SecurityDriver News

Introduction

As a refresher on Frank Gallagher – he is one of the few protection professionals that have the credentials to write this article. Those credentials are impeccable. Frank writes from the perspective of a person that has worked at all levels of risk. He was the AIC of the Bremer detail in Iraq, for more than six years he was the Director of Security for Henry Kissinger Associates, and he was and is a lead instructor for the ATAP program.

You can reach Frank at  – fg0321@gmail.com

FNG’S!!!!!!

Ok, you’ve landed that first EP job or PSD gig. You’re all excited and cannot wait to hit the ground running and show your new team leader how squared away you are, and just how bad to the bone you are to your new team mates. I’ve been on both sides of the fence (EP and PSD), so I feel an obligation to you and your future teammates and team leaders to point out a few facts that may make everyone’s lives easier and give you a solid chance to succeed and perhaps only be a “f—ing new guy” for a short while.

The first thing you have to remember is that someone has given you the opportunity of a lifetime. You have solved the riddle of “Catch-22”. You can’t get a job without experience, but how can you get a job if no one will let you get the experience. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Meaning that someone saw something in you that makes them believe that you can do a job that you have never done before. It’s a huge leap of faith to hire a guy or girl for their first job. Others were passed over and you were selected.

In most cases, the people that were passed over had friends on your new team that are not pleased that their pals were not selected. Their feelings are hurt that their buddies did not make the grade. They are embarrassed that they put their name on someone that did not pass muster. Strike one! Not a great beginning, is it? Through no fault of your own, one or more members of your team are not thrilled that you are there. They may even resent your presence.

Now, these same folks have to train you to do things the way that works for the team. The key word here is: TEAM. Everyone has a job to do in order for the team to be a success. They will be looking for weakness, laziness, stupidity; and your attitude will be scrutinized every minute of every training day. They will expect you have a certain level of training and understanding of what they do.  You will get a crash course in what to do, what not to do and how to do things. You will be given very little slack. And you will be expected to pull your weight sooner rather than later. They are working every day busting their asses trying to keep the VIP and the team alive. And now in their eyes, the team has been weakened by a new arrival that does not know how things are done or why they are done a certain way. Tempers are short as they’re pulling their full load and teaching you at the same time. Strike two!

The learning curve will be very steep. You will be judged sternly. Oh, and by the way, this is how things should be done. If a mistake is made, people could die. Your new team will be asked about your progress, attitude, and aptitude. All they know about you is that you are new and someone above their pay grade made the decision to hire you.

One thing about EP work and PSD work that I have to point out is that not everyone is able to do the job. I always wanted to play in the NFL. Guess what, I wasn’t big enough or fast enough to do it. No matter how bad I wanted it, it just wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t take it personally. I still watch the draft every year hoping to see my name called. It’s the same thing in this line of work. Some folks aren’t good enough! Not smart enough, lazy, out of shape, lack decisiveness, lack the skill sets required, or some combination of all of the above. We don’t play a professional sport where we go out and have beer after a bad game. People die when we lose. These are the attitudes of your new teammates as they evaluate you. Are you an asset or a liability?

Nobody really cares what your background is. I’ve fired SEALS, Recon marines, cops, SF guys, regular military guys, SWAT cops, and every other flavor cool guy under the sun. We don’t care what you did yesterday; we care about today and tomorrow. Your past help you get here. Let it go and concentrate on using those skills in your new gig. Enough said.

You got the job because someone liked something about you. They thought you would an asset to the program. With this being said, the people that hired you will listen to the other guys when they ask about your performance. They need to know the truth about your progress and decide whether you can become a valued and trusted member of the team. Lives depend upon this evaluation – BOTH the VIP’s and your team mates. There is no room for a weak link and you will be culled from the herd based upon your peer group’s evaluations.

OK, you have two big strikes against you going in. What do we want to see from you? How can you level the playing field and actually make the grade? How do you impress the guys/girls?

First, it is far better to let people think you stupid than actually open your mouth and let them know you are stupid. Do not give your opinion on how things are done. Unless you were hired to run the show, then for at least a month make no suggestions on how to do things better. Your opinion means nothing until you know the nuances of your new job. The guys do not have time to explain why they don’t do some things a certain way while they are teaching you the way to do something. Reread that last sentence. Memorize it. Learn the team way before you ask why things aren’t done a certain way. These methods are tried and true and work. Believe me, unless it’s a start up gig every method known to the profession has been talked about, tried, implemented or discarded. You will be very hard pressed to invent some new way of doing things.

Second, show up with the proper gear. You will need it. Follow the gear list and bring it all. You may not think something is important, but your team leader sure does or it would not be on the gear list. Four pairs of pants mean four pairs. Two pairs of foot wear mean just that. Don’t try to out think the guys doing the job until you have been there for a while. They know more than you do.

Third, be prepared to work. There is no allowance for jet lag or heat acclimatization. You don’t get paid to rest for three days before you start training/work. You must be ready to hit the ground running. You were hired to fill a slot that may have been empty for a few days. The guys that are there have probably been splitting time filling that slot. They are tired, cranky, and need the rest way more than the new guy does. And now they have to train you. Truly a volatile situation to enter into while everyone is trying to stay alive.

Fourth, be in shape. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you have no stamina, no strength, or intestinal fortitude you will be gone quickly. In the private sector, there are no unions, no mandatory sleep times, and no coffee breaks. You eat when you can, sleep when you can, piss when you can and work out when you can. You have to be prepared to work long hours in sometimes arduous conditions and not complain, faint, or get sick.

Fifth, complain at your own risk. Be very wary of complaining to the detail leader, team leader, director of security or anyone else about slights (real or imagined) that you are unhappy about. No one cares about your opinion until you are a respected, valued member of the team. In our world, the squeaky wheel gets replaced, not greased. There is no crying in EP or PSD work.

Hopefully, you will follow these simple steps and some day laugh about how tough your first gig was. And maybe you will only have to wear the tag of “F—ING NEW GUY” for a few days.

Your comments are always welcome – Frank Gallagher fg0321@gmail.com

If you are in the EP Business you should read Circuit Magazine, they just made it a whole lot easier to find.  To order current or past issues of the #1 magazine dedicated to the close protection industry, visit Circuit Magazine

Each issues has an article by Elijah Shaw, one of the sharpest guys in the business, that alone makes it worth the price.

EPI – 3-Day Course on Executive Protection in New York on August 25-27, 2010

This program offers 3 days of instruction and each student actively participates in learning sophisticated techniques and innovative skills and improving their personal performance on protective assignments.

Icon Services Corporation – 5 Day Celebrity & VIP Protection Course – Minneapolis, MN September 8-12th 2010

If you are new to the bodyguard industry or a current operator looking to refresh and polish your skills, this course will offer excellent instruction into the professional side of Close Protection work. Taught by industry veteran Elijah Shaw, who in addition to his corporate clients, has traveled the world as the personal bodyguard of international public figures such as musical giant Usher, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and rap megastar 50 Cent, the course will offer real world problems, scenarios, and solutions from instructors that are currently active in the industry.

In light of all the discussion concerning the assassination in Mexico – I thought I would go over my thoughts on Kill Zones. 

Since being in the Kill Zone can Ahhhhh kill you – you should

            Understand what they are

            How to stay out of them

            And if you get in one – how to get out of them

            If you can’t get out – how to put up one hell of a fight – but keep in mind why they are called Kill Zones 

Understand what they are – This isn’t brain surgery – A Kill Zone is a time distance relationship – how much time do I have and how much distance do I have. If you attend a “Security Driving School”, and they don’t talk about this concept – ask for your money back.

How to stay out of them – First and foremost – the best way to avoid an ambush, hence the kill zone, is don’t be there when it happens. There are plenty of people who are an ambush looking for a place to happen, just hope they are driving the same roads you are. 

If you haven’t done it already, take a course that has a heavy emphasis on Surveillance Detection – Route Surveys, and Advancing. 

And if you get in one – how to get out of them – Driving out of the kill zone is an exercise in the laws of physics and is a measurable skill. These are not skills you learn sitting in the back seat of a vehicle driving around a race track. The only skill you learn sitting in the back seat is how to projectile vomit out the back window. Again – If you attend a Security Driving School and they don’t talk – demonstrate – practice – objectively measure your skill to escape the Kill Zone – ask for your money back.           

If you can’t get out – how to put up one hell of a fight. This is where shooting skills meet driving skills – there are shooting schools that emphasize these skills – but keep in mind why they are called Kill Zones

The upcoming International Executive Protection Conference in Las Vegas August 6-8 is adding a panel discussion on Protective Operations in Mexico. The change in the agenda is the result of the recent assassination of the gubernatorial candidate Rodolfo Torre Cantu in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Many view the assassination as a declaration of war on the state. This assassination is of enormous interest to those of us engaged in security services in Mexico.  

We are collecting information from those who have firsthand knowledge of the assassination. Using that information we will develop an analysis of the event, and I will introduce the panel with a diagnosis of the assassination. My first impression is that it will be a “lessons learned” attack that will be used in the training environment for years to come.

The panel members include: Dan Johnson, of Risk Control Strategies, Craig Dischinger and Cory Smith of Target’s Executive Services Division and Chuck Mauldin, Manager of Special Services for Wal-Mart’s Global Security Aviation & Travel will join the panel. Pete Dordal, Managing Director of International Security Operations for Garda World, will moderate.

It is the opinion of ESI and I concur, that the outcome of the struggle in Mexico is every bit as important as the war in Afghanistan. It is on our borders and there are tens of thousands of gang members in every city in America that are affiliated with the drug cartels in Mexico.

Hope to see you the conference.

Protective Driving Operations

3-DAY PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 13-15, 2010
PROTECTIVE DRIVING OPERATIONS
ESI’s TRAINING FACILITY IN COLORADO
$950 (Limited Discount Price)

ESI and Tony Scotti’s VDI will be sponsoring a 3 Day Protective Driving Operations in Grand Junction Colorado.

The course provides participants with a unique opportunity to build upon their existing training and further develop the knowledge, skill and ability required to perform one of the most challenging aspects of protection, providing safe and secure transportation in a high risk environment.

This is accomplished through a series of informative discussions and hands on practical exercises, students will develop an understanding of what the driver/vehicle combination can and, most importantly, cannot do when confronted with a potentially life threatening situation while behind the wheel. An emphasis is placed on how the driver can most effectively manage the limited time and distance available to them as a safety or security incident unfolds.

Classroom discussion will include the role vehicles play in mission strategy and tactics. Students will learn how armored vehicles affects the decision making process, and how to select the proper vehicle for the mission – or how to maximize the effectiveness of the vehicle given.

All hands on exercises are scenario based and designed to train and measure driver ability. Hence students will be objectively tested, and are required to attain a standard. All test and standards are based on the laws of physics as applied to vehicle attacks. The scenarios used during the testing are from case studies of vehicle ambushes.

At the conclusion of the program students will have the knowledge too combine mission objectives, with the vehicles supplied, and if necessary, have the skills needed to escape the Kill Zone.

CLASSROOM

DYNAMICS OF A VEHICLE EMERGENCY

CASE STUDIES OF VEHICLE ATTACKS

ROADSIDE BOMBS

KILL ZONE THEORY

TACTICS AND SECURITY VEHICLES

ARMORED VEHICLES 

HANDS ON EXERCISES

BACKING-UP EXERCISE

ROLLING AMBUSH

ATTACKS AGAINST THE CONVOY

VEHICLE FAMILIARIZATION

RUN FLAT EXERCISE

VEHICLE COMBAT

DRIVE DOWN DRILLS

 For more information contact Brandon Delcamp at 888 718 3105

Another must read report from Stratfor

Thanks to Scott Stewart for writing it and a major thank you to Stratfor for allowing the article to be circulated.

Looking at the world from a protective-intelligence perspective, the theme for the past week has not been improvised explosive devices or potential mass-casualty attacks. While there have been suicide bombings in Afghanistan, alleged threats to the World Cup and seemingly endless post-mortem discussions of the failed May 1 Times Square attack, one recurring and under-reported theme in a number of regions around the world has been kidnapping.

For example, in Heidenheim, Germany, Maria Boegerl, the wife of German banker Thomas Boegerl, was reportedly kidnapped from her home May 12. The kidnappers issued a ransom demand to the family and an amount was agreed upon. Mr. Boegerl placed the ransom payment at the arranged location, but the kidnappers never picked up the money (perhaps suspecting or detecting police involvement). The family has lost contact with the kidnappers, and fear for Mrs. Boegerl’s fate has caused German authorities to launch a massive search operation, which has included hundreds of searchers along with dogs, helicopters and divers.

Two days after the Boegerl kidnapping, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) posted a message on the Internet claiming to have custody of French citizen Michel Germaneau, a retired engineer who had previously worked in Algeria’s petroleum sector. Germaneau was reportedly kidnapped April 22, in northern Niger, close to the border with Mali and Algeria. The AQIM video contained a photo of Germaneau and of his identification card. The group demanded a prisoner exchange and said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be responsible for the captive’s well-being.

Also on May 14, Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a high-profile attorney and former presidential candidate, was kidnapped near his ranch in the Mexican state of Queretaro. Fernandez had left his home in Mexico City to drive to his ranch but never arrived. His vehicle was found abandoned near the ranch on Saturday morning and the vehicle reportedly showed signs of a struggle. It is not known who kidnapped Fernandez or what the motivation for the kidnapping was.

At the moment a kidnapping occurs, the abduction team usually has achieved tactical surprise and usually employs overwhelming force. To the previously unsuspecting victim, the abductors seemingly appear out of nowhere. But when examined carefully, kidnappings are, for the most part, the result of a long and carefully orchestrated process. They do not arise from a vacuum. There are almost always some indications or warnings that the process is in motion prior to the actual abduction, meaning that many kidnappings are avoidable. In light of this reality, let’s take a more detailed look at the phenomenon of kidnappings.

Types of Kidnappings

There are many different types of kidnappings. Although kidnappings for ransom and political kidnappings generate considerable news interest, most kidnappings have nothing to do with money or political statements. They are typically kidnappings conducted by family members in custody disputes, emotionally disturbed strangers wanting to take a child to raise or strangers who abduct a victim for sexual exploitation.

Even in financially motivated kidnappings, there are a number of different types. The stereotypical kidnapping of a high-value target comes most readily to mind, but there are also more spur-of-the-moment express kidnappings, where a person is held until his bank account can be drained using an ATM card, and even virtual kidnappings, where no kidnapping occurs at all but the victim is frightened by a claim that a loved one has been kidnapped and pays a ransom to the alleged abductors. Some of the piracy incidents in Somalia also move into the economic kidnapping realm, especially in cases where the crew or passengers are seen as being more valuable than the boat or its cargo.

Since kidnapping is such a broad topic, for the sake of this discussion, we will focus primarily on kidnappings that are financially motivated and those that are politically motivated. Financially motivated kidnappings can be conducted by a variety of criminal elements. At the highest level are highly trained professional kidnapping gangs that specialize in abducting high-net-worth individuals and who will frequently demand ransoms in the millions of dollars. Such groups often employ teams of specialists who carry out a variety of specific tasks such as collecting intelligence, conducting surveillance, snatching the target, negotiating with the victim’s family and establishing and guarding the safe-houses.

At the other end of the spectrum are gangs that randomly kidnap targets of opportunity. These gangs are generally far less skilled than the professional gangs and often will hold a victim for only a short time, as in an express kidnapping. Sometimes express kidnapping victims are held in the trunk of a car for the duration of their ordeal, which can sometimes last for days if the victim has a large amount in a checking account and a small daily ATM withdrawal limit. Other times, if an express kidnapping gang discovers it has grabbed a high-value target by accident, the gang will hold the victim longer and demand a much higher ransom. Occasionally, these express kidnapping groups will even “sell” a high-value victim to a more professional kidnapping gang. (On a side note, most express kidnapping victims tend to be male and are most frequently abducted while walking on the street after dark, and many have impaired their senses by consuming alcohol.)

In the United States, it is far more common for a relatively poor person to be kidnapped for financial motives than it is for a high-net-worth individual. This is because kidnapping groups frequently target groups of illegal immigrants, who they believe are far less likely to seek help from the authorities. In some cases, the police have found dozens of immigrant hostages being held in safe-houses.

Between the two extremes of kidnapping groups — those targeting the rich and those targeting the poor — there is a wide range of kidnapping gangs that might target a bank vice president or branch manager rather than the bank’s CEO, or that might kidnap the owner of a restaurant or other small business rather than an industrialist.

In the realm of political kidnappings, there are abductions that are very well-planned, such as the December 1981 kidnapping of Gen. James Dozier by the Italian Red Brigades, or Hezbollah’s March 1985 kidnapping of journalist Terry Anderson. However, there are also opportunistic cases of politically motivated kidnappings, such as when foreigners are abducted at a Taliban checkpoint in Afghanistan or AQIM militants grab a European tourist in the Sahel area of Africa. Of course, in the case of both the Taliban and AQIM, the groups see kidnapping as an important source of funding as well as a politically useful tool.

Understanding the Process

In deliberate (as opposed to opportunistic) kidnappings based on financial or political motives, the kidnappers generally follow a process that is very similar to what we call the terrorist attack cycle: target selection, planning, deployment, attack, escape and exploitation. In a kidnapping, this means the group must identify a victim; plan for the abduction, captivity and negotiation; conduct the abduction and secure the hostage; successfully leverage the life of the victim for financial or political gain; and then escape.

During some phases of this process, the kidnappers may not be visible to the target, but there are several points during the process when the kidnappers are forced to expose themselves to detection in order to accomplish their mission. Like the perpetrators of a terrorist attack, those planning a kidnapping are most vulnerable to detection while they are conducting surveillance — before they are ready to deploy and conduct their attack. As we have noted several times in past analyses, one of the secrets of countersurveillance is that most criminals are not very good at conducting surveillance. The primary reason they succeed is that no one is looking for them.

Of course, kidnappers are also very easy to spot once they launch their attack, pull their weapons and perhaps even begin to shoot. By this time, however, it might very well be too late to escape their attack. They will have selected their attack site and employed the forces they believe they need to overpower their victim and complete the operation. While the kidnappers could botch their operation and the target could escape unscathed, it is simply not practical to pin one’s hopes on that possibility. It is clearly better to spot the kidnappers early and avoid their trap before it is sprung and the guns come out.

Kidnappers, like other criminals, look for patterns and vulnerabilities that they can exploit. Their chances for success increase greatly if they are allowed to conduct surveillance at will and are given the opportunity to thoroughly assess the security measures (if any) employed by the target. We have seen several cases in Mexico in which the criminals even chose to attack despite security measures such as armored cars and armed security guards. In such cases, criminals attack with adequate resources to overcome existing security. For example, if there are protective agents, the attackers will plan to neutralize them first. If there is an armored vehicle, they will find ways to defeat the armor or grab the target when he or she is outside the vehicle. Because of this, criminals must not be allowed to conduct surveillance at will. Potential targets should practice a heightened but relaxed state of situational awareness that will help them spot hostile surveillance.

Potential targets should also conduct simple pattern and route analyses to determine where they are most predictable and vulnerable. Taking an objective look at your schedule and routes is really not as complicated as it may seem. While the ideal is to vary routes and times to avoid predictable locations, this is also difficult and disruptive and warranted only when the threat is extremely high. A more practical alternative is for potential targets to raise their situational awareness a notch as they travel through such areas at predictable times.

Of course, using the term “potential targets” points to another problem. Many kidnapping victims simply don’t believe they are potential targets until after they have been kidnapped, and therefore do not take commonsense security measures. Frequently, when such people are debriefed after their release from captivity, they are able to recall suspicious activity before their abduction that they did not take seriously because they did not consider themselves targets. One American businessman who was kidnapped in Central America said upon his release that he knew there was something odd about the behavior of a particular couple he saw frequently sitting on a park bench near his home prior to his kidnapping, but he didn’t think he was rich enough to be targeted for kidnapping. As soon as he was abducted, he said that he immediately knew that the awkward couple had been observing him to determine his pattern. He said that he often thought about that couple during his two months in captivity, and how a little bit of curiosity could have saved him from a terrifying ordeal and his family a substantial sum of money.

The same steps involved in a deliberate kidnapping are also followed in ad hoc, opportunistic kidnappings — though the steps may be condensed and accomplished in seconds or minutes rather than the weeks or months normally associated with a well-planned kidnapping operation. And the same problems with lack of awareness often apply. It is not uncommon to talk to someone who was involved in an express kidnapping and hear the person say, “I got a bad feeling about those three guys standing near that car when I started walking down that block, but I kept walking anyway.” This frequent occurrence highlights the importance of situational awareness, attack recognition and proper mindset maintenance.

Potential targets do not have to institute security measures that will make them invulnerable to such crimes — something that is very difficult and that can be very expensive. Rather, the objective is to take measures that make them a harder target than other members of the specific class of individuals to which they belong. Groups conducting pre-operational surveillance, whether for an intentional kidnapping or an opportunistic kidnapping, prefer a target that is unaware and easy prey. Taking some basic security measures such as maintaining a healthy state of situational awareness will, in many cases, cause the criminals to choose another target who is less aware and therefore more vulnerable.

Also, most people who are kidnapped in places like Afghanistan or the Sahel know they are going into dangerous places and disregard the warnings not to go to those places. Many of these people, like journalists and aid workers, take the risk as part of their jobs. Others, like the European tourists abducted in the Sahel (and some of the pleasure boaters kidnapped by Somali pirates), appear to naively disregard the risk or to be thrill-seekers. In the recent Germaneau case in Niger, due to the number of highly publicized kidnappings in the Sahel region over the past eight years, and Germaneau’s personal history of working in Algeria, it would be hard to argue that he did not know what he could be getting himself into (though we are unsure at this point what motivated him to run that risk). After Germaneau’s kidnapping, his driver was subsequently arrested, raising the possibility that he was somehow complicit in the abduction. This is a reminder that it is not at all unusual for kidnapping gangs to have inside help, whether a maid, bodyguard, interpreter or taxi driver.

In retrospect, almost every person who is kidnapped either missed or ignored some indication or warning of danger. These warnings can range from observable criminal behavior to a consular information bulletin specifically warning people not to drive outside of cities in Guatemala after dark, for example. This means that, while kidnapping can be a devastating crime, it can also be an avoidable one.

Dave has been a successful executive protection professional for more than 30 years. I have known Dave most of those 30 years.  He has and still does work with high net worth clients, their families and corporations. Recently most of his work had been protecting high risk clients.

During his years in law enforcement and executive protection he has developed proactive programs designed to provide and sustain the client’s safety. He has worked throughout the United States, Mexico, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.

 You can direct your comments concerning his article to Dave at

 Execprotect1@gmail.com

So you want to be a bodyguard.  Do you have want it takes?  Can you shoot everything from a crossbow to a mini-gun, fight your way out of a hotel lobby filled with terrorists, win the Indy 500, and tell the difference with a sip between every type of wine from $4.99 to 25K a bottle?  If you answered yes, then your career path is in movies and TV roles, not living life as a bodyguard.  Most of the men and ladies in this line of work have a background of either Law Enforcement or Military service.

 However, there seems to be 100’s of “bodyguard schools” which are more than happy to take your money and give you a certificate after passing their courses……….buyer beware.  Even the very best of Executive Protection (EP) schools and training classes DO NOT have endless lists of clients looking for you after your graduation.

Even if you are that 1 who makes a decent living as a bodyguard, expect to be looking for employment every few years.  That is reality.  High net worth clients with an “unusual” perspectives on life, type “A” personalities, huge egos, and the list goes on and on.  Ask some of the “top names” in this business how many jobs they have had over the past few years.  The unspoken reality of this line of work isn’t discussed in most if any bodyguard schools.   Most believe when they enter into the world of EP it is all about private jets, international trips, the best hotels, and driving really nice cars.  I can say I have done all of that, but that is the exception, NOT the rule. 

Here are a few of my personal experiences:

No personal life, working nights/weekends/holidays,

Running their personal errands,

Picking up friends of the family,

Driving over 10 hours round trip to retrieve a purse left behind in a limo,

Having my partner leave behind a client’s briefcase at the airport and taking the blame for it,

Circling the block for hours in DC or NYC (or any major city) while waiting for the boss who stated “I will only be a few minutes” as he got out of the car,

And my personal favorite….picking up dog poop (2 dogs) in little plastic bags every night for over a week in NYC’s Central Park, at Midnight, in sub-zero snowy conditions.  

Is that Executive Protection?  My answer is simple.  I was asked by my client to perform the task.  I kept him and/or his wife safe and sound in the high rise apartment in NYC and out of harm’s way.  I did my job.  (By the way, if anyone has ever been taught how to pick up dog poop in a bodyguard school, please contact me, because that school needs to be ranked in the top 10 REALITY BODYGUARD schools.  I must have slept through that part of class.)  It’s not about bullets, driving fast, and cocktail parties.  It’s all about endless hours of providing some level of security, while performing other related services.  The schools teaching combat handguns, sub-guns, shotguns, rappelling, mountain climbing, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) classes are not bodyguard schools.  If that is what you are looking for, join any of the military Special Forces units, or your local police department’s SWAT/SRT teams.  Most of you reading this are not allowed to even carry concealed weapons (guns/knives/chemical sprays/impact weapons) in your own state, not to mention across state lines.  International weapon violations (a whole other discussion) could/would get your boss’s 60 plus million dollar aircraft donated to the local government’s personal aircraft collection.  It’s called CONTRABAND and is the same or worst than transporting illegal narcotics.  Again, most bodyguard schools don’t even cover this topic, and if they did it would take several days to even begin to disseminate proper information.    

There are lots of “A” type personalities and huge egos in our rank and file as executive protection professionals.   Not to mention all the wealthy clients who don’t live in the same world as the rest of us.  Don’t ever think you are living the “High-Net-Worth Lifestyle” just because you are with them at an event.  Make no mistake; your duty is to support your clients who are living that type of lifestyle.  I have flown on several private jets all over the world during international business trips and been aboard my client’s mega yachts, always keeping in mind I was working and on duty 24/7.  Your clients are not your friends, buddies, pals, or someone to bare your soul.  If they want your opinion they will ask for it, and probably not hear your answer.  You are not their “guest” while on these trips.  They don’t care if you are tired, hungry, sick, having family issues, money problems, your car broke down, or anything else going on in your life.  They DON’T care.  If you smoke, drink, or need prescription drugs on a daily/weekly basis, this job is not for you.  The stress is both real and self induced.  Add into the fact some clients will magnify your worst day by 25 times because there is nothing you can say or do which would make them happy.  When things go bad for them, you are the closest lighting rod and they will say and do things to you that are totally inappropriate.  Always be professional and do not take it personally.  Many clients think they own you and your time, so use employment agreements and contracts in your favor.  Keep in mind your day starts long before theirs does and ends long after you say goodnight to them.  They will call you anytime day or night, weekends, holidays, and on your days off if you are lucky enough to get scheduled days off.  You are doing advance work every day and rechecking it every hour of any given day.  Because of your meticulous advance work your clients connected all their scheduled appointments, plus all of the extra unscheduled stops that day seamlessly, while you found yourself both mentally and physically exhausted trying to stay one or two steps ahead of them.  For those of you who have multi-person EP teams, the work load gets spread around a little differently, but the stress is the same if you are doing a first class job. 

Part Two Later

There are two publications that I would like to bring to your attention
Directory of Protection Officers
The first is a directory titled “The 2010 International Directory of Protection Officers”. It is produced by Robin Barratt. It is a downloadable PDF file from the HOME page of The Close Protection Officer’s Club

Robin’s goal is create a directory that is a major resource for the CP community. The International Directory of Protection Officers lists hundreds of individuals and companies that supply close protection services in both the UK and worldwide and will be updated every six months.

The Circuit Magazine
The Circuit Magazine is aimed at the security industry and is produced by the The British & American Bodyguard Associations. Although it is produced in the UK, it has a US flavor and content. I have written for them and Elijah Shaw has a regular column in the publication.
You can find more information and costs at The Circuit Magazine

Malcolm Cheshire asked, via LinkedIn – “What is the VR armored vehicle classification and how does it differ from the other classifications”

 This is what I came up with

This is taken from an article I read.

  In order to address the issue of full vehicle certification, the VPAM BRV 1999 standard   was initially created, ranging from VR1 to VR7 (equivalent to B1 to B7 level of    protection).  Since then, a new and updated standard called the VPAM BRV 2009 (VR1 to  VR10) has been created with more stringent testing requirements.  The VR certification requires the entire armored vehicle to be subject to a comprehensive destructive testing process with multiple shots on the vehicle to ensure that the armoring will withstand the appropriate type of ammunition that it is rated for.

The most notable difference between the BRV2009 and BRV 1999 is that under the new standard, the firewall, windscreen, side panels, rear, gaps/apertures, and roof areas can be shot from any angle, whereas the older standard only required test shots to be fired from a 90 degree angle (45-60 degree angle for the roof).

The testing is still conducted by Beschussamt Mellrichstadt. This is the 2009 Standard - you will have to go to a computer translator to get in English.