Being a government security contractor (Merc)

Irish Cannon said:
The reason I'm going for AF over Army is the quality of life while in that particular branch. Army doesn't seem to treat the soldiers nearly as well as the AF. Outside of CCT there are still things I'd enjoy. SERE, Firefighting, EOD, etc. If I fail out of CCT then that would suck but it wouldn't be the end of the world to me. As I've mentioned before, I have about 4 1/2 months to train for combat control. Swimming is the only thing I really need to step up. I could get down the running in that time. I've already dropped 50 lbs since last November. That will be make things much easier on myself.
Click to expand...


Yes the AF treats their people better, but they are also much softer outside of afsoc. I can't say much about firefighting as I only know one air force fireguy, but SERE and EOD are also very difficult to get into let a lone complete. There are less dudes in those two when compared to para/cct/tacp. All I meant with the Army comment is that if sf doesn't work out, there's still lots of outside the wire gigs. Not so much with the AF.
 
Yeah I agree with Rugger1 there is more choices in the army than any other, D force, SF, Rangers, LRRSD, scout sniper, air assault units and so forth. I aint gonna knock anybody for their decision.\ I worked with some air combat controllers. There cool guys. But all they did wwas ride around with us and stay in the trucks during fire fights. One guy did call us in a 500 lbs bomb at 500 meters. We were pretty ****ing close. I think danger close for that bomb was 800 meters. it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. We never got hit by those guys again.
 
I forgot I was going to tell you to run run run, get a ruck sak and some combat boots. Load it up to fifty pounds and walk untill you can get 20 miles in three hours. also swim in BDUs and boots. cardio is a must. if you can do 20 miles in three hours and run 3 miles in soaked as bdus in less than 18 min your good. it might have been 25 but I cant remember. all i know is it hurt like a mother ****er. And the soaked BDU run do it across regular terrain n ot a track
 
Irish Cannon said:
I wish I could pick his brain a little. Is he happy with his decision?
Click to expand...

He loves it

He's probably in Georgia right now lol. He speaks serbo-croatian and russian and a couple others and he looks the part so they usually use him over there. He has done a lot of work in afghanistan and iraq recently though simply b/c they are desperate for some of the SF forces. He just did sniper school although I dont get to talk to him much so I dont know if he ended up qualifying. I know he had to make a shot from a helicopter at some insane range and it was basically make it or break it. They had insanely high winds and poor visibility but they dont call it off, if you miss you have to go through it all again from what i understand. He was sweating it last i heard but im sure he did fine. He taught me to shoot and he is a surgeon with every pistol he picks up.

I do know hes trying to stay out of the middle east for obvious reasons and he is looking to get involved in AFRICOM. A few of his close friends got killed in the middle east and I think he's had enough.
 
hodji killer said:
I forgot I was going to tell you to run run run, get a ruck sak and some combat boots. Load it up to fifty pounds and walk untill you can get 20 miles in three hours. also swim in BDUs and boots. cardio is a must. if you can do 20 miles in three hours and run 3 miles in soaked as bdus in less than 18 min your good. it might have been 25 but I cant remember. all i know is it hurt like a mother ****er. And the soaked BDU run do it across regular terrain n ot a track
Click to expand...

Good advice. I will pick some of this stuff up at the Army/Navy store near me.
 
hodji killer said:
I forgot I was going to tell you to run run run, get a ruck sak and some combat boots. Load it up to fifty pounds and walk untill you can get 20 miles in three hours. also swim in BDUs and boots. cardio is a must. if you can do 20 miles in three hours and run 3 miles in soaked as bdus in less than 18 min your good. it might have been 25 but I cant remember. all i know is it hurt like a mother ****er. And the soaked BDU run do it across regular terrain n ot a track
Click to expand...

I dunno about 50lbs at 20 miles in 3 hours. Thats a 9 minute mile, close to a full sprint with 50lbs on your back, not including a full rack and weapon either. SFAS doesn't go anywhere near that.


"The ARI(Army Research Institute) evaluated the ability of SFAS students to perform a 4-mile ruckmarch in Battle Dress Uniform(BDU), boots, M-16, Load Bearing Equipment(LBE), and a 45-pound rucksack. The overall average 4-mile time for graduates is 61 minutes. The average PT results are depicted below:
Ruckmarch Time(Min) Percent Passing Course
54 and less 81%
55-64 63%
65-74 34%
75-84 10%"

The above was taken from "http://www.alguard.state.al.us/20th/SFAS.htm"

Sorry if I stepped on your toes with that :duel:
 
first a nine minute mile is a fast walk if anything, not even close to a full sprint. second i say 50 lbs becaus the 45 pounds your talking about is before food and water. I dont know what kind of experiance you have but the 20 mile march i did in less than 3 hours and it was only in airassault school.
 
No you didn't. You had a 20k in three hours and that's a little over 12 miles. You're not doing 20 miles in three hours with 50 pounds.
 
hodji killer said:
first a nine minute mile is a fast walk if anything, not even close to a full sprint. second i say 50 lbs becaus the 45 pounds your talking about is before food and water. I dont know what kind of experiance you have but the 20 mile march i did in less than 3 hours and it was only in airassault school.
Click to expand...

Air Assualt is 12 miles w/ a 35 pound ruck(not including water), kevlar helmet, full rack, and no weapon. Also, a 9 minute mile w/ a 50 pounder and full battle rattle, you would be at a full sprint. Which would look like you where barely jogging.
 
just read your comments yeah your right it has been awhile. I just called a bud of mine he told me i was ****ed up and it was only 12 in 3. sorry for the missinformation
 
Don't **** yourself up. Put your boots on and lace em up and get in a hot shower in them to break them in and invest in a good insert. Some people use nylons/stockings on to keep the blisters down.
 
another option for blister prevention is 2-3 pairs of socks. Also, don't walk/run around in them until they are broken in well.
 
a little late to this party but i am a contracter for L-3 communications right now and going to blackwater in september. I am going as a helicopter mechanic though. as a support guy for blackwater you work 60 days on 30 off and make 30,000 those 60 days on.
 
witt51 said:
a little late to this party but i am a contracter for L-3 communications right now and going to blackwater in september. I am going as a helicopter mechanic though. as a support guy for blackwater you work 60 days on 30 off and make 30,000 those 60 days on.
Click to expand...

That is rad, dude. Seriously.
 
ya its a good deal. you dont stay over there too long at a time but still make bank. I can go over with L-3 and make a 200,000 but you have to stay a year.
 
Irish Cannon said:
Do any of you guys have insight on this? I'm looking into different career options with my degree and experience, and Blackwater looks like someone I would enjoy working for. I don't want a 9-5, and I'd love to have a job that allowed me to work abroad as I love world travel.

Any opinions, suggestions, knowledge, etc?
Click to expand...
I am a DOD contracted recruiter. Let me know if I can help you
 
witt51 said:
a little late to this party but i am a contracter for L-3 communications right now and going to blackwater in september. I am going as a helicopter mechanic though. as a support guy for blackwater you work 60 days on 30 off and make 30,000 those 60 days on.
Click to expand...
Sounds like your going Hot. Hope you dont have to stand tall for that 30k
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top