Transcript
Interviewer (0:11)
So I guess one of the last
Kurt (0:13)
things I wanted to get into was
Interviewer (0:15)
something you had mentioned to me after that battle the other day, Kurt, was this sort of paradigm that may be emerging is the dynamics between becoming a foreign volunteer, a paid soldier or a private military contractor. And that there's a sort of blending of it now that as we're in a time when combat deployments are winding down for the US army guys aren't getting deployed overseas. And with that there aren't as many private security contracts out there for veterans to go out on and have that kind of employment. So I wanted, if you were willing to talk about your experience with this, you know, as a veteran going from active duty Marine to volunteer soldier to paid Peshmerga to private security contractor.
Kurt (1:05)
Well, as we know this is kind of a reoccurring trend in history. I mean after Vietnam, that's where going over to Rhodesia to volunteer the services over there. And I mean through. What was it? What was that? The squadron of World War II that was paid for every Nazi plane they shot down?
Interviewer (1:22)
I can't remember, was it Tiger Swan?
Kurt (1:24)
It might have been. I can't remember.
Interviewer (1:26)
I can't remember either.
Kurt (1:27)
But it's, you know, mercenaries, volunteers and just have been part of war since, since wolves and you know, somebody threw a rock at somebody else. It's. And I mean we even see it with Ukraine, it's huge.
Interviewer (1:45)
Yeah. And Azov and Donbass.
Kurt (1:47)
Yeah, yeah. Over here it's. We see it emerging not as large a scale, it's just complex I guess. But for me personally it's just, I find it holds very true because I came over the potential of just volunteering all this. Never asked for money, never wanted any. I'm just like, feed me, give me a rifle, give me some bullets, put me where I need to go, I'll do my job and I'm happy. I got food in my belly and places to sleep and a righteous battle to fight. No problem. Then when I left the 9th Brigade, I ended up in a different unit after hopping around, met some contractors in between then and there because didn't really have another Peshmer unit to go to.
Interviewer (2:36)
And then actual paid western contractors.