thanks for your comprehensive reply
1. I was a navy medic, with two hostile Afghan tours in 2007 and 2011 in Bootneck Units, so had my share of care under fire experience
2. I am currently a global security manager in London and just finished a degree in International Relations so i like to think i am quite employable.
3. As for CP quals, i am still saving up. However, i think Ronin is the only game in town for experience and networking as i other providers in the UK are just after the ELCAS in my view and dont care if you get a job from their course.
4. I am looking at Africa for work TBH as i know middle east and afghan is going to towards eastern Europeans cos they are cheaper to employ (info form an oppo in Baghdad)
5. whats your take on my chances also long as i market myself as a medic?
1. I don't doubt your tours were ''hostile'' the only people who wen't on tour and weren't in a hostile environment were the people working in the NAAFIs and Pizza hut. Also ''Care under fire'' is completely different when you know a M.E.R.T or Pedro are going to come in and take the guy away, there aren't many luxrys like that in the CP world. if your oppo has been hit, you are going to care for him in what can be inredibly different and you are to blame should your care not be adequate.
2. ''Global security manager'' sounds great, it may/not help you I can't comment, but do you think that it will assist you/ does it give you the same experience as the guy who opens the door for his HVI every day? (HVI - High Value Individual) (many different names for who/what youre protection)
3. Is that Ronin South Africa or Ronin UK? What you need to understand is that the training provider will most likely not care if you get employed or not, they're meeting their target by having you on the course. They will rarely go further than giving you training and a Course performance report & if they do work will still not be given to you.
4. I could be wrong here but primerly African contracts are handled by one European and consists of a team of locals, I could be wrong but this is the case for a few guys I know. Unless you are a s--t hot medic with some actuall experience I expect it will be just as difficult as middle eastern contracts. --Again what you need to think is, a French national can find work there easier than a UK national as most of africas second tongue is French.
5. I think you need to take a look at your medic quals, what are they and to what level are they? your experiance needs to be more than 'A guy got shot and I watched another guy triage him whilst under fire'
You also need to be the guy you are on paper, you need to be DILIGENT, FIT, QUIET and PROFESSIONAL, people that rock up just to look like a COD guy and look 'luge' while walking about with a 'gat' are weeded out and usually sent packing or get various black eyes and bloodied noses.
The money isn't great! you're not going to be earning ANY WHERE NEAR the money that guys were earning doing this stuff during the early/mid stages of the Iraq war (I've never been iraq both operationally or as a CPO but simple research shows me that the wage is almost the same as a Civvie on a desk with his thumb up his a--- scratching his voice box) Guys earning huge wages are your EX SF or old hands.
There's no such thing as a foot in the door contract and to think that way is unsafe. Go into this job with a mind set of being better than the other guys.