Former contractor looking for common ground.

Thoob

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Joined
Oct 6, 2025
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18
Former private-security contractor, overseas work in the 2010s. (SE Asia) Been out a while, looking to reconnect with folks who’ve done similar jobs. Just looking to connect with other contractors low key.
 
Former private-security contractor, overseas work in the 2010s. (SE Asia) Been out a while, looking to reconnect with folks who’ve done similar jobs. Just looking to connect with other contractors low key.
Also what do I need to provide to become verified in my situation.
 
Former Contractor from the mid 2010's I was told this was the place to try and connect with other contractors. But I think I'm in the wrong place considering I saw a whole thread dedicated to the 160th. This is the big leagues, while I coach T-ball.
 
There are plenty of people here who never served in the military and/or were never a contractor. All are welcome, if they follow our rules and norms.
Thank you for the welcome. I still would like to find others that worked the circuit in mid 2010's just to hash it out. You guys are like the real deal before the deal was a thing. Like I think I saw a night stalker deploy a RHIB when I was doing pipeline guard duty. No one tells us shit (fair enough). But I saw a chinook that looked kinda night stalkerish (aka fancy and expensive). Fly right over the canopy did some black magic to stop on a dime and dropped it's tail into the water like all one move. RHIB came flying out none of us rent a cops said shit.
 
Unironically do you know of any places for ex PMC bros to just kick it. Really not trying to get into your guy's space. I was just protecting energy infrastructure. Yeah, things got spicy and it was fine (until Abu showed up). You guys are like the real deal you do like 18+ months of training I imagine more. I got the job at the PMC cause I did NJROTC and could keep a half good grouping. Just not in the same realm.
 
You are welcome to “kick it” here, but you may find what you are looking for on Reddit.
Again I'm sorry for overstepping. Yeah, everyone on reddit in any military capacity expresses displeasure at our existence., and sent me here I get it it's just the dynamic. I never meant to walk into this bar I was just told this is where ex-contractors chilled. Real talk I know blackwater and all that left a bitter taste, but why are contractors so universally hated?
 
Again I'm sorry for overstepping. Yeah, everyone on reddit in any military capacity expresses displeasure at our existence., and sent me here I get it it's just the dynamic. I never meant to walk into this bar I was just told this is where ex-contractors chilled. Real talk I know blackwater and all that left a bitter taste, but why are contractors so universally hated?

I'll try to help a bit here.
1. I've written extensively about my fobbit experience as a contractor for 16 years overseas. I was an IT/ electronics guy.
2. PMC...How do I phrase this...Saying you were a PMC is technically correct, but leads people to believe you were running convoys, QRF, PSD, etc. Your posts make it sound like you were a gate guard so while you might meet the definition of a PMC, it sounds like you )or someone like you) is trying to be cool by association. The majority of security contractors (who were a small minority of contractors in total) were static security with the appropriate level of training and mentality to match.
3. Where ex-contractors chilled. Quite a few of us here, but our convos are far, far more skewed away from those days, especially since they were 10-15 years ago, or more (my first trip was in 2004). I might be the most vocal here and they account for 1% of my posts? 2%? Something small.

Anyway, go to the Training and Employment section and look for threads with multiple pages of posts. We've discussed the "why aren't contractors liked" in detail and I saw a BUNCH of it in Afghanistan.

Cheers.
 
I'll try to help a bit here.
1. I've written extensively about my fobbit experience as a contractor for 16 years overseas. I was an IT/ electronics guy.
2. PMC...How do I phrase this...Saying you were a PMC is technically correct, but leads people to believe you were running convoys, QRF, PSD, etc. Your posts make it sound like you were a gate guard so while you might meet the definition of a PMC, it sounds like you )or someone like you) is trying to be cool by association. The majority of security contractors (who were a small minority of contractors in total) were static security with the appropriate level of training and mentality to match.
3. Where ex-contractors chilled. Quite a few of us here, but our convos are far, far more skewed away from those days, especially since they were 10-15 years ago, or more (my first trip was in 2004). I might be the most vocal here and they account for 1% of my posts? 2%? Something small.

Anyway, go to the Training and Employment section and look for threads with multiple pages of posts. We've discussed the "why aren't contractors liked" in detail and I saw a BUNCH of it in Afghanistan.

Cheers.
Fair thank you for the answer. Yeah, not trying to sound cool I was effectively a rent a cop and anyone that went through proper training would out match me 100%. I just wanted to talk to other people that were around in SE asia in the mid 2010s so compare notes. Again, it was years ago and I just wanted to chat with other dudes that did it. Did not mean to walk into this bar.
 
Fair thank you for the answer. Yeah, not trying to sound cool I was effectively a rent a cop and anyone that went through proper training would out match me 100%. I just wanted to talk to other people that were around in SE asia in the mid 2010s so compare notes. Again, it was years ago and I just wanted to chat with other dudes that did it. Did not mean to walk into this bar.

Wait..."SE Asia?" Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia? We definitely do not have anyone who worked out there.

If you mean SW Asia/ Southwest Asia, aka the Middle East* you may want to get your terminology correct. However well intentioned, consistently misquoting something as simple as geography will undermine the speaker's/ author's credentials and legitimacy. Food for thought.

* - For the pedantic, SW Asia doesn't exist, but Americans are gonna' American and we created the term. It is actually Western Asia, but I think we bombed it enough to call it whatever we want.
 
Wait..."SE Asia?" Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia? We definitely do not have anyone who worked out there.

If you mean SW Asia/ Southwest Asia, aka the Middle East* you may want to get your terminology correct. However well intentioned, consistently misquoting something as simple as geography will undermine the speaker's/ author's credentials and legitimacy. Food for thought.

* - For the pedantic, SW Asia doesn't exist, but Americans are gonna' American and we created the term. It is actually Western Asia, but I think we bombed it enough to call it whatever we want.
It was the Southern Philippines when Abu was a thing. Dude, I should've lurked more before even making an account this is hard core like SOG/SAG/160th..... Like yeah I'm hilariously untrained compared to anyone on this form. It was a crazy time for a bit when I was younger. If I had lurked more I would've seen that. I mainly wanted to see if anyone had any experience close to mine.
 
Again I completely neglected to read into the forum and the culture/content. I got hyped thinking other dudes like me were here not like the SF dudes again my bad wrong bar.
 
XE was the one who was "the boss". I come from a maritime background it just built from there.
Like I can send my TWIC and other ID's to the mods and they can run it. I'm not even trying can validation from anyone here. You guys are hilariously above anything I can even remotely claim. Again, you have the motherfucking night stalkers rolling here really my bad for bumming into your space.
 
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