Pirate Mercs

Originally Posted by Frosty

The ships? where Malacca,--- its Malaysia!! who is the states? There is no states. What the united states? I have no idea what you mean.

But Yep --thats what we were discussing. Would you mind if we carried on? Or should we stop now because you say thats not viable.

May we carry on please and talk amongst ourselves.

It IS NOT WORTH Frosty, YOU DRIVEL.

In the Malkka straits the ships are in territorial waters of a nation (I said state, like flag state), which allows armoured forces on board.

The flag states of most ships do NOT permit that while in international waters.

So easy is colour TV!

and now I´m definetively out here.........

[powerabout]

Originally Posted by Boston

and thats the way it should be
you dont pull one out unless your ready to start shooting
otherwise its got no business being out
kinda a rule of thumb

besides you always want to keep them guessing as to exactly what you are packing

Im actually all for guns being legal
that way its not just the criminals that have them

B

Around my area, if you commit a crime with a gun you get the death penalty, first and then punished for the crime second.
Depending how good the police are you either get no guns or shootouts till death.

Considering piracy has been going on around Singapore for centuries, a boat with dead people floating around who are never identified or claimed is not that unusual. Before guns ( and many pirates dont use them) the molatov cocktail was the choice of repellant so the dead bodies usually turned up burnt as well.
Most pirates cant swim so will burn in their boat. I just cant imagine the fear of swimming so cooking instead.

[Frosty]

[quote=apex
and now I´m definetively out here.........[/QUOTE]

Will you be deleting that one too when you have realised what you have said?

Every one has kinda lost enthusiasm now. What a jolley and friendly forum participant

[Reason]

Groundpounder: OK, light-fighter. I’ve been reading this with a mixture of amusement and horror. Because you’ve served our country, I’d like to take the time to provide some insight into where your path is leading. First, my background: I retired from the Army in 2007. I retired as a Special Forces LTC and spent my last few years at USSOCOM managing the funding used for GWOT. I’ve spent billions of dollars on the type of non-standard, paramilitary personal services contracts you are hoping to get with the shipping companies; so I know something about the subject. I’m now in my second career, as the Chief Financial Officer for a Private Equity firm – so I know about funding private ventures.

Banks won’t loan you money for this venture. If a bank is willing, they will want you to put up about 50% or more of your own money and sign a personal guarantee of somewhere around 120% of the amount borrowed. Personal guarantee can be your property in the Hamptons, your steel mill, your $5million investment portfolio etc. But they want something they can take that can’t be moved out of the country. Since you won’t find a lender, you’ll need to go to a Venture Capitalist. They specialize and they aren’t stupid. With all due respect, I’ll talk to you like a VC investor will: Since you have no experience in these operations, you are a significant risk. Before we even talk, I want to see the resume or curriculum vitae for all your key guys. If I don’t see mostly SEALs, Special Forces, MARSOC, Rangers (not the tab, but guys who’ve been in the Regiment), and Brit or Aus SAS, then I won’t return your call. The only conventional military I care to read about are Navy Surface Warfare Officers, Coast Guard, medical guys and engineers. I couldn’t care less about conventional Army and Marines with 1-3 years in Iraq, that qualifies them to be ammo handlers here.

Since you are untested and your vessel is barely held together, we’ll have to take out a performance bond so if you are unable to perform you mission (mechanical, weak knees, etc) we can make good on any losses suffered by the carriers. The cost of that bond will come out of your share of cash flow. After a couple years experience, we’ll revisit this point. We won’t be able to get insurance, so this makes my risk go up as an investor. If you want my money (and you don’t have another choice), all free cash flows after paying income and expenses (expenses include all salaries but yours; maybe we’ll negotiate a small stipend for you) will be split. Because of the risk of this investment, I will take 90% of all free cash flow until I get a 20% compounded return on my investment and after that we’ll split cash 60:40 (with 60% to me). I’ll have a bunch of green eye-shaded guys look at your detailed budget and make calculations on how long before I get my 20%. If your budget has holes, I’ll stop returning your calls. If your business plan looks like it was written by a 1st year MBA candidate, I’ll stop returning your calls. If you don’t prove to my satisfaction that your vessel and crew are up to the task, I’ll stop returning your calls.

Sorry to be so blunt, light-fighter. But if I let you drive on without plugging some reality in here, I wouldn’t be doing you the service you deserve as one of our countries best. I’d recommend that before you make a multi-million dollar capital investment in this poorly thought out plan, take a job at another company until you learn the ropes Remember, Eric Prince has his own money and can get 500 SOF applicants overnight; he’s your competition. Good luck.

Or, round up all the cash you can get from friends and relatives, show the banker how responsible you are and say you want to buy this boat and turn it into a yacht - then go do business. VC will break you.

[powerabout]

Maybe the guys were just thinking of how banks were.....last year?

[Frosty]

And the pirates have just received their biggest ransom so far.

Something fishy here, no one is dying so no one cares.

A update:

From "Maritime Professional" today

Piracy approach a failure, say Hong Kong shipowners

A furious statement by the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association reflects the frustration felt by shipping firms at the world's inability to prevent pirate attacks.

The Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association (HKSOA) has called for governments to throw out the current response to pirates menacing ships off the Horn of Africa, accusing the international community of tolerating piracy instead of eliminating attacks.
This approach was sending out the message that piracy carries little risk for generous reward, the association said in a statement.

More than 1,500 seafarers have been taken hostage for ransom, often for months at a time, said the HKSOA, despite significant measures shipowners have taken to defend their crews.

The HKSOA has demanded a more robust approach from the international community.

This is a stance that will resonate across the shipping industry that is becoming increasingly frustrated with pirates who seem able to operate with impunity. Military patrols in the Gulf of Aden have prevented many attacks but the pirates have simply moved far out to sea.

The HKSOA questions why motherships that ferry smaller and faster skiffs deep into the ocean are not found and disabled or detained. Instead, pirates are allowed to return to these deepsea bases and continue their attacks.

“It is extraordinary that governments today seem less able to protect shipping than they were almost 200 years ago,” the HKSOA lamented.

The association makes the point that if airlines were being hijacked as regularly as ships in the Indian Ocean, the response would be far more robust. There is merit in this argument. One failed attempt to bring down an airliner bound for the US on Christmas Day and airports have begun profiling half the world. Yet even though ships carry 90 percent of global trade, scores of pirate attacks and millions paid in ransoms are allowed to continue.

Waiting for democracy in Somalia to solve the problem has been suggested as an option, but it is a terrifically poor one. Somali democracy revolves around one man-one AK-47, rather than one man-one vote, and the sad reality is that the country will still be a basket case when Rip van Winkle wakes up.

There is only one way to tackle piracy, just like there was back in the days of buccaneers, Blackbeard and the skull and crossbones – bring out the guns. Blow pirate skiffs and motherships out of the water and this scourge of shipping will end.

There is too much money at stake on both sides for a kid gloves approach to work. Only when pirates know as they put out to sea that there’s a good chance they won’t return alive – or in the next few years – will they seek out a new profession.

by Greg Knowler on 1/19/2010

Regards
Richard

[Frosty]

or just

[Frosty]

No I did'nt mean that at all.

I mean,--

[Boston]

I say right on

I plan on going armed and if its a problem
Ill just go elsewhere

the point was made that I just cant match there fire power in a one man show
and that point is probably a good one
but
I will not go without a fight
and its nice to see the world waking up to that grim realization

reality is what it is
for better or worse
get used to it

[rasorinc]

Bos, I'll loan you my WWII flame thrower and sell you a 50 gallon barrel of jellied gasoline.

Or buy a legal 50 caliber. Here are the various shells you can buy.
The caliber .50 cartridge consists of a cartridge case, primer, propelling charge, and the bullet. The term bullet refers only to the small-arms projectile. There are eight types of ammunition issued for use in the caliber .50 machine gun. The tips of the various rounds are color-coded to indicate their type. The ammunition is linked with the M2 or M9 metallic links for use in the machine gun.



Cartridge Use
M2 Ball In marksmanship training, against personnel, and light materiel targets.
M1 Tracer To aid in observing fire-secondary purposes are for incendiary effect and for signaling.
M2 Armor-piercing Against armored aircraft and lightly armored vehicles, concrete shelters, and other bullet-resisting targets.
M1 Incendiary Incendiary effect-especially against aircraft.
M8 Armor-piercing Combined armor-piercing and Incendiary effect.
M20 Armor-piercing Combined armor-piercing and incendiary effect, with the additional tracer feature.
M1 Blank For simulated fire (contains no bullet).
M2 Dummy For training (completely inert).
Mk 211 MP Raufoss Multipurpose Ammunition
M858 SRTA Short Range Training Ammunition
M860 SRTA Short Range Training Ammunition
M903 SLAP Saboted Light Armor Penetrator (SLAP)
M962 SLAPT Saboted Light Armor Penetrator Tracer (SLAPT)
XM1022 antipersonnel
GDT Generic Dim Tracer







Discuss

[Boston]

well I'm just going sailing
and not looking to sail into any trouble
but obviously we live in a world where sometimes there is just no avoiding it
its nearly a guaranteed
I just dont understand the folks who want to walk into it unarmed
talk about putting your head on the chopping block
armed at least you have a chance
unarmed you have no chance at all
kinda a no brainer if you ask me

whatever
but when we start running out of food
vegetarians and peaceniks probably taste better anyway

"sometimes there is just no avoiding it" - Yes, like getting on a forum to help, and learn, about boats and spending half our time defending ourselves and our way of life on topics far-ranging and irrelevant to boats. I, for one, will shoot back. I don't like it but it is the way it is.