Private Military Companies

>>1002032

Basically, they headhunt ex-vets and friends who look like they know what they're doing, depending on how large and desperate.

Some get 'security contracts', which basically means you show up somewhere within so many miles of a warzone with weapons but you guard shit and might not actually fight a war at all.

Their operation is largely allowed by lax laws, carefully worded contracts, desperation to have troops to do 'deniable' acts (mercenaries are not legally protected by (and thus not legally obligated to obey) rules of war and can be hired through cutouts for added deniability) or an inability of local countries to enforce laws.

>>1002043
>ex-vets and friends who look like they know what they're doing
I was planning on joining my country's military but I'm not certain on which job I'd be aiming for. To have a shot at a PMC, regardless of its size, after my contract ends, which branch should I consider?

So military contractors are like a proxy used to commit war crimes most of the time? Is that pretty much all they do?

>>1002032


>Implying any PMC is any good besides MSF

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Here is the basic scoop on PMC's

They have lots of jobs. If you want to carry around a gun they are only hiring two types of people right now.
1) Combat veterans. This is people who have seen combat before (this includes spec war)
2) People with connections.

If you are not one of those two categories you are not getting a gun toting job. That being said, there are PMCs out there that are hiring construction electricians and bar tenders and basic shit like that to go to syria and shit... mundane jobs.

Even those though they like military experience.

>>1002032
PMC's are not 'glorified mercenaries' they are just plain old mercenaries. Its just the new name pc name.

>>1002050
kinda.
They use PMCs for a lot of different things, but one of their functions is stuff the government wants to be able to distance itself from. PMC is a risky job. you get paid big but you could end up in an foreign jail for the rest of your life too. aside from the obvious of being killed.

>>1002078
>They have lots of jobs
Apart from the jobs that involve guns, what are those?
>people who have seen combat before
So basically they only hire from the special forces, right? Since only SOF units see deployment nowadays.
So everyone from the Air Force or the Navy is pretty much out by default?

>there are PMCs out there that are hiring construction electricians and bar tenders and basic shit like that
Why would they do that? Do they just provide them with basic training and send them off?
Are those the smaller, less renowned PMCs?

>>1002083
>you get paid big but you could end up in a foreign jail for the rest of your life
I thought contractors weren't paid much nowadays, since the end of the Irak war.
But basically they've got the same amount of immunity as a covert operator from an intelligence agency? That is to say, none at all?

special forces that see combat.

>>1002043
>Some get 'security contracts', which basically means you show up somewhere within so many miles of a warzone with weapons but you guard shit and might not actually fight a war at all.


that is what most of them do these days... there was huge growth in the industry with Afghanistan/Iraq and it was mostly security work and some training stuff.... there were some complete cowboys in Iraq but you wouldn't want to work for them... the decent firms have high standards and only recruit ex military with operational experience. From a UK perspective then serving in UKSF and/or serving as a close protection officer with the RMP would put you in the best position for these jobs. Other than that being an ex para, marine or having infantry significant infantry experience would be a plus.

for stuff outside of close protection/security type work it gets a bit more dodgy and the legality of the work is blurred... a lot of former british military personnel got involved in more dubious stuff in africa and the balkans...

for example Sandline:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandline_International

though the main guy then founded aegis and landed lucrative work for the US govt in Iraq

see also Simon Mann... old etonian ex-SAS officer tried to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Mann

lastly this documentary re: the balkans might be of interest - again these guys went way beyond the sort of security work common today and had previously worked in africa etc..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3343x_ywy_M

>>1002134
in fact if you want to see where all this PMC stuff started - it was David Sterling, the founder of the SAS, who pioneered it - the below is slightly old but well worth watching re: how this whole industry started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=234H8X1-JiA

>>1002061

Or DD.

A PMC is a private company. Last time I checked, they actually provided the majority of ancillary, support, and logistics for the military.

They might be programmers, cooks, janitors, IT, technicians, drivers, or mechanics.

A small percentage, particularly within infamous groups like whatever Blackwater changed their name to, are in combat positions.

For the non-combat roles, it's basically a job just like any other that you apply for, provided you know the company and what you're in for. The combat roles usually recruit from ex-military, or are even started independently by officers, who recruit their buddies. There's a lot of croneyism and nepotism.

In my opinion, for the combat roles, mercenaries are EXACTLY what they are. No sense dressing it up. All of the connotations of mercenary should be assumed.

>>1002147
ancillary roles*

>>1002147

Oh no. No no no. Most of those are Military personnel, DoD personnel, or others who work with the military.

PMCs do not provide the majority of that support. Usually, branches that do not have that kind of personnel borrow from another branch.

>>1002134
>>1002144
>but you wouldn't want to work for them
Why? Too much risk for too little reward?

Does a decent level in a language such as Arabic help or is it irrelevant?

>for stuff outside of close protection/security type work
So most of the 'interesting' work is shady, borderline illegal operations made by the smaller companies?

Thanks for all the resources I'll take a look

>>1002161

Way too much risk.

if you are employed to do quasi-legal shit, you will be bored, risking your life, and probably underpaid. If you are employed to do illegal shit, anyone who catches you can do whatever they want to you.

Under the rules of war, mercs are not human beings.

>>1002164
>bored, risking your life
How aren't those two mutually exclusive? By that, I mean, aren't guarding/security and training jobs supposed to be relatively risk-free?

On an unrelated note, I'm taking a look at Britam's website right now and I see they offer operational services (telecom, SCADA and such)
Does that mean those companies also hire guys from information security/SIGINT backgrounds?

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War...never changes.

>>1002161
>Why? Too much risk for too little reward?
in terms of some of the 'cowboy' in Iraq, the people with lower standards... well yes it is too much risk - you're potentially going to end up deploy with complete idiots... you'd ideally want to work for the well run firms with givt contracts and where if you get into trouble you're going to have medical support etc.. these firms tend to have higher standards in terms of who they recruit

>Does a decent level in a language such as Arabic help or is it irrelevant?

that can help/be nice to have - but it is the military experience that is improtant

>>1002174
the bigger companies will cover a variety of security related work and not just within warzones... so yeah some firms might well be hiring ex police officers/detectives for private investigative work, technical people for IT security related work in addition to former military people for close protection type tasks etc..

>>1002147
>Last time I checked, they actually provided the majority of ancillary, support, and logistics for the military.

nah

in Iraq, for example, it was companies like KBR that covered most of that sort of thing... you'd get say a western chef/cook supervising a whole bunch of locally employed civilians in some kitchens and earning six figures for it

>>1002050
Former Spec Ops guys have the largest contracts. Even higher than the computer or coms guys. At one point in 2006ish XE was giving 100k sign on bonuses and 500k for 9 month contracts.

This however also came at a time when the Iraqis strung 3 contractor's up on a bridge in Fallujah to show off the burned mutilated corpses. Your pay is very dependant on danger.

>>1002090

It depends on who they are working for large PMCs like XE and Armor Group have contracts with local governments to do a specific job. In those cases the local government offers protection just as it would a soldier.

Even though it isnt supposed to happen a lot of the smaller PMCs will take jobs from less, reputable,companies and groups. (think Kurdish Peshmerga fighting across Iraq, Syria, and probing Turkey. None of those 3 governments are going to help you. They look at is as being nothing more than a Warlords hired gun)

>>1002235

Yes but keep something else in mind. No one is hiring DynCorp to fly supplies around. If you get a telcome position you arent going to be running wire and setting up switches in Florida. You get to go to lovely exotic places such as Sudan. Its not a combat zone, but that doesnt mean the locals still wont try to kill you.

most pmcs are essentially pasture space for ex cia and special forces, blackwater/xe/academi literally was a private extension of the us govt.

You join the military, get into spec ops, cia recruits you, they force you to "retire" a few years in, they land you a "contracting job", your essentially a non govt, govt asset

Everything else is just security and logistics positions

>>1002765
Currently working as an IT specialist for a production plant.

Is their a large need for people to do this kind of work?

>>1002765
not necessarily - some of the companies supplying close protection etc.. are simply part of larger organisations... they'll do domestic security work/consulting too

>>1003125
the idea of ending up just going to Sudan etc.. is flawed - it doesn't work like that... sure if you want that sort of role it is available but tends to go to former military people

working for big oil companies is another angle if you fancy getting paid well for doing say IT work/comms work in dangerous places... mate of mine does it in Iraq 4 weeks on 4 weeks off back at home... business class flights there and back, plenty of money...

>>1002934

Huge huge demand. Last I heard satellite and encryption techs were getting 3-6x their US salary if they would go do a 1-2 year contract in places like Iran, Pakistan, UAE, etc

We are again talking about possibly morally questionable things here, but the money is great. And in a way, you can say you worked on one of the most famous projects in history...making sure the peasants in the middle east cant use the internet to overthrow their dictators. Russia is also a popular choice, though they tend to have their own techs. Think countries with great need for security and control, yet great lack of home grown talent.

Brush up on your Linux/Unix. The majority of dictators have stopped buying US made network technology and have switched to open source networking similar to Facebook. There are photos of CIA taking apart Cisco routers and switches and replacing the SOC with "modified" chips before re boxing them and shipping them out of the country

>>1003139
I have seen the Cisco unboxing photos they also use the same type to make it look clean.

Also their have been good articles out their that show the nsa tools that have been used to listen and spy not to sound tin foil Hat.

Maybe for shits and gigs I'll apply to a few places and see what happens.

I know some Linux and can learn very quickly. Sitting in a office and playing with stocks gets old very quickly.

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I hear pic related is pretty good.

Just make sure morale doesn't get too low.

>>1002032
>What's the deal with PMCs?

The future of military action,

since maintaining a standing military for anything else than national protection, like overseas demployment in other states (Afghanistan, Iraq etc.) is costly and political agendas are rather sought out politically (Iraq fiasco, Libyan fiasco, Syrian fiasco), having a direct agent for your political actions on the field without the fear of them losing morale and the national body adressing you for your geopolitical interest solely for the point of maintaining your position and expanding it in the world, also their actions not being directly linked to your mandate, the PMC's are the way of future warfare.

Also cheap if you are defending against them, since the Geneva Convention considers them private-combatants and not soldiers, making it feasible to just eliminating them than sending them in POW camps, without the international outcry of breaking the "law".

>ITT: a lot of people who don't know shit about shit, and a few people who know a little bit

Look, there has been a sort of truism for certain professions for a very long time. It holds true for spies and soldiers both, and it goes something like this: the government trains you in numerous high-value skills, pays you a middle class salary (if you're a spook or an officer), nets you lots of connections, and eventually after your time of doing faithful service you are then free to pursue money in the private sector using your newfound skills if you so choose as long as you don't step on anyone's toes.

The corporate world sucks up officers for their leadership and administrative skills, it hires former and current spies to steal and protect blue prints instead of state secrets, and it hires muscle. But what you should keep in mind is that neither PMCs nor major corporations could afford to train their own soldiers and keep those operations cost effective. The cost of all of this training has to be borne by governments, and then by contracting people who already possess these skills private companies fatten the piggy banks of people who didn't or couldn't stick around to rise above GS-15, become Station Chiefs, or get their O-7 stars.

>>1002086
No dude, they are hiring those jobs. Electricians to be electricians, tow truck drivers to drive tow trucks, cooks to cook food, ect.

Are there any forums or websites in general that talk about stuff like this?

>>1002086

Air Force and Seals have infantry. You've mostly just never heard of them.

>>1003126
holy fuck... that flight every 4 weeks. He better make a million.

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>>1003476
SoF

https://www.sofmag.com/

>>1003511
Doesn't sound that bad. Plenty of time to spend reading than shitposting.

>>1003616
Cheers.

>>1003126
i should cross rate to intelligence corps then. i wont be making any fucking realmoney with this manual labor shit on deck

Some PMC openings:

https://triplecanopy.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/JobSearch/viewAll

Any idea about the salaries when working in shitholes like Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa?

>>1002032


Probably not a good idea. Yes, the cash is good. However, there are like 5 or 6 guys at my local baseball field where some people from the military like to play baseball or mess around or whatever and they were in PMCs.

They said it was pretty boring with moments of extreme fear. They also said that everyone who is deployed over there becomes an expert at finding ways to get billable hours. Kind of like lawyers, I guess. They also said that they never knew if/when the locals would turn on them and that was always quite scary. Especially the Afghan National Army.

I met a guy once who was a contractor and literally looked like the cover from a Far Cry game. He was pretty heavily scarred and had a massive drinking problem, but was a very nice person. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to really know much about guns, other than how to shoot them.

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>>1004650
Pic related?

>>1004650
did they give him some training before going to the sandbox?

>>1004683
he had kind of a mohawk like the guy in far cry 3 and a lot of scars running down the sides of his head. i thought it was one of those stupid razor styles until i saw they were scars and long cuts.

>>1004736
Yes. He givess training himself, apparently That's why I thought it was weird that he really didnt know much about gun repair or whatever. I guess he was just damn good at shooting.

Everyone I talked to was adamant that the locals cant be trusted and it's very nervewracking when you're forced to work with them. Even when they act friendly.

Political scientist here. If anyone is still following this thread, it's worth checking out P.W. Singer's article "Outsourcing War" if you're interested in working for a PMC.

Here are some highlights:

The industry is divided into three basic sectors:
- Military provider firms ("private security firms"), which offer tactical military assistance and combat services to clients
- Military consulting firms, which employ retired officers to provide strategic advice and military training
- Military support firms, which provide logistics, intelligence, and maintenance services to armed forces, allowing the latter's soldiers to concentrate on combat and reducing their government's need to recruit more troops or call up more reserves

The Pentagon had over 3,000 contracts with PMCs over the last decade. Overseas, Europe now greatly depends on PMCs for functions like transportation and support because their military budgets are so small.

Some people in this thread have said that it is risky working for a PMC because of the legal gray area, but actually not a single PMC has been prosecuted or punished for a crime in Iraq despite the fact that more than 20,000 contractors have now spent almost two years there. Dozens of U.S. soldiers have been, which tells you something about the lack of regulation and oversight of PMCs.

I have more information if anyone's interested. PMCs are a really high-growth industry because of the increasing discontent in the United States with boots-on-the-ground intervention abroad.

>>1002050
>a proxy used to commit war crimes
Maybe there are some like that, but the guys I know who did it were just driving trucks and standing around in the desert with a rifle. Never fired a shot, but took mortar fire and ran checkpoints where they could be blown up at random, and didn't really have the kind of support a marine patrol could call for.

desu unless you're a high speed operator, a lot of it seems like being a mall cop in an exotic place where people hate you.

>>1006426

Would love to hear more info on the subject. I post previously about doing the IT work since im just stuck in a plant