2. John Smith-served as a mercenary
in the army of Henry IV of France
against the Spaniards.
In 1606 Smith became involved
with the Virginia Company of
London's plan to colonize
Virginia for profit.
During the voyage, Smith was
charged with mutiny, and Captain
had planned to exec ute him. Fortunately for Smith,
upon first landing at what is now Cape Henry on
26 April 1607, unsealed orders from the Virginia
Company designated Smith to be one of the leaders
of the new colony.
3. In 1614, Smith returned to the
coasts of Maine and Massachusetts
Bay. He named the region
"New England".On the first trip,
a storm dismasted his ship. In the
second attempt, he was captured by
French pirates off the coast of the
Azores. Smith escaped after weeks
of captivity and made his way back
to England, where he published an
account of his two voyages as A Description of New
England.
John Smith was the first known Private Military
Contractor who helped shape American History.
4. Myles Standish
(1584 – October 3, 1656) was
an English military contractor
hired by the Pilgrims as military
advisor for Plymouth Colony.
One of the Mayflower passengers,
SSttaannddiisshh ppllayed a leading role in
the administration and defense
of Plymouth Colony from its
inception.
Standish exhibited considerable
courage and skill as a soldier,
but also demonstrated a brutality
that angered Native Americans
and disturbed more moderate
members of the Colony.
An 1873 lithograph depicting the
expedition against Nemasket led by
Standish and guided by Hobbamock.
5. Lafayette Square-
Located on H Street between
15th and 17th Streets, NW,
just north of the White House.
On the four corners of
Lafayette Square, visitors
can view a statue of Marquis
de Lafayette - the square's
namesake, and three other
foreign Revolutionary War
hheeroes - the Comte de
Rochambeau of France,
Tadeusz Kosciuszko of Poland, and the Baron
von Steuben of Prussia.
6. During the Revolution more than
2,000 privately owned warships
were commissioned by Congress
to attack the Brits, seize
transports and sell their cargoes
for money .
November 1775 New England’s merchants and fishermen
were given the green light to convert their vessels into warships.
The Continental Navy had an
arsenal of 1,246 guns aboard its
boats and ships; the privateers
had 14,872. The Continental Navy
captured 196 enemy ships compared
to the privateers’ 2,283.
7. The Pinkerton National
Detective Agency as a
private contractor provided intelligence for the
Union and personal protection for the President.
In 1861 Pinkerton uncovered an assassination plot
against Lincoln and General George McClellan.
8. 3rd Squadron Hell's Angels, Flying Tigers
over China, photographed in 1942 by AVG
pilot Robert T. Smith.
The pilots
were promised
a bounty of
$500 for each
enemy aircraft
shot down.
- A "blood chit" issued to the
American Volunteer Group
Flying Tigers. The Chinese
characters read:
"This foreign person has come
to China to help in the war
effort. Soldiers and civilians,
one and all, should rescue and
protect him."
(R. E. Baldwin Collection)
The 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG)
of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942,
nicknamed the Flying Tigers.
The volunteers, former Navy, Marine Corps
and the Army Air Corps officers were
discharged from the armed services,
to be employed for "training and instruction"
by a private military contractor, the Central
Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
9. For the Bremer security Blackwater
purchased three McDonnell
Douglas 530s-“Little Birds.”
10. “After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops
and returned overland to Bagram Air Base...” the Kerry statement said.
Joe Biden and John Kerry—standing in front of
a Blackhawk helicopter on a snowy mountaintop.
The U.S. Embassy asked the men of Blackwater USA to go in by
land and evacuate them to Bagram. They did the job, and the senators
knew who came to their rescue mountainside.
11. The four armed contractors,
Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko,
Wesley Batalona, and Mike Teague,
were killed and dragged from their
vehicles. Their bodies were beaten
and burned, then dragged through
tthhee cciittyy ssttreets before being hung
over a bridge crossing
the Euphrates River.
The ambush led to the First Battle of
Fallujah, a U.S.-led operation to
retake control of the city. However,
the battle was halted mid-way
for political reasons.Seven months
later, in November 2004, a
sseeccoonndd attempt at capturing the city,
the Second Battle of Fallujah,
proved successful.
