Do big security contract companies really only want prior SF, or Ranger?

2014-09-30T11:20:26-04:00

As a regular Infantry Squad leader willing to train, go to Security classes and courses companies offer, how would I stand out not being SF or Ranger? I am a year away from my degree in Homeland Security, but I don't mind deploying. I unfortunately would only want to do it for the pay primarily.

Response by COL Jean (John) F. B. made Sep 30 at 2014 12:23 PM

2014-09-30T12:23:35-04:00

SSG Paugam, as a senior executive in a very large company whose primary line of business is security, I will tell you that being qualified as a Ranger or Special Forces (SEAL, etc.) is a discriminator, but is not all-important in most cases. It largely depends on the company and type security position they are hiring for. For example, if the company is hiring static security guards at a non-sensitive facility, it would be less important that if the company was hiring a para-military SWAT team member for a nuclear weapons facility or for a personal protection mission in a potentially hostile country.

I have been involved the hiring of thousands of service members for para-military security positions for national security sites and missions. While almost 100% of our hires were former military, whether they were Ranger, SF, SEAL, etc. was not a criteria for hire, as much as it was simply a discriminator. By that, I mean that if you and another individual were identical in every way (rank, MOS, assignments, etc.) except that the other guy was a Ranger and you were not, and I could only hire one, I would probably hire the Ranger, as it was just the one thing that differentiated the two of you. The vast majority of our hires are not Ranger/SF qualified, although we certainly also have many of them.