[BeadCounter]

A great tragedy all the way around. What were these people doing?

[Red Badger]

mercenary - that’s Military-speak for ‘EXPENDABLES’..............

[\/\/ayne]

"They Were Thrown Into Battle Like Pigs"

Yeah, that's how they often used troops in WWII.

[PIF]

ping

[babble-on]

Have to think that becoming a Russian mercenary is not a career with a real hot long-term growth horizon. Don’t expect your pension plan to vest. You are a “red-shirt” on Star Trek basically.

[PIF]

https://www.rferl.org/a/syria-report-dozens-russian-mercenaries-killed-us-air-strikes/29037728.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/mattis-russia-mercenaries-syria-killed-us-strikes/29038814.html

[Regulator]

“What were these people doing?”

Trying to make money in a country where their options have disappeared.

It’s disgusting. Yelena is now alone and their son has no father.

The middle east is a place that just needs to disappear and stop infecting the rest of humanity with their disease.

[PIF]

The Russian business daily Kommersant reports that 600 Russians had been contracted by the St. Petersburg-based PWC Vagner paramilitary group to fight inside Syria.

[jjsheridan5]

How often, historically, have pigs actually been thrown into battle? Is this a common occurrence?

[norwaypinesavage]

"What were these people doing?"

They were trying to kill US soldiers. That's generally not a long term assignment.

[jiggyboy]

“Breaking: Soldiers Die In Battles”

[jerod]

Mercenary... I.E. Getting paid to go to war unlike the traditional soldiers who do it for their country rather than a paycheck.

Sad to see anybody checkout before their time, but it sounds like he knew what he was in for.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Widow Of Russian Mercenary Killed In Syria: 'They Were Thrown Into Battle Like Pigs'

What did she expect? The russians care little about casualties of their military, and mercenaries are way below that.

[McGruff]

As a mercenary (independent contractor) you can always say,

Take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more.

[txgirl4Bush]

He was probably in the group of mercenaries that were on their way to do battle with the Kurds, and the Americans blew them all away, killing over a 100 of them, wounding many more. :) The Americans are working with the Kurds there in eastern Iraq.

[Doc91678]

They’re conducting a proxy war for Putin. Whether it’s in the Ukraine or Syria Putin is using contractors to prosecute war in areas he’s most interested in.

[TigerLikesRooster]

So they ran out of Chechen mercenaries?