What is the difference between an all volunteer force and a mercenery force?

The attitude. A mercenary is a short term contractor, has no loyalty to the host nation and usaully not from that country, can cut ties immediatly to a employer if conditions are disagreeable, supplies there own gear and is motivated by one thing-cash. They are also considered illegal combatants by the Geneva convention. In the past there were also used to supplement the regulars when bigger numbers for the misson are required.

A volulenteer force is under a long term contract, is under the thumb of the country's goverment it fights for, usaully paid less, is motivated by other things then cash, are considered legal combatants, and is from the nations it fights for and most of its gear is supplied by the goverment.

volounteer,s hun! they r the guys with cause to fight it maybe there motherland ,ideology ,honour,religion etc but not money no not never money the minute they take money they turn into merceneries frm warriors or soldiers.

And there exist merceneries 2day even and not individuals but armies such as American allies on the top the paki,s,ethopians, etc well these take money and fight a war which is totally unfavourable yet dangerous to their own nations but only for dollars they become more of bounty hunters then allies they get paid for wat they kill or capture.well a real life example that is .

Now the other way around the volounteers r the terrorists of alqaeeda,eta in spain,ira in uk,taliban,maoists in nepal or india, there members are volounteers they r ready to serve and die for there cause they up hold the cause b4 which nothing is important not even human life these guys r volounteers real ones.

yes the dudes who volounteer to serve there nation in war and through difficult times like soldiers volounteering 4 iraq and afghanistan brits and americans i doubt nato is some wat in mercenery criteria but brits and americans r not they have a cause the cause on which to succed lies their destiny.

well! there ya have it a lots of crap but think abt it sometimes when i sit down and think it feels like the whole world is a nercenery well good luck dudes peace to ya all out there

Generally a mercenary force is made up of foreigners. For example, when Prussians fought on the side of the English during the Revolutionary War, the Prussians were mercenaries while the British and Colonial soldiers were just soldiers, because it was their countries' war.

And yes--I believe mercenaries get paid more than average soldiers, so that they *will* fight a war that is not their own.

Merceneries are nothing more than hired guns, and licensed to kill by the government.

The pay.

1sgt Ret.

think of a merc like a hitman