Freelance soldiers of fortune had a bit of a heydey in the 1980's USA, especially with the wars in Central America. Soldier of Fortune magazine even held annual "conventions" attracting fans, wannabes and the real thing. Numerous training camps operated across the country.
These "mercs" were more like the characters from Dogs of War or other failed coup attempts of the 60's and 70's, mostly in Africa (Congo, Angola) rather than the massive privates armies assembled by Blackwater and similar outfits for the US Government. In a way, what was once a sort of extra-legal, freewheeling activity is now pretty much outright contracted for by governments, though no longer carrying the tag of "mercenary" or "soldier of fortune".
This is a short trailer for a documentary project in the 1980's which unfortunately never got completed, but that's another story. I'm sitting on a pretty hefty amount of original footage, documents, stories, research and general color on the subject. So I'm just getting my feet wet with this while working on more in-depth material to come.
Comments welcome.
