How many US based security firms / military contractors hire individuals without a military background (Or atleast LEO background?)



It was from my understanding, that the vast majority of US based firms hired guys who were formerly in the US military, and have a rather good track record. Someone is trying to tell me that they hire just about anyone, and have a large number of people who work for their firms that are non US citizens.



Can anyone shed light on this?

If you're not former mil or leo I'd say you have a very slim chance.


ETA:  All of the contractors I've met since the war on terror began have been former mil / leo guys.

I don't know WHAT their requirements are but everyone I've met or been trained by here in AFG' have been 20+ yr guys.  Mostly US but a fair number of Brits and a couple of Portugese retired SGM's.

Any company that would just hire people off the street should be avoided at length.

Places like Xe tend to look for senior leadership (officer or enlisted).  Have you at least been a member of a tactical mall response team?

I heard that you have to have atleast 10 confirmed kills before they'll hire you.

I'm in a argument , someone I'm talking to says BW ,and all the US based PMC firms will hire people from 'any background , and any nation' and I told them that from my understanding, the majority of PMC firms from the US hire ex-LEO or ex-MIL , and the majority of those are Americans. He told me to check out http://comebackalive.com/ because there were lots of private military contractors on there, and they don't have a military background. I told him that they were mall commandos and were making stories up.










 

I think they want people with a combat action badge.

Your friend may be right, but not how he thinks he is. PMCs do more than just security work––you've got construction, maintenance, and other non-security contractors too.

But yes, I agree with the others that most security-related PMCs hire ex-mil/LE.

About 12 years or so ago, Dyncorp was hiring police officers to do foreign police work in places like Kosovo and some place down in Indonesia, can't remember the name of the place right now.  They were hiring from all over the globe with the US just being a part of the personnel being hired.

Are we talking security contractors or just contractors? Theres a big difference. Secrurity contractors only hire with ex mil/leo experience you can check their websites. Now, contractors on the other hand hire all sorts of people, but they drive trucks(on base/in green zone), cook, clean and other random bs jobs. There are PMC that are not US based that do hire some "cowboys" but they are not on the level that agius or xe is on and they don't work for the us gov.

Guys with absolutely no military or LE experience have been and continue to be hired to go overseas to pull security contracts. Usually the vast majority have one of the two or both, but not always. Its not all SF types running around like people think.

Read the January 2010  issue of SOF for a realistic portrayal of those type jobs.....

Jim

IIRC, one of our more in the know members said that the sort of experience that the big PMCs are looking for these days for the highly-paid trigger pulling jobs are something like:

- Special Forces
- NCO/Officer in a non-SF HSLD unit (Rangers) with medical or some similar specialty
- A specialist on a large SWAT team.

I'm going to put it to the test and apply with a bunch of different companie while I'm at work tomorrow.

They're picking up pizza delivery drivers left and right as long as you've completed a Magpull rifle course.

I heard they only took people from mental institutions and prisons.

I always wondered what your background was.

I have both those qualifications.

I have not delivered pizzas to a magpul course yet though, and its keeping me from getting the higher paying gigs.

I applied to with BlackWater (now Xe) several years ago as a medic.  I am a very experienced paramedic and have expanded scope training, they were interested and sent me lots of paperwork.  After about 6 months of back and forth they told me no since I did not have military training.  

I know some guys that went to do non-security jobs such as air-traffic controllers, firefighters, and medics.  I am sure you can find something to do over there if you really want to go, just not security.

PMCs like Xe etc. are not a good example of military contractors. They are only a small fraction of all of the private military contractors out there. And no, one doesn't have to have prior service or be American to work for a private contractor. A large majority of private contractors provide logistics, communications, and other professional services. There is a big difference between a Private Military Company that actually does the fun stuff and a General Contractor that provides construction, electrical, plumbing, communications, food, transportation, medics, etc. etc.

Maybe your friend doesn't undestand that "private contractor" does not equal running and gunning with the tier 1 guys at a PMC. Even Blackwater guys have to eat, drop a deuce, and email. They also will not put a good tier 1 guy at the front gate of a camp doing car searches so he can get blown up. Other people do that stuff, but they still work for the company.

A security firm may not be what most think of as a PMC. A security firm might be hiring Africans, Samoans, Gurka, South Africans, Kiwis, etc. etc. to do anything from checkpoints, training, K9, etc. This is not top tier talent and while usually requiring some past experience in whatever trade they are hired for, it does not require US citizenship or any elite experience. The real deal guys doing all the cool high speed stuff are almost always, 99.9999999 percent of the time, prior mil or at the very very least had a long career in LE with a specific skillset. Most working for US companies are from the US but you may see some from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Uk, etc. They may be split up into different teams, some require US citizenship, some don't and will be of mixed nationality. It all depends on the requirements of the contract.

^^^^^^^^its a fact^^^^^^^^^ one of the guys on one of the highest end details in Iraq wasn't MIL or LE

Does going to the nut hut after prison help or hurt your chances

Just for fun I took a look at the Blackwater job application on-line a couple of years ago.  It didn't look at all like they were interested in "just about anyone".  In fact, former military or law enforcement experience didn't look like it carried much weight.  Foreign language skills and special forces experience seemed mandatory.

the guy I'm talking about (and the Duck's talking about) DIDN'T go to the academy, and there were and are more than one, and that's just with BW, that's not counting all the smaller sec. comp. out there, or over there.