P.W. Singer · 330 pages
Rating: (419 votes)
“Although these firms deploy units that are often much smaller in manpower relative to their client’s adversaries, their effectiveness lies not in their size, but in their comprehensive training, experience, and overall skill at battlefield judgment, all in fundamentally short supply in the chaotic battlefields of the last decade.14 Utilizing coordinated movement and intelligent application of firepower, their strength is their ability to arrive at the right place at the right moment. The fundamental reality of modern warfare is that in many cases such small tactical units can achieve strategic goals.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“The firm’s employees play active roles alongside those of the client, but in a way designed to make the overall combination more effective. Typically, their employees provide either specialized capabilities too cost-prohibitive for the local force to develop on its own (such as flying advanced fighter jets or operating artillery control systems), or they may be distributed across the forces of the client, in order to provide general leadership and experience to a greater number of individual units.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“If we do operate in civil wars, we are there as ‘advisers’ or ‘trainers.’ But, of course we are on the frontline, and the excuse is so that we can see if our training is working.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“In an interesting attempt at avoiding any possible external prosecution for mercenary activities, the contract stipulated that Sandline personnel be deputized “special constables,” sworn in as PNG police officers, but given military rank. This provision meant that although they were not Papua New Guinea citizens, they would nevertheless have the legal authority to carry weapons, arrest local citizens, and act forcibly in “self defense” (to be interpreted by the firm itself).”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“Finally, the continuing war in Colombia offers a glimpse of the postmodern network scenario, where all sides in the conflict have linked up with privatized military help. While the government and multinational corporations have hired PMFs, the opposition as well has contracted out much of its intelligence and military functions. Flush with resources, Colombian political insurgents, drug cartels, international mafias, hired advisors, and other affiliates have also made their own alliances. Thus, they are able to limit the exposure of their core, while making use of the latest technology.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“The ability to transform money rapidly into force returns the international system to the dangers of lowered costs of war.31 A new international market of private military services means that economic power is now more threatening.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“EO promoted itself as providing five key services to clients: strategic and tactical military advisory services; an array of sophisticated military training packages in land, sea, and air warfare; peacekeeping or “persuasion” services; advice to armed forces on weapons selection and acquisition; and paramilitary services.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“EO soon realized that it had discovered a growth industry. Word of mouth spread about its effectiveness and, by 1991, the firm had started running operations outside of South Africa. These initial efforts included: mine security efforts; infiltrating and penetrating organized crime smuggling syndicates; and operations for a South American government (rumored to be Colombia), conducting clandestine counter drug raids that it termed “discretionary warfare.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
“Surprise long-range helicopter assault operations against targets deep within enemy territory, supported by the ground attack aircraft, became a hallmark of EO operations, as did the use of pinpoint suppressive fire with mortars and follow-up pursuit of ambushes.”
― P.W. Singer, quote from Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
P.W. Singer
See more on GoodReads
“Connor turned to Vanda. “I’ll need to check yer bag, too.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Vanda tossed her bag onto the table. She was ready for him this time.
He opened her silver evening bag. His eyes widened.
She was quite proud that she’d managed to squeeze a pair of handcuffs, a blindfold, her back massager, and a bottle of Viagra
into such a tiny handbag. She smiled sweetly. “Something wrong, Connor?”
― Kerrelyn Sparks, quote from Forbidden Nights with a Vampire
“Who’s to say that it takes something like a drug to mess with your perception of reality? How did Hitler deceive a nation? How can one group of people look at the world and see one thing, and another see something completely different? One sees a town, another sees a desert. One sees beauty, another sees chaos.”
The skin of this world,” he said quietly.”
― Ted Dekker, quote from Skin
“Sometimes life is stranger than art.”
― H.P. Mallory, quote from Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
“Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout
"I see your lights!" But ours had long died out.”
― Wilfred Owen, quote from The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
“It's not living off me if you're going to be my wife anyway."
"Huh?"
"Nothing.”
― quote from Big Bad Beast
The Atonement Child
The Fourth Apprentic...
Pilgrim
The Pale King
High NoonBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
