by Joey Jordan

Created on: October 21, 2008   Last Updated: December 06, 2011

Close Protection (bodyguarding), can be a very adventurous choice of careers, a career that can take you all around the world meeting the rich and famous or a career which can take you to some of the most hostile places this planet has to offer.

It's like anything in life, if you learn how to do it you will be able to progress to do it well. Close protection is an easy game to get into; the hardest part is building a reputation within a network of people good enough to find the work, as most close protection work comes through recommendations within the network you become part of.

The basic qualifications you need before anything else is physical fitness. Now I'm not talking about going to the gym and buffing up with all the protein supplements you can find, I'm talking about being able to run and carry more than your own weight, just in case you end up in a situation where you have to get your client out of a venue as fast and as efficient as possible. If you are physically fit then everything else will be shown to you in lessons.

Research close protection courses. There are many courses out there that offer many different qualifications. Now depending where in the world you want to work, and whether it be for the rich and famous or in hostile countries. Most courses within the UK offer sufficient training to give you an SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence which most of the time you have to send off for it after the course is over, however this is only recognised for working in the UK or for British companies abroad. It's a great idea to get this licence however is not so necessary for working in Europe and the Middle East. The course itself will be sufficient to become a trained operative.

A basic course for everyday close protection within Europe, will teach you First Aid, Basic foot drills whilst walking with a client, Vehicle procedures whilst with a client, contact drills in many situations and how to deal with many different types of scenarios that may or may not happen whilst on a mission. If you're lucky, or you have chosen the right course, they may do a weapons firing package for a week or two, however most courses do not provide this and you might have to pay for a separate course.

On top of the basic course, you can advance your skills with a wide variety of specialist weapons courses, security management courses etc, but all of these come at an extra cost, and what with the close protection circuit expanding rapidly within the hostile environment

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