning home in a bodybag.

The only foreigners who stand a chance of getting work are those who proved themselves during the early phase of the war and are now fully trusted by local commanders. You have been warned. Market research is vital if you are to make any money. You have to find out in which field a foreign army is deficient and then offer them what they are lacking. Currently in many parts of the former Sovjet Union a major requirement is for personal protection skills and personnel. While in the Caucasus there is a need for recruiting training personnel to reform the old tribal milita forces into armies.

It stands to reason that most mercenary work involves dealing with foreign governments or armies so it is vital to understand local methods of doing business. Foreign language skills are also pretty useful. Former British Army squaddies are not known for their tolerance of foreigners, which tends to create a few problems when they try to get into mercenary work. Only by having a professionnal manner will you keep the costumer happy, so heavy drinking, scrapping in bars and all the other squaddie off-duty pastimes can be seriously bad for business. If you let down your guard in off duty moments it is an ideal time for the competition to put you out off business – for good!

Mercenaries have always had a bad press. The fighting in Bosnia has given them a certain celebrity status. In most cases when they make the newspapers they are not referred to going in glowing terms. "Paid killers" is one of the more flattering terms used.

Under (British) law it is not illegal to be a mercenary but the government has a number of powers to make it more difficult for them to ply their trade.

• First of all it is illegal under the Foreign Enlistment act of 1870 to recruit soldiers for foreign armies, so the government could take action to stop you.
• Secondly, the export of firearms and certain key items of military equipment are covered by strict export restrictions, which makes it difficult to equip any mercenary operation based in the U.K. without the government’s approval.
• Thirdly, in extreme situations the government is able to confiscate passports to stop certain individuals travelling abroad.
• Fourthly, ex-servicemen can be penalised under the Official Secrets Act if they pass on their expertise to foreign nationals or governments.

It is often said that the Geneva Convention does not cover mercenaries if they are captured on the battlefield. This is not "technically" correct. The Geneva Convention protects any soldier recruited into a country’s legal uniformed armed forces, no matter what their nationality is. As was the case with Americans serving in the RAF during WWII and captured by the Germans before the U.S. officially came into the war.

The problem for mercenaries comes when they get involved in civil wars, where the armies involved treat the opposition as rebels. In these circumstances no prisoner have any legal rights and mercenaries are often executed out of hand or tried as war criminals. This was the case of the British mercenaries who were captured in Angola in the 1970s.

There is a never-ending stream of recruits because it is undoubtedly more interesting than driving a bus, there is the potential to make a lot of money, it is one of the few ways for battle junkies to get their regular fix, the idealistically inclined can also help their favourite good cause.

On top of all this the U.S. military is in the middle of its biggest cutback programme since WWII so vacancies are thin on the ground even if you can get through Passport Control!

The U.S. Navy SEALs could form a whole regiment of Brits if all the potential recruits who call up the U.S. Embassy in London actually signed up.

The mercenary circuit only works through contacts. If you are needed you will be asked. If you want to make contacts there is enough hints on how to get them –