Posted on 04/27/2005 6:26:10 PM PDT by blam
Officers using leave to work as Iraq guards
By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg
(Filed: 28/04/2005)
The South African military has imposed restrictions on officers after it was revealed that dozens are using extended leave to moonlight as security guards in Iraq, where they can earn more than a year's salary in a month.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) believes that mainly white serving officers are accumulating leave in order to make a lucrative tour of unofficial duty in Iraq's flourishing security industry.
"Many South Africans return from Baghdad with stories of earning up to US $1,000 a day," said a military source. "The work is dangerous but for these guys who have a lot of combat experience the rewards are high."
The scandal emerged during a military court hearing in Pretoria when a senior SANDF officer, Lt Col Gus Maartens, was fined £180 for "breaches of military discipline" including being absent without leave.
The South African army changed its leave policy recently, suspecting that some men were freelancing as mercenaries.
It became compulsory for all soldiers to declare when they intended to travel abroad, even for a genuine holiday.
Lt Col Louis Kirstein, an SANDF spokesman, said the army was investigating reports that many of its serving men were working off-duty in quasi-military organisations abroad.
The number of South Africans working in the private military sector in Iraq is estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 men.
According to a UN report, South Africa is, with the US and Britain, among the top three suppliers of personnel for the private military and security organisations operating in Iraq.
Wow this is amazing.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
Competence goes where it is rewarded... I am surprised that any whites are still defending that hellhole-in-making.
If I was a white South African with marketable skills like that, I wouldn't just be "moonlighting". I'd be outta there!
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