Let ex-military enjoy trips in exchange for protection

We’ve all heard about the “pirate” problem around Somalia and all of our genius leaders around the world can’t seem to come up with an answer to solve it. They say the owners don’t want to arm the crews because of insurance issues. They say it would cost millions to put armed guards aboard. Wrong. They seem to be happy paying the millions to those thugs.

If they want to solve the problem here’s one way they could do it and stop it. Ship owners put an ad in the paper saying that they will have a small suite on board ship to accommodate 4 ex-combat military to tour the Middle East for 60 days or more  for a price of $500 each which would include all meals.

The military passengers would be required to furnish their own weapon of choice and all ammo. Their only duties onboard ship would be protecting the ship and crew. If the ship is attacked by pirates during the cruise they would get paid at the rate of $250 per day times total days onboard and a bonus per kill. No attack, no pay — just a nice cruise. It would be very cheap security.

Where else could you cruise the world and sit on the fantail of a ship shooting pirates while having a beer? Sooner or later the pirates are going to get the message especially when they realize that half the pirates that go out to hijack a ship aren’t coming home. Let’s see, you have 40,000 ships with four ex-military. That means you just created 160,000 new jobs. There would be mass paying customers waiting in line for their turn to tour the Middle East.

I want to be clear on this. A pirate is not there to play games with you ,they have killed and will kill in the future so why not beat ’em to the punch. I reserve the right to be the first one in line.

Problem solved.

MIKE CONNER

Sandpoint