When was the word "mercenary" replaced by the phrase "private military contractor"?

by Tote_Sport
Georgy_K_Zhukov

Unfortunately, the shift in terminology is a pretty recent one, and really falls on the wrong side of our 20 year rule, so we had to remove it. You might want to check out "Corporate Warriors" by PW Singer, which covers the topic of PMCs as they first started to become noticed during the invasion of Iraq.