Erik Prince is recruiting S. American Mercenaries for the fight in Yemen...

via Fox News Latino.

In a program launched by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and now run by the Emirati military, the force of 450 Latin American troops – mostly made up of Colombian fighters, but also including Chileans, Panamanians and Salvadorans – adds a new and surprising element to the already chaotic mix of forces from foreign governments, armed tribes, terrorist networks and Yemeni militias that are currently embroiled in the Middle Eastern nation.
It is also an insight into how many wealthy Arab nations could wage their wars in the near future – especially in places like Yemen, Libya and Syria – as they deal with standing militaries unused to long-term, sustained warfare and populations that for the most part have little interest in military service.
"Mercenaries are an attractive option for rich countries that wish to wage war yet whose citizens may not want to fight," Sean McFate, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of "The Modern Mercenary," told the New York Times.
He added: "The private military industry is global now," adding that the U.S. "legitimized" the industry with its heavy reliance on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan over more than a decade of war in those countries. "Latin American mercenaries are a sign of what’s to come."

This has been talked about for the longest by my readers on this page but quite honestly I didn't believe it for one minute.  I guess I was wrong.  This might work but I doubt it...especially in Yemen.  Why?   I have yet to see any of the PMC companies (at least the ones that I monitor) address the evolving fights we're seeing.

Once it was possible to simply "buy" Ex SOCOM personnel and recreate teams that the US govt operates.

But the fight has evolved.  Yeah...I'm gonna beat this drum again.  We're seeing "terrorists"...whatever you want to call them...evolve into combined arms teams.

We're seeing these forces defeat nation state armies in the field operating the most high tech gear we have.

Until PMCs starting developing true combined arms teams...and hiring the personnel to man them then they will lose in the field.  Special Ops forces are vulnerable to conventional forces and what we're seeing in Yemen and Iraq are hybrid terrorist forces that are behaving more like conventional forces.

Regardless, this bears watching.  Looks like Prince is back in the game.