Feral Jundi

Monday, February 3, 2020

History: Farewell To A Legend–Mad Mike Hoare Dies At Age 100

Mad Mike Hoare.

I first read about Mad Mike Hoare in the pages of Soldier of Fortune magazine back in the eighties. I had seen The Wild Geese back then, but really had no idea about the background and it’s relation to MMH. Now I know. The title of the movie was inspired by the 5 Commando patch that MMH wore, which also had a flying goose. This reference was to the Irish soldiers who left to serve in European armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

An original 5 Commando Patch.

What I wanted to do in this post is present the various eulogies out there, from some of the top figures and publications in this industry that were inspired by Hoare. On the FB links, definitely click on those and read the comments and support.

The first is from his son, Chris Hoare. Chris wrote the last book and biography on his father, and it is definitely an excellent tribute to his father’s legacy. MMH also wrote a ton of books about his exploits, so there is that resource as well. Many of the well wishers on FB and elsewhere, found MMH through his books and via the numerous articles written about him over the years.

Chris also did some youtube interviews and podcasts and has an excellent website to promote the book and his father’s life. Definitely worth your time to check out.

Next up is Soldier of Fortune. They have definitely been an influence on many in this industry, to include myself, and here is what they had to say.

One of the best eulogies I read was from another industry great, Eeben Barlow. Here is his statement on Facebook. Eeben actually got a chance to meet MMH at his last birthday!

Of course here is the trailer of the movie The Wild Geese. Richard Burton’s character was said to be influenced by MMH, and MMH was an advisor on the film. Pretty cool. I think a modern film actually based on MMH is in order, and it would make for some fascinating film if done correctly. Rest in peace… –Matt

Monday, June 7, 2010

Cool Stuff: Soldier Of Fortune Postcards From The Mexican Revolution

     This website has some cool photos of some forgotten history.  During the Mexican Revolution, there were many soldiers of fortune from all over the world applying their trade on both sides of the conflict.  This was a very interesting period in which at the same time, you had wars like World War 1 going on in which many battlefield innovations were going on.  You could say it was the time period in which the horse and repeating firearm was being trumped by machine guns, tanks, artillery and barbed wire.

     But back to this collection of postcards.  It is a fascinating look at the characters of that time period.  I got a kick out of the names of some of these guys.  Like Diablo or Slim.  Slim was actually the name of quite a few American mercenaries back then.

     The other thing I looked at was the amount of guys hired for their machine gun expertise.  Guys like Tom Fountain, Sam Dreben, Alfred Lewis, and of course Maximillian Kloss and his work at the Battle of Celaya. Very interesting round up of some highly specialized folks that applied their trade all over the world, to include Mexico. It kind of reminds me of the long bow mercenary archers of the 14th century and how sought after they were. (the White Company comes to mind)

     Finally, and this is what is really interesting about the mercenaries of this time period.  They were the ones importing the know how of how to use these latest tools of warfare. It was these guys working in Mexico who introduced new and interesting ways of how to use the machine gun in warfare. The war in Europe was also emphasizing how effective these weapons were, and demonstrating how they could be used.

    These soldiers for hire were the same guys who picked up battlefield innovations in other countries and wars they worked in and further evolved their ideas on how to wage war.  That to me is a very interesting area that really hasn’t been studied when it comes to the dynamic of the globe trotting soldier for hire.  Anyway, check out this link to see the other interesting characters and photos at this website. –Matt

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Soldiers of fortune in Mexico

American, Canadian and other foreign mercenaries in Mexico

From Wikipedia

Members of Pancho Villa’s American Legion of Honor

Many adventurers (e.g. Sarah “Wildwoman” Horn), ideologues and freebooters from outside Mexico were attracted by the purported excitement and romance, not to mention possible booty, of the Mexican Revolution. Most mercenaries served in armies operating in the north of Mexico, partly because those areas were the closest to popular entry points to Mexico from the U.S., and partly because Pancho Villa had no compunction about hiring mercenaries. The first legion of foreign mercenaries, during the 1910 Madero revolt, was the Falange de los Extranjeros (Foreign Phalanx), which included Giuseppe (“Peppino”) Garibaldi, grandson of the famed Italian unifier, as well as many American recruits.

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

History: Tracker Combat Units–Zambezi Valley Manhunt, by David Scott-Donelan

This is some old school Soldier of Fortune material, but still really good.  The Tracker Combat Units in Rhodesia were impressive, and as you can see below, this unit produce some interesting folks for their war.  In particular, Andre Rabie and Allan Franklen, both founding members of the Selous Scouts.

And just so we don’t forget, I talked about David Scott-Donelan’s school awhile back and how important these combat tracking skills are.

The one point that really struck me, was this quote ‘troop strength was low and resources to patrol a 1,000-mile border and 150,000 square miles of hinterland were severely limited’. Boy that sounds like the US/Mexico border, the Saudi/Yemen border, the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, the Iraq borders, etc., etc., etc…..

In a world where manpower and resources are hard to come by and terrorists and criminals exploit miles of borderland to accomplish their deeds, the solutions that the Rhodesians came to are more relevant today than they ever were before. They were forced to do border stuff on the cheap, and developing a combat tracking capability was the outcome of that.

I also got a kick out of the similarities between the old west, and Rhodesia’s war.  We used Indian Scouts and Mountain Men to do just what these guys were doing, and that is tracking humans.  Why we are not emphasizing the use of more of these tracker teams in places like Afghanistan, is beyond me.  As long as this war has been going on, there should have been entire schools in place over in Afghanistan, whom have produced hundreds of competent man trackers and scouts for that war.  Where are the Jezailchis Scouts and why are we not learning from the lessons of others in this current war? –Matt

Edit: David Scott-Donelan is no longer associated with TTOS, and his new school is called The Scott-Donelan Tracking School. His website is located here.

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Tracker Combat Unit

ZAMBEZI VALLEY MANHUNT

Tracker Combat Unit (TCU) Trails Terrs

Soldier of Fortune Magazine

March 1985

By David Scott-Donelan

Rhodesia was hardly a nurturing environment for an experimental military unit. Most soldiers were concerned with simple survival, particularly in the earlier days of the country’s no-holds-barred bush war against communist guerrillas. In those times, the government’s troop strength was low and resources to patrol a 1,000-mile border and 150,000 square miles of hinterland were severely limited.

But history demonstrates some of the toughest life forms spring from harsh environments. In Rhodesia, when you talked tough, you talked about the Army’s Tracker Combat Unit.

From TCU’s small nucleus of original members came an impressive roster of military leaders including Andre Rabie and Allan Franklin, founding members of another innovative and deadly organization, the Selous Scouts. Other original TCU members included Brian Robinson, who later commanded Rhodesia’s Tracking School and Special Air Services at the height of battlefield commitment of that unit. TCU plankowner Joe Conway was decorated for tackling four terrorists while armed only with a bayonet. And ‘T.C.” Woods survived an underwater battle with a crocodile, even after the man-eater chewed off one of his balls. The original members of the Tracker Combat Unit were veterans and genuine hard-cases. They had to be.

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