Era of militias?

[remnant]

It is increasingly becoming a common trend around the world for governments to engage irregular forces or militia to fight alongside the armed forces. Not only are there forces highly motivated, they can also blend with the general population and have a lower maintenance. They are christened as civilian defence forces and are being used in Iraq and despots like Assad of Syria and elsewhere. One downside is that some have discipline issues and cannot be entirely trusted. Is this a pointer to the future?

 

[dogs of war]

It is increasingly becoming a common trend around the world for governments to engage irregular forces or militia to fight alongside the armed forces. Not only are there forces highly motivated, they can also blend with the general population and have a lower maintenance. They are christened as civilian defence forces and are being used in Iraq and despots like Assad of Syria and elsewhere. One downside is that some have discipline issues and cannot be entirely trusted. Is this a pointer to the future?

I think tactics like these are only ever going to receive use in poorer countries. In places like the US, getting political approval and money for military upkeep is really no issue, so the main draw of creating a militia is basically moot. Furthermore, you see these irregular forces being deployed more in countries caught up in some sort of civil war, where a lot of battling occurs in or around state lines. The US will probably never ever be caught up in any sort of protracted civil or semi-civil engagement (to the good chagrin of those homesteaders).

 

[xTinx]

Touche to that. But it's ironic why some governments would contract insurgents or mercenery groups to fight on their behalf (i.e. proxy wars) when they know for a fact that they do not have clear ideologies and their loyalties are ambivalent (depends on who provides more money). It's not a great strategy to adopt in this day and age. Superpower countries do not realize how their intrusion into the affairs of other states has built the foundation for terrorism.