In the 1980s, one of the Reagan administration's foreign policy was to overthrow the left-wing Sandinista government by arming guerrillas known as the Contras. Between 1982 and 1984, Congress passed the three Boland amendments which limited the extent of American aid to the Contra rebels. By the late 1970s, the popularity of magazines such as Soldier of Fortune, which glorified the mercenary subculture, led to the opening of numerous camps in the United States designed to train men to be mercenaries and also to serve as guerrillas in case of a Soviet conquest of the United States. The vast majority of the men who trained in these camps were white men who saw para-military training as a "reverse the previous twenty years of American history and take back all the symbolic territory that has been lost" as the possibility of becoming mercenaries gave them "the fantastic possibility of escaping their present lives, being reborn as warrior and remaking the world".
in the 1980s one of the reagan administration's foreign policy was to overthrow the left-wing sandinista government by arming guerrillas known as the contras between 1982 and 1984 congress passed the three boland amendments which limited the extent of american aid to the contra rebels by the late 1970s the popularity of magazines such as soldier of fortune which glorified the mercenary subculture led to the opening of numerous camps in the united states designed to train men to be mercenaries and also to serve as guerrillas in case of a soviet conquest of the united states the vast majority of the men who trained in these camps were white men who saw para-military training as a "reverse the previous twenty years of american history and take back all the symbolic territory that has been lost" as the possibility of becoming mercenaries gave them "the fantastic possibility of escaping their present lives being reborn as warrior and remaking the world"