Blackwater USA training

[flash]

Does anybody have any experience with blackwater training? I was looking at their EP training and it sounds like a good program. I have a great amount of respect for BW operators. I'm stationed on FT Bragg, and their training would be very convenient for me to get on my way home when I exeunt from the Army.
For 5 days, it costs 1300$, which seems a little high. But I don't know exactly how training should be priced.
Thanks!

[Secfor]

That pricing is actually average to low. I'm guessing they are not doing live fire and therefore not providing ammo. It depends what type of protection training you want. Their PSD courses are excellent. Their EP program is so-so. Domestic EP is not their forte.

What type of protection work are you planning on doing?

[flash]

Sorry for the novice question, but what is the difference between PSD and EP?

I'm more interested in protecting executives, over celebrities. I wouldn't mind protecting dignitaries or diplomats in combat zones, it seems that pays much more than stateside work. I have looked at Blackwater, Dynacorp, and few others, but they don't have a lot of information online. And most of them seem to prefer special operations or law enforcement experience.

[Secfor]

Just terminology really. PSD (Personal Security Detail) is generally how we refer to a high-risk environment security team, or warzone detail.

EP we would generally use to refer to domestic/celeb/corporate security detail. Usually smaller and not as well armed.

Then you have the gray areas details like Mexico where you have to maintain a low profile posture, keep out of the way of local officials, and you're still in a high-risk area so you need to be prepared for things to go south in a big way.

If you are looking for a good mix of skills, Bodyguard Training International ( they are on this forum or you can google them) runs a course in the LA area. They specialize in celeb/corporate protection, which is vastly different to running a detail in Iraq, A-stan etc. But they also cover the "PSD" style client evac drills and lessons learned from EP details in high-risk areas like Beirut, Sarajevo etc. , etc. It's a more realistic option for many looking to get into protective work, if you're considering domestic work and you don't want to end up on a PSD team in Iraq right away.

Usually, you will not have to put yourself through a PSD course. You will get hired based on your background, and the firm you are working for will put you through their course or send you to the WPPS course if its a DoS contract.

Best thing to do is to decide what your goal is, and focus on the pipeline that will get you where you want. If you want to go the Iraq PSD route, start talking to the BW operators now and find out from them the best course of action tp take.

Some things that will make you more in demand for PSD:

- Combat MOS
- Secret clearance
- Medic training (OEMS or similar)

Good luck to you!

[flash]

Well unfortunately, I'm not in a combat MOS. I'm commo, but I have good attention to detail, 2 combat tours (I haven't seen comat, but there's still 6 months left in A-stan), NCO, Combat life saver (combat trauma first responder), and a few other things that I hope would count for something.

I would like to start with EP, I've had my fill of combat zones for now, but if the opportunity comes up in the future, I'm sure I would be interested. Mexico and Central America sound interesting. I do speak some Spanish, and I plan on picking up more.

BTI sounds like a good way to go, I'm an LA native, and will probably end up back there in 15 months, after I leave the Army.

CA sounds like a real pain to get CCW, guard card, and all the class hours for the permits. But LA probably has a lot of work.

In the any course, there is no way that they can teach you everything, so how much training would you do in an average firm?

[Secfor]

Yeah LA is a good place to be for EP work. Don't let the guard cards, CCWs, etc, get you down, it's not that big a deal. A guy on my team down here works celebs regularly, and most are unarmed details. The guard card is a one day, $75 process. CLS is very pertinent to protection work. This means you're not afraid of tourniquets and combat guaze(I never go into Mex without either). Once you get training and your certs, there are some firms in the LA area that hire new guys for a bargain price, but it gets your foot in the door.

Reputable firms will charge around 300 per day for training. More if they provide ammunition, firearms, meals, lodging, several instructors, security vehicles, good facilities, airsoft, paintball, blanks, etc. The cheaper ones end up being more like seminars.

Be safe,

Rick

[flash]

300 a day sounds like a lot for mandatory training. Do certain firms require you to pay for and attend THEIR training before they hire you?

As soon as I get back to the states, I plan on taking a course for national certification as an EMT-B. It would be nice to find a firm that would eventually send me to paramedic school, would that be a reasonable request? Maybe I'm just kind of used to the Army's hand holding way of doing things.

So Guardcard, CA CCW, and the extra course hours to full fill the required time for the guard card.
If I took the Blackwater course, could those hours go toward the guard card?

Rick you've been very helpful, thank you very much.

[Secfor]

$300/day would be for specialist training and not for the CA guard card requirements. Reputable Executive Protection courses will charge that and more depending on the extras you get with it.

The mandatory requirements run much less expensive:

Guard card: $75
Exposed Carry: $125
CA CCW: $150

That's just for the courses, then you have to pay live scan & the state fees to apply. Best thing is to just google California Guard Card. FOr any of the EP training to be applied to your California Guard Electives training, the firm giving the training has to be licensed by BSIS, or affiliated with a firm that is.

R

[flash]

When i worked in the movie industry, I learned how important it is to network, grease the right people, make friends, and be a man of you word.
TFTT and TEES, are these firms in LA?
I will try to get in touch with Mr. Norton when I am closer to available for training date.
Maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind, but what is shodan?

Thank you very much for your advice.

[flash]

Oh HA! Google fu Shodan. I get it, lol.
Shodan, what discipline is that? Sounds like shotokhan. I'm a kung fu man myself.

TFTT sounds like a good way to go for me. Closer then black water, and cheaper. Thanks for letting me know about them, I didn't find them in my searches.

Where do you think it is easier to get a job, in EP or PSD?

[flash]

I'm in RC West, on FOB Farah. We have a group of PMCs here, I haven't had a chance to speak with them about their work, but I want to. I've done some research on the company they work for, and it's hard to get info on their security work. I don't know why that is. Maybe they just don't want to advertise that they are involved in combat operations?
I don't want to do combat zone work for a while after I get into EP work. At least for a while. I'm getting very frustrated at how things are here, and I need some time away from the Army. I have 14 months until my ETS.
I'm good with people, polite and informative. And networking has always been fairly easy for me. My biggest flaw that I know about myself, is that I tend to not be very assertive. I know it, and I am working on it.
If I can scrape the money together (meaning talk my family into helping pay) for training, I want to take the blackwater tactical hand gun I course. Then go back home to LA, start the process for the CA CCW, and take TFTT's EP course. And network network network.
Is there anything else that might aid me in being more marketable? Resume... I plan on getting an EMT cert somewhere, down the line. If I can get the Army to pay I will do it on Ft. Bragg.

[flash]

Driving, that's something I hadn't put much thought into. I think I know a few places near LA that I could get with. Do you have any recomendations?

I'd rather not say what group is operating out here, for OPSEC reasons.
I can imagine how things have changed with blackwater, I read the book "rise of America's most powerful private army" or somethig to that effect. After all that, things probably changed drastically.

While I was on Bragg, I took a two week Department of Transportation course on hazmat first responders. I'm pretty good with the ERG book. It was strange, the training was a level 2 responders, but I really jus thave enough knowledge to say "Hey don't go into that cloud of green crap". But it's just more knowledge, I don't want to stop learning.

For what you have done with BW, and who ever else you have worked with, you have my utmost respect.

[flash]

I got to do an AK-47 range with some guys from Armor Group. That was fun. I like training with weapons.
DYN Corp is out here too, I don't know what they are doing persay, because they don't really advertise, but I'd like to sit down and talk to one of them.

I know what LNs and TCNs are.

I'll check out those driving links, thank you.

[flash]

I agree totally about the out sourcing. It's a big problem, even with small things, getting lighing fixtures installed in the building has to be done by contractors, but they won't sign off on it. We can't do it ourselves, because they have the contract to do it themselves. It's insane.

But it does put people with certain skill sets in a particularly advantageous position.
I looked at some of those driving schools, very enticing. It may take some time for me to get the money for them. But I do plan on investing in some good training.

If you get a position at a firm, do they usually put you through training, to make sure that you are on the same page as their other agents? Do they schedule regular training, or anything like that?

[flash]

If you charge so much, how do you get work, when others may charge less? Does reputation carry that much weight?
May I ask what firm you work with?

I agree with most of your rant. Security is sub par in the states. And all over. There was an incident here that could have been very serious, if it had happened, even 15 minutes earlier. And there was no plan, there are so many contingencies to plan on, and I don't see why some of them can't be planned on.
Agencies and companies and individuals have no idea how bad things could get.

[flash]

What happened to Stealth Ghost?

[Secfor]

Probably got a gig or got bored or somethin'