Thread:Comments:Somali pirates seize tanker off coast of Madagascar/Pirates?/reply (4)

For the love of GOD turns off your capslock.

Now for your question, "How many men and guns could you hire for that amount (1 Million Dollars)?". It is actually fairly simple to do the math so lets take a look.

The M2 Browning 50 cal machine gun has a replacement cost of about $15,000 ( according to this ). That is for the US Military though, the civilian market would cost more. Let's assume a decent markup, plus the cost of related hardware (like mounting) that the cost is $25,000. Don't forget that you need something to shoot, lets keep enough ammo for at least 1,000 rounds at each station. The bulk cost for 50 cal is $4 a round. So: 10 Stations * $25,000 (a gun) + (1,000 rnds of ammo * $4 each) = $290,000

Now let's take a look at the men. You want "highly trained marksmen" so lets get some E-7 Sergeant First Class's with 22 years of experience. That will cost $4,142.10 a month, or roughly $50,000 a year. Now this is just base salary, any specialties on top of that (like scout sniper) are going to earn them more. Plus the US Army has a lot of benefits. In reality to lure them away from the military, you're going to have to pay them a lot more (after all, they are mercenaries now), lets say $125,000 a year (Though I've heard PMCs in Iraq earn as much as $1,000 a day). Remember, we needed 15 men from the earlier post. So: 15 men * $125,000 a year = $1,875,000

Adding it all up. $290,000 for guns + $1,875,000 for men = $2,165,000. Over 2 MILLION Dollars for one ship, for one year. You can't forget that the men are paid salary, so that cost is just going to keep going up. Plus guns constantly exposed to sea water are going to need constant maintenance and replacement parts. Oh, and the men will need to train too so you'll have to buy more ammo. See where this is going? It isn't cheap to equip a ship with men and guns.

So lets answer your question now, "How many men and guns could you hire for that amount (1 Million Dollars)?". Half of a ship, half of the time.