PSD

PSD: Relax – You Are Not on the Presidents Security Detail in the Congo

by James G · 13 comments

in PSD

I will get you to pizza hut and back alive sir! Get some!

[NOTE: This article is focused towards PSD Agents who work domestic details]

During my once a week email read/reply marathon I came across an email from a buddy of mine back in the states who I used to work with here in Iraq [he is now working on the domestic PSD/EP circuit because his wife forced him to stop working overseas]. He was ranting about how his client would not listen to his security recommendations, would constantly change his plans half-way through the day, and would always tell his detail to stop standing so close.

Basically this guy was the typical nightmare client who only had a PSD team because he was forced to by his company, insurance or situation. For anyone reading this who has done PSD work in the U.S; this is a story they have heard a hundred times from a hundred different guys.

I was sort of curious as to the threat level the client had on him, more specifically if it was an actual threat or a perceived one. So I met my buddy on chat and he immediately launched into a rage filled rant about how his client was a self-absorbed arrogant jerk-off who only had a PSD team because the company he worked for forced him to despite the fact there was pretty much a zero chance of anything happening to him.

Having been in this exact same situation before [I started out in this business doing low-risk details in the U.S.] I told him to just “go with the flow” and there was no need to run his detail like they were escorting a politician through Bagdad or something. You see my buddy had never really worked on a low-threat detail before [having only done HSLD PSD stuff overseas] so he was going mad because he could not run a strict 3rd world “by the book” high-risk style detail.

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PSD: The Principle, A Watermelon and a PSD Team

by Jason A. · 31 comments

in PSD

“really, its no problem if we pull over in a war zone so you can buy a watermelon sir”

He wanted me to stop so he could buy a watermelon – a watermelon that was being sold on the side of one of the most dangerous roads in western Iraq.  And it wasn’t even a big watermelon; it was about the size of a freakin’ cantaloupe.  Even watermelons in Iraq suck.  But what “the principle” wants, “the principle” gets.

It was a few years ago, and I was in charge of a PSD team, providing security for the senior military and civilian personnel in Al Anbar, to include the province governor, a Tony Soprano look alike with a big fat Iraqi mustache.  It was a relatively easy gig as long as I didn’t get the bosses, or their straphangers, killed.

None of the usual suspects screwed with my team or me.  If we needed some new gear, we got it.  If we needed to use the range, we took priority.  We didn’t have to wait at the various gates for permission to depart; we just freakin’ left.  When the movement control people got pissed, I just directed’em to the Chief of Staff.

When some State Department “GS-level who cares” tried to strong-arm me into taking him somewhere without approval from the big man, I politely told’em to go pound sand.  Hell, we’d occasionally even get four-day passes to Bahrain.  Like I said, the only real worry I had was getting the boss or one of my operators killed.   That’s where “the principle” comes in.

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