Security training keeps employees safe.

Not so long ago a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) security correspondent was critically injured while reporting in Saudi Arabia. Unknown gunmen were responsible for the attack in which another BBC cameraman died.

This illustrates the hostile environment in which personnel can be placed while doing their job. Employees of Halliburton have been working in Iraq for months now and suffered ambush, kidnap and death.

With more work becoming available for oil industry personnel in Iraq rebuilding industry infrastructure there and in Nigeria, one security expert expects demand for hostile environment training to increase.
"The training we can offer from a corporate point of view does reduce risk and insurance liabilities, and morally, for people doing their day to day job, it gives them an awareness of the threat and options available: When they get that extremely uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability they can take action and influence the outcome," he said.

In the United Kingdom a training organization comprising ex-special forces personnel exists which equips individuals and companies - including those from the oil and gas industry - working in hostile environments to keep out of trouble.

Mal MacGown, an ex-Special Air Service (SAS) soldier who patrolled behind enemy lines in Iraq in 1991 in the first Gulf war, founded Pilgrims - the name is taken from a poem epitomizing the virtues of a SAS - in 1999. He was part of a small patrol code named Bravo Two Zero, whose exploits were detailed in a book of the same name. The patrol was annihilated. Some were shot, some froze to death, one escaped to Syria and some including MacGown, were captured. He survived torture by Iraqi secret police and military interrogators and was released 6 weeks later. Now managing director of Pilgrims Specialist Training, his Iraq experiences informs part of the instruction his organization offers.

Jon Chittock, an ex-Parachute Regiment officer, is also on Pilgrims' training staff. "The need for this kind of training came through the media first," Chittock said. In the run up to the first Gulf War, "The media were taking a lot of heavy casualties in 1991 and 1992, among them The BBC and Sky TV crew members," Chittock said. "They realized the work was pretty high risk." Instead of leaving staffers to cover wars, news channels turned to freelance organizations, realizing their own staff needed more training for combat zone reporting. Today that same hostile environment training is offered not just to media, but to any industry, and Iraq is a potent example of a country where it is required. Some individuals come for training with tremendous battlefield experience, Chittock noted. "But in some cases they will tell you that they have been doing the wrong things for 20 years and they have been lucky and got away with it."

Since the second Gulf War, the market for private security work has exploded with Controls Risks Group, Executive Outcomes and Sandown just to name a few. Huge contracts are offered for hostile environment work, principally from the US Department of Defense, particularly in post-war Iraq. "There is a veritable goldmine of contracts being handed out," Chittock said. "Within the [private security] industry there is a huge amount of concern about where some firms are getting their expertise from."

Today the market for hostile environment training is not about teaching civilians how to handle a gun. It's more about conflict avoidance, a much better weapon in a dangerous situation.
Although Pilgrims comprises ex-Parachute Regiment, SAS and Royal Marines, others assist as consultants.

One contract has included close protection work and contingency planning for oil company executives working in Qatar but details of all projects are strictly confidential.

Although elite Special Forces soldiers are carrying out the training, there is a strong company ethos that underpins all that it does. Instructors treat course delegates as fellow professionals - everyone can learn something off everyone else and the onus is on the instructors to learn as much as possible about the client's organizations and the way they work.

Chittock insists clients are respected. "After all they are professionals in their field and we are in ours," Chittock said.

Currently the BBC is the biggest Pilgrims client, newsgathering in all the world's trouble spots. However, oilfield and infrastructure reconstruction contracts in Iraq have seen the business boom. "That is where the business is," he said.

Because money for these oilfield reconstruction contracts is coming from the US government, there is a desire by oilfield contractors for reconstruction work to be carried out as safely as possible. Chittock loosely estimates the global market for private security work at US $1 billion.

"We have kept relatively small. If you get too big, you lose control and you lose quality."
But the stakes are also high. One US newspaper, the Boston Globe, reported up to 42 Halliburton employees have died in Iraq doing reconstruction and logistics work. Five Halliburton truck drivers died in an ambush along with a US soldier early July. It underlines the hazards. Other potential trouble spots include Afghanistan, Central America, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sudan. Saudi Arabia and Israel are regarded as medium risk regions.

Travel

One of the training schemes provided by Pilgrims is a world traveler course, equipping individuals for world travel with security in mind. "There are things we can keep you aware of in countries that do not have the same standards as the UK or the US," said the ex-paratrooper. This course is commonly used by businessmen. Training can be tailored for more specific requirements too. General worldwide hostile environment training is provided over 6 days, and country-specific training takes between 2 and 5 days.
On the 6-day course the industry in which the client is working is used as the basis for a scenario within which hostile environment training can be provided. Anything from mortar rounds and sniper fire to vehicle and personnel bomb attacks are built into the course. "The scenario is there to give clients something to relate training to, so that it is realistic."

Work begins in the classroom, using multimedia with sound, Powerpoint presentations and film. Well-traveled and cynical students may refuse to believe the noise and gun flashes are real, but usually they can learn from the experience. "Students are genuinely shocked when it all goes off, " Chittock recalled.
Training then moves out either into the Pilgrims home base at Easthampstead Park in Berkshire, southern England, for demonstrations and practical exercises - including pyrotechnics - or at a nearby military range for live-firing demonstrations. Lots of deactivated weaponry is available for instructions and demonstrations. And for simulations the group has access to uniforms and props to lend reality to exercises. But the training is not about playing war games. "We are not training people how to be a soldier. We like to leave people with options and we use our experience to get them to react appropriately," Chittock said.

Rather than giving clients a script or set of standard operating procedures, the group prefers to equip clients with a toolbox of skills for each situation to allow them to react as appropriate. It's subtler and a lot less "Gung ho" than some might expect.

Conflict

Personal conflict management is a vital skill taught by the group, which is appropriate for border checks, vehicle checkpoints, even hostage situations. Body language, dominant or recessive behavior and cultural differences are discussed.

Pre-deployment training assesses individuals up to management level, and looks at establishing an office in a new and potentially hostile location; advising on necessary checks, and how to get useful information. Advice can be given on body armor, protective headgear if necessary, and on local documentation requirements.
A lot of information is available from government agencies, such as the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which has country briefings, while the CIA factbook, is also on the Internet.

Existing and ex-military contacts can also be consulted for up to date information: "We know people who have worked in most of the trouble spots in the world," Chittock said.

Trainees are advised that personal data, such as details of next of kin, blood group and photocopies of important documents such as passports and carnets de passage for vehicle import and export - may need to be easily accessible at all times.

One useful tip is to put this vital data onto a computer memory stick so it is easily accessed.
Knowledge of the standard of local hospitals is advisable, too. Chittock recalls a colleague died after being shot because they were taken to a local hospital rather than flown out of the country to better medical facilities. Carrying a basic medical and sterile kit is advisable for some parts of the world, and having a medical evacuation plan and local embassy contact numbers is useful for an emergency.
Vehicle safety and security is covered: Selection of vehicles, from hire companies and from pooled fleets is covered, and basic vehicle maintenance: "We are continually shocked by the lack of knowledge on vehicles," Chittock said.

Students are taught to change tires, handle punctures, check fuel, oil, water and vehicle equipment from fire extinguishers to high visibility jackets and emergency lighting. They are also taught to use an epoxy-bonding material for temporary repairs and an ultra-seal tire gel for punctures - the sort of material that would never be found in a tire shop.

"We do defensive driving, and off-road driving," Chittock said. "More journalists are killed in road traffic accidents than because of fighting," he added. "They are much more likely to be killed in an RTA (road traffic accident) than an ambush." Chittock's organization has trained up to 2,000 people since it started. No one who has undergone training has been killed.

Training also includes checking vehicles for bombs, and navigation drills. Basic map and compass reading can be taught along with using a global positioning system (GPS). Vehicle and foot navigation can be practiced within the 50 acres at Easthampstead Park or at a nearby UK Ministry of Defence facility at Chertsey, Surrey, or at the Bramley training area near Basingstoke, southern England.

During ballistics training, clients learn the difference between high velocity and low velocity rounds. Students are taught about the different threats these two types of fire represent. Short-range pistol fire is often inaccurate and can be stopped by relatively thin cover. But a high-velocity round can penetrate even double thickness brick walls and still be lethal. Instruction can even include video footage of body armor, tanks and light artillery. "We look at how to be proactive and not to be caught up in it," Chittock explained.
Mines and minefields are addressed since some areas of the world - Vietnam, Laos, Angola - are still danger spots where these hazards are present. Students can be taught how to look for signs of mines and to recognize local minefield marking such as empty drink bottles in some instances.
"In Bosnia the indigenous population put black crosses on buildings that were booby-trapped," Chittock recalls.

Vehicle check points (VCPs) are covered too - both legal and illegal ones. "Everyone of us has been on a VCP as a soldier from Northern Ireland to Bosnia and Sierra Leone," Chittock said. Knowing how to handle them can be vital.

Abduction is also covered - particularly relevant in Nigeria and Iraq. This subject covers kidnap, ransom demands, detention and hostage situations. MacGown contributes a lot of work to this training, drawing from his time in captivity after surviving Bravo Two Zero patrol members were held in Iraq.

"He is the only member of our organization who has been taken hostage. He is quite familiar with the situation and very, very good at his personal conflict issues," Chittock said.

On the penultimate day of a 6-day course, students deploy "in country" with relevant equipment to practice what they have learned. This can mean encountering a variety of hazards, such as armed attack, minefields, abduction, and medical first aid scenarios. Chittock said there is a commercial advantage to putting employees through all this. "Companies do not want to get caught in a lawsuit. They have a duty of care towards their staff. They get a big reduction in insurance costs if they have done our training."

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