Boom in US security companies training war zone clients

An international training center in Virginia provides the skills necessary to survive in countries where pavement is a luxury and roadside bombs are nothing rare.

If you happen to be travelling to a war zone it is best to be prepared. “Ready for anything” is the motto of a training camp in America which teaches strategies for survival.

“Our typical clients are people who either work, live, or both in hostile parts of the world. Our clients range from Federal Government employees, DOD military, to corporate people who need the training. They come here to learn one thing. They come here to learn how to survive in a high risk environment,” the training center's operations manager Robert Middaugh says.

The center’s students figure out how to spot the enemy first and then outmaneuver their aggressor: whether using a car or a pistol.

“You have got to identify that it is a threat. We always teach to shoot high chest,” firearms instructor Timothy Peck says.

Meanwhile, driving instructor Robbie McGinnis trains his students how to act when ambushed.

“We are driving down a road and all of a sudden you see this type of situation, the car blocking your way. And maybe you see a person coming over to the car with a gun. You’re under attack. So you need to move the vehicle, right? Can I hit this vehicle and move it out of my way?” McGinnis asks before demonstrating how exactly one can achieve this.

You never know when you might find yourself in the most hostile environments, so the training center’s driving course might help you to survive in the most dangerous and unpredictable situations and the riskiest conditions that are found mostly in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Obviously when the Iraq war started, that changed a lot of things for the world. So we not only saw an increase in business, but also the whole industry saw an increase in business. That could happen with Afghanistan,” Robert Middaugh predicts right ahead of the deployment of 30,000 more US troops in Afghanistan.

“The one thing that we want them to remember when they leave is – no matter what you do – move, do something,” Middaugh concludes.