FEATURED AUTHOR
LEIGH WADE

GROWING UP

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, my father was a 1st lieutenant commanding an infantry company at Schofield barracks in Hawaii. That Saturday night, my mother and father had gone to a dance at the officer's club, and my mother always claimed that I was conceived later on that night when they got back to their quarters. With a start like that, how could I help but end up the way I have?

As a young man, Dad had been a cop in Oklahoma City before taking a commission with the army in '38. He received a medical retirement from the army after World War II and resumed police work with the Pima County Sheriff's department when we moved to Tucson in the early '50s. I grew up listening to war and cop stories.

Dad loved guns, and so do I. I was given a .22 rifle for my fifth birthday and have been a gun person ever since. When I was 12, Dad gave me a S&W K-22, and I started my handgun training. By the time I joined the army at age 18, I'd already been a shooter for 13 years. Although I've gone through periods of time when I've paid little attention to guns and shooting, I always come back to them. For the past 10 years, I've been particularly active in pistol shooting.

THE ARMY

I joined the army in 1961, a couple of weeks after I graduated from high school. I'd joined to be a paratrooper, and my first assignment after basic was with the 101st at Ft. Campbell, where I also went to jump school. Special Forces was a very low-profile unit at the time, but it was starting to make the news due to its involvement in Laos. In early 1962, President Kennedy began building up Special Forces, and I applied for and was accepted to attend Special Forces Training Group at Ft. Bragg. My first assignment after graduation was with the 5th Group, which was still at Bragg, and within eight months I was on my first tour in Vietnam with an A-detachment. I eventually served four more tours in Vietnam with Special Forces, and several years in Thailand. During what must have been a fit of temporary insanity, I left the army in 1971 as a sergeant first class. I stayed out for 10 years, then rejoined in 1982 and finally retired as a sergeant first class with 21 years active duty in 1992.

SECURITY WORK

My first job after I got out of the army was with Burns security in Houston, Texas. I was really naive and dumb about the civilian world when I first reentered the job market and made many stupid mistakes – mistakes you won't have to make yourself if you first read my book. I spent the next 10 years working in private and public sector security and learned a lot. Even after I returned to the army in 1982, I continued to be active in the private security field, and I still do occasional security work today. I have worked at every level of private security from the lowest-paid, part- time unarmed guard post up to management level. Although Careers in Private Security will be beneficial to any prospective or active private security worker, it is particularly aimed at newly discharged military personnel.

WRITING

I've been an voracious reader all my life. A friend of mine once told me that I was "the most over-educated but under-degreed" person she'd ever met. And although the military and police influence of my father was very strong, I also have an uncle who spent his life in journalism and an older sister who holds an MFA degree and teaches art. At age 17, it was a toss-up as to whether I'd end up in the military or in San Francisco as a wannabe Beatnik writer.

The army won out, but I never lost my desire to be a writer. After a lot of effort and practice, I sold my first article in 1977. I kept writing and continued to make sales of short fiction and nonfiction. After I retired from the army 10 years ago, I had time to get serious about my writing. My first nonfiction Vietnam war book, Tan Phu, was published in 1997 by Ivy-Ballantine. Two other Vietnam war books, The Protected Will Never Know and Assault on Dak Pek, followed the next year. Sales of those first three books have been good, and I hope Careers in Private Security does equally well.

Q & A

Paladin: What are some of the myths and realities of working in the security field?
Wade: Private security is in the news these days due to the new terror threat. Every news reporter is suddenly an expert. One of the myths about private security is that all the people who do this work are stupid, lazy, non-English-speaking losers. Actually, there are some very bright, dedicated, and qualified people in the field, especially as you move up the hierarchy of security jobs.

Paladin: You tell a hilarious story in the beginning of Careers in Private Security about your first assignment as a low-paid security worker. Are there stories or experiences that stand out in your mind from your years in the field?
Wade: Funny things happen in this work all the time, and I recount a number of them in the book. Unfortunately, many of the things that happen are the proverbial "horror stories" that result from stupid things people do. Although I bragged in the previous answer about how smart many security people are, there are also the usual characters, semi nut cases, and the like. At a call center I recently pulled security at, one of the guards couldn't resist pushing a big red button in the main computer room. There were large signs that warned to only push the button in case of fire, and he had to take off a protective cover to get to the button. When he pushed it, every computer in the place closed down, all communications went out, and it took about five hours to get everything up and running again. It cost the call center hundreds of thousands of dollars. Needless to say, that guard is looking for a new job.

Paladin: What are the biggest obstacles one faces in establishing a career in private security?
Wade: The fact that the pay is generally very low, especially in the lower-hierarchy jobs.

Paladin: What are the top three tips you would give to someone just starting out?
Wade: 1. Pay attention to your appearance and grooming. 2. Be punctual. 3. Take the work seriously and do a good job.

Paladin: What suggestions do you have for those who want to move up the career ladder in private security?
Wade: It's actually pretty easy to do. One of the reasons for this is because of the high turnover in the field. One sure-fire way to get ahead in this industry is just to stick with it. Show interest in the work and let it be known that you are interested in making a career of it. Also, if you have previous experience and or training from a police agency or the military, you might not have to start at the very bottom.

Paladin: What are some of the greatest challenges inherent to security work?
Wade: Once again, I'd have to say the lousy pay. No one gets very rich in this work. Another challenge is that it is a very low-prestige job. Even managers responsible for security at the corporate level are often sneered at and made fun of by other managers. I'm hoping that with the current interest in private security since September 11, things might finally change for the better.

Paladin: Can you share some of the hard-won wisdom from your own years in security? What was the most difficult lesson you had to learn?
Wade: I came to private security from the military, and the biggest problem I had was getting it through my head that private security is part of the civilian, business world. This is a common problem for people who come into private security from government police agencies or the military.

Paladin: What do you find most rewarding about working in private security?
Wade: I like matching wits with criminals, scumbags, and other lowlifes. Occasionally, you actually get to catch one. Although many of the lower-level security jobs are boring and pretty much just a public relations type of deal, many other jobs are a lot of fun and challenging. There is a mercenary aspect to doing this work that also appeals to me.

Paladin: Why did you gear this book to newly discharged military personnel?
Wade: I actually got the idea to write this book a couple of years ago. A younger man I know had just retired from the army and was thinking about working some private security jobs while he went to college. He knew I'd worked in the field for quite a while and asked me to tell him what I knew about it. I run into a lot of guys just out of the military who are doing this work and who are just as dumb and naive as I was when I first got out.

Paladin: Is a military background necessary to be successful in private security?
Wade: Of course not. Although private security attracts a lot of ex-military people, there are many others doing it successfully who have no police or military background. I talked a lady friend of mine into trying security work while she went back to college for an advanced degree. Her background was real estate. I see many retired people doing the work, including housewives who never worked outside the home at all. Like I said before, though, with a military or police background you might be able to start further up in the hierarchy.

Paladin: What skills did you develop in the military that proved the most beneficial to you in the security field?
Wade: Most private security outfits are run along paramilitary lines with a rank structure similar to the military, so being accustomed to that proved helpful. Besides basic things such as punctuality, knowing how to wear a uniform, good grooming standards, and reliability, there are advanced skills one might learn in the military that translate to security work. Everyone in the military gets at least some firearms training, and in some military occupational specialties you get a lot of it. Security awareness is a big part of being in the military, and everyone is trained and indoctrinated in it at several different levels. There are more specialized skills that military experience might impart too, such as explosive expertise, dog handling, communications security, cryptography . . . the list is very long.

Paladin: What is the single most beneficial thing a person can do to prepare for a career in private security?
Wade: You can start by reading my book, of course! Actually, getting ahead in private security is the same as getting ahead in any other field. The more education you have, both general and job- specific, the better. A high school dropout with no security experience can do this work successfully but will stay at the bottom of the heap a lot longer than someone coming into the field with something like a law degree. The guy with the law degree will probably start with the title of security manager, while the high school dropout starts out as a gate guard.

Careers in Private Security
How to Get Started, How to Get Ahead