What's it like to work in the military contracting industry?

What's it like to work in the military contracting industry?

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You won't get in without a few tours under your belt. A friend of mine is a mercenary, private security on ships or whatever. He got into the company because he was m8s with 3 guys who were in Iraq and they vouched for him after they got in. He says he loves it. Pay isn't incredible but you basically wait around for a fire fight. I imagine its like working for armored transport with greater risk, and a don't ask don't tell policy. It has to suit your personality I think

Lmao Marine 0311 (infantry) here... Lol ive been over sees...you dont jus "wait around for a firefight" because usually.....and ESPECIALLY on a ship the firefight never happens. 1 fire fight in my entire deployment.

Is it true that most companies hire exclusively from special forces, or is that just for firms like Academi?
>It has to suit your personality
What kind of personality would you say is the most suited for those jobs

Wow i cant believe i spelled "over seas" as "over sees"....disregard my last statement...it is no longer credible.

>and ESPECIALLY on a ship the firefight never happens.
Good cause risking your life doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

So, anything with weapons is not suited for you then

Depends.

There are generally three kinds of PMCs:
1) The ones that specialize in providing on the ground security, like the kind that this guy talks about.
2) The ones that provide advisory services, such as training for officers/recruits, coming up with strategy, lobbying Uncle Sam, etc
3) Logistics, whether it be cargo/weapons transport, keeping people fed, servicing/maintaining advanced systems, etc.

Though I'm assuming you're talking about the first one. In which case, I suggest some basic military or police experience before applying.

...or you could just go straight up and be hired as a lowly guard, which is apparently the bottom where you start.

4 years general security experience such as military or police, and at least a year of deployment experience for PSS. You can get through the latter by applying as a static guard in some shithole for pennies, if you have the former. And thats how you get in. Personality is not nearly as important as experience. And ability to keep your shit together when all hell breaks loose is paramount.

OP here.
I was talking about the first and third kind.
I've been thinking about enlisting for some time, I'm probably going to do it next year.
I'm assuming that the first kind is open to anyone with experience in relevant fields (mechanic, transport, whatever) while the first kind generally only hires from infantry?
>be hired as a lowly guard
Isn't that a dead-end position?
>Personality is not nearly as important
It's a pretty special line of work. Does your personality really not matter as long as you've got the necessary credentials?

Once you have the necessary credentials, your personality will follow.

BTW. Go Infantry if you want to do PSD. And go for a ranger contract. Anything else will set you up for failure if you really want to do PMC work.

>ranger contract
Do you mean to say I should go directly for SOF? Also, do firms only hire from their own country, or could a UK citizen get hired at an American firm for example
>Anything else will set you up for failure
Why?
Aren't PMC firms also looking for technical experts (stuff like SIGINT), pilots, stuff like that?

>SOF
Not necessary, but helpful.
>Technical Experts
Do you want to do technical stuff? Because if you do its better to do it outside the military. Combat arms will open the door if you have a civilian background in other stuff, but not the other way around. I was a medic in the Army for example, but what got me through the door was experience in a combat arms unit and a civilian paramedic cert.
>What country
UK and US citizens CAN cross breed to some extent, but for the most part you stick to your own country. Security Clearances and other things are much easier that way.

BTW if you have ANY inclination to go SOF do it in the beginning. Worse thing that could happen is end up combat arms. Its harder to go SOF once youre balls deep in it.

Then wouldn't it be better to enlist for SOF directly? I don't know if I'll be able to get through training, even though I've been preparing for it.
>Do you want to do technical stuff
Aside from the most obvious reasons, what made me decide to enlist was the mobility and the opportunity to get to work with the intel community, depending on where I end up.
These are the two things I'm aiming for, a military career seemed attractive partly because of that. I'm staying realistic though.
Whether that goal requires to get into combat arms or more technical positions doesn't really matter although I've been preparing for the former

Why Intel? You want the blow shit up lifestyle of spy movies? Go combat arms. You want to read shit all day, make predictions and assess what the connection between cocksucker 1 and cocksucker 2 are? Go intel.

If you want to go SOF, do it now. As far as getting through, just pretend that if you don't make it you have to suck a hundred dicks. Seriously though. Pretend that the consequences of failing are so terrible, you cannot conceive of losing. Then you'll make it. Or you won't, and you end up as infantry. That's not so bad, is it?

>You want to read shit all day, make predictions and assess what the connection between cocksucker 1 and cocksucker 2 are?
Is that really what intel is?
I was under the impression that intel was more interesting and stimulating yet you make it sound like office work. Do you include PMC in the intel community?
I've never given thought to the "blow shit up" lifestyle because I thought it was a misrepresentation and highly inaccurate. Was I wrong?

Intel jobs are mostly office work. I don't consider PMC in the intel community, unless we are talking intel PMCs which is mostly (Surprise!) office work. Intel collecting in the vain of spy movies is mostly just done through locals. At least thats the word on the street anyway.

The dudes who protect them though: Former Combat arms dudes re-purposed to PSS operators. Those are the guys that are out and about. Protecting the intel guys so they can sift through emails, put together lists of whos talking to who, ect.

cracked.com/personal-experiences-1258-5-ways-modern-espionage-has-left-james-bond-behind.html

Heres a pretty good description.

That makes it clearer.
From what you've said it seems that PSD is closer to what I'm looking for than intel.
I'll try my absolute best at SOF and hopefully succeed, but if I do end up as infantry, am I fucked?

Nope. Just not nearly as cool as SOF. Deployments are much harder to come by these days though, so you may have to do some static stuff before you can apply as PSD, but ANY combat arms (SOF included) will at least get you into the door. I'm guessing you're US based right? Ask about a Ranger contract or 18x for Army. You could try PJ in Airforce or BUDS for Navy, but there is a high likliehood you'll end up as a POG if you fail. Outside of the US idk because I'm and Amerifag myself.

No, I'm in the UK, but I should just look for enlistment options in the special forces, right?
It's not a waste of time to prepare myself for a few months before enlisting, is it?

I would start prepping like a mofo if I were you. Get yourself physically right. It won't be easy no matter what, but if you get yourself physically right it will be easier. If you were US I could REALLY give you some pointers, but yes, I would go for any special operations option you can. SAS comes to mind, but again, I'm not very well versed on the military in the UK. Just make sure that if you fail you end up combat arms. BTW I should add that I wasn't SOF or combat arms and I got in...It was just a bit harder for me and I was lucky enough to have enlisted during the golden age of deployments, allowing me to deploy as a medic with a combat arms unit.

Yeah. I'm going to focus on cardio and endurance, but probably do some strength training as well. Would three months of daily training be enough? I don't have the exact requirements in mind.
>I wasn't SOF or combat arms and I got in
What was the hiring process? If you don't mind telling, what was your experience with private security like?

Three months is plenty of time as long as you aren't excessively heavy. Measuring time and stuff isn't really the right mentality to approach it. Think of it more like "I am going to be three months better if I start now". It also will help to look up the minimal requirements and use them as a baseline for training. And keep in mind that the grading is going to be harder for SOF than the average dude.

>Hiring process?
I submitted a bio to a recruiter and was approved for training. I then worked to apply for a security clearance. I had to sign a promisary note for $42,000 if I took the training, qualified and didn't deploy within 90 days. The training is like a week interview. You take a fitness test the first day, and then process through medical (vaccinations, stress test, ect) then you spend the next week qualifying with various weapon systems. This weeded out about 50% of the people in my class. The rest of the training dealt with security protocols, driving, tactics all culminating in a week long field training exercise. Basically if you made it through weapons week, you had to do something really dumb to miss out on the rest. You get paid a measly $2000 during that 6 weeks. Then its a waiting game of when your security clearance goes through. Once all that is squared away, you deploy.

Former defence contractor employee here. Governments can't be trusted with money, you can't talk about what you did at the job, and you end up learning super-specialised skills you'll never use elsewhere.

>as long as you aren't excessively heavy
It should be fine, I'm 5'10 155lbs. Yeah I'll look up the requirements.

>I submitted a bio to a recruiter and was approved
Do you know what kind of basic requirements they have to weed out resumes? If the application process is open to everyone, I'm assuming they have some sort of criteria
>security clearance
How difficult is it to get approved for one of those? Do they really check everything from your family relationships to internet history?

By the way, you told me earlier that it's generally not possible to work for a firm that isn't based in one's own country because of the clearance requirements, but I thought some big contractors employed people from all around the world?
Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions.

>you end up learning super-specialised skills you'll never use elsewhere
That's a problem because of the few job opportunities once you decide to do something else, is that it?

REPORT FOR SPELLING LESSONS AT O' 500, SOLDIER.

>Requirements
4 years general security experience police or military and 1 year of deployed experience
>Clearance
Relationships, Especially foreign, and Criminal and military background
>Other Countries
Not sure. Never had to look into it.

Alright
Thanks for the advice user

>That's a problem because of the few job opportunities once you decide to do something else, is that it?
Government cancelled the contract in a fit of defence cuts, I got laid off, and it was 2008 so there was nowhere hiring AT ALL, let alone for anything super specialised that I can't talk about and very few people would understand.