Facilities - South America

We feel it is very important for our potential students to fully understand the importance of the training facility. Past courses have been run in hotels, and others have been run in barracks type environments. The Center in SA now uses a training facility high in the Andes mountains which could easily pass for a 5 star hunting lodge or ranch. It is completely isolated and has no less than 6 covered firing ranges. The structure itself has been constructed in such a manner as to replicate a very high end hotel or lodge. As this type of environment consumes a large portion of a Protection Officer’s time, we thought it best you should train in one. Therefore, all students are allocated deluxe rooms, several complete with fireplaces. We use 2 to a room although single rooms are available. In keeping with this theory, all rooms are cleaned and refreshed daily by maid service. We believe you have more important things to do than make your bed while you are with us. This arrangement allows for maximum productivity from you as you are not crunched 8 into a dormitory but still gives you a “training camp” atmosphere due to its isolation in the mountains. Students are thus able to practice many skills “on site”, including marksmanship, while maintaining total control of the environment. In short, the students have a completely secure area in which to learn.

This hunting lodge atmosphere continues all the way to the dining room and wet bar, where all meals are served by stewards. Some nights the staff will dine with the students, and other nights they are on their own. During the course we also bring in special dinner guests for the candidates. Past guests have included the head of the National Police, the Chief of Military Intelligence, and the Commanding Officer of a South American country’s equivalent of Delta Force or the SAS. The aim is to expose the student’s to the “real world” area in which they will work and thus give them a better understanding of the role they will play as Protection Officers.

The objective of the facility is to replicate a working Protection Officer’s environment using a hotel as a model so as to have a better understanding of your future job. In this we have been very successful. Students who go on to work for us admit the operations centers we use for real are quite similar to the training facility. We also openly admit that we wish to see how all students interact, and to choose the appropriate graduates for the appropriate jobs. We shift as much responsibility to the student’s shoulders as we can. Otherwise you do not learn. There are also team leader positions which rotate daily.

Traditionally, those who want to work ONLY in South America or those who are already employed in the industry attend this course. Due to the sheer size of the ranch, most classes in Ecuador run between 10-14 students.