“Mad Mike” Hoare: The Legend

At PMCI we realise that in some circles military contractors are still viewed as “guns for hire”, or more simply put, mercenaries, former soldiers that will put their lives on the line for cold, hard cash. But is this a bad thing when they not only fight for the money, as virtually every professional soldier does, but for ideals as well? Bill looks to the story of “Mad Mike” Hoare who turns 100 years old in March 2019, to take this further.

The question of the “mercenary soldier” will no doubt vex minds far more learned than my own, but history can show many examples where the “paid and professional soldier” fought not on behalf of their country of birth, but for an ideal that they truly believed in. The days of the “gentleman adventurer” may be gone now, but I believe it is still a reason why good men and women may take up arms against a foe in distant lands.

I am certainly not naive enough to realise that some are truly “just in it for the money”, but many that leave the military and search for “what comes next” have spent their formative lives defending an ideal (whether that is country, creed, or just simply the guy next to them), and with a different mindset and a set of specialist non-transferable skills decide, like “Ronin”, they must seek to follow the warrior path but without a specific master; it’s their beliefs, morals, and ideals that drives them to put themselves in harm’s way to protect others.

It was my great honour to be contacted by Chris Hoare, the son of a man that you could say history has dealt harshly with in some circles, but that in my mind epitomises that “gentleman adventurer” of a different age, a man who would find a welcome amongst the modern day warrior that fights for pay; “Mad Mike Hoare”.

Thomas Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare was born on 17th March 1919, and is a British-Irish mercenary leader best known for his military activities in Africa and his attempt to conduct a coup d’état in the Seychelles. The epithet “Mad” Mike originates from broadcasts by East German radio during the fighting in the Congo in the 1960s.

They would precede their commentary with “The mad bloodhound, Mike Hoare”.