IAmA PMC

[ThePope]

Just saw this on reddit, found it quite an interesting read. Some pretty graphic photos in it mind you. **If the dude isn't a walt**

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...ntractor_amaa/

[Panoptes]

Generally we use AK-47's

Not AKM then?.................

47s. are. rare.

Jury is out.

[Snowdrop]

Not sure. Seems a little contradictory in parts. Joined army in 2001, reckons he is EOD so engineers course, eod and so on, actually useful a few years later, then after a few years jacks it all in and claims to be pulling in £240-300k a year with just a few years of experience, just doesn't seem 100% right or he is bigging himself up quite alot. Also joined up at 18 so is only 29 now. Again, must have experience beyond his years.
Going back to the wages thing, yes there was big money back in the early days but not huge amounts now. A good rate is now between £3-500 per day, but bearing in mind that is gross so you lose all you tax, NI plus probably won't include pension, holiday pay and so on and that would have to assume you are working all the time when a lot work x weeks on, x weeks off. But I am basing this of what I was told at a maritime security brief so it may well be different

[blytm]

You're not far wrong Snowdrop to be honest. Rates are a little higher in Afghanistan at the moment but nothing on the scale he's talking about. It's the picture of the sign on the back of a hummer possibly which got me looks more like Iraqi than 'Badlands Afghani'. May be wrong but I never saw any of them on the vehicles we had.

[Barny Hamon]

The photo accompanying this paragraph "Me and my Canadian "battle-buddy" after being ambushed at a supposed job, I know these are the kinds of images you guys want. For those curious it was a 3 against 7 fire fight. We didn't get a single casualty, they had 7. In the background it's me, foreground Canadian." Is from the same set as a photo in Simon Low's book "the boys from Baghdad" where it's explained that the men on the ground are captured insurgents and no shots were fired in their capture. So it would seem he's a walt.

[blytm]

Sign up to that site and have at him

[Agent]

I knew the guy was a walt as soon as I saw he tagged himself as PMC.

Privatised Security personnel who go to afghan etc dont go about shouting glory of their missions in dangerous places, and I met a few in London working, they would rather forget it and keep quiet.

They dont even call themselves PMC either, just security or contractor :|

[Snowdrop]

Re reading it when not tired, firstly my flaw, he says he is 29!!
But knife kills, 4 years of soldiering then straight into what I assume he implies SAS at 23/24, then jacks it all in by 25 to go pmc. Given full selection takes a while, plus all the time effort and determination to jack it all in straight away to become a pmc at 25? Oh and his quote about Arab princesses asking him "has he fired the gun of Rambo?" Blatant quote from Lord of War. If he got paid £340k last year, well, he was working 365 days at £931 a day, nice work if you can get it.
Deffo calling waltism. Who was that Walt on here for a while?

[loki7491]

I want to work for the firm he is working for...

Currently the big money is Maritime security / anti-piracy. But unless you have 10 years or more with the RM commandos, the big companies won't even reply to your CV.

Becuase the big money is maritime, and it is arguably safer than on land, lots of the suitable operators are switching over... this is freeing up some land based positions, which if "critical" will pay a bit extra to have the post filled, but certainly nothing of the money he is refering to.

I am not a security specialist, but i do have buddies in that sector and ilooked into it lots when i thought i was getting made redundant. This guy does not seem credible to me. I am by no means the authority on who is and who isn't, just a personal opinion.

[Nun-Chuck]

I'm calling walt.

We had Bangyourdead aka Maurice Mennie. Spetz Dave caught him identifying iraqi policemen and italian marines as UKSF, talking crap that made no sense. Absolute scumbag, wouldn't be surprised if it was the same guy.

[Panoptes]

I'd love to see him try that on ARRSE.

[seansamurai1]

I knew the guy was a walt as soon as I saw he tagged himself as PMC.

Privatised Security personnel who go to afghan etc dont go about shouting glory of their missions in dangerous places, and I met a few in London working, they would rather forget it and keep quiet.

They dont even call themselves PMC either, just security or contractor :|

I completely agree, I know a couple and neither say what they do unless they really know you.

As far as I know, if you spend 6 months away from the UK in any order (so 2 months on 2 months off for example), as long as your on time is more than 6 months, you are tax free.

[loki7491]

Direct it to the "Walter Mitty hunters club" on Facebook...

They'd have a field day with this one if he is false (and i suspect he may be...)

[starscream]

Direct it to the "Walter Mitty hunters club" on Facebook...

They'd have a field day with this one if he is false (and i suspect he may be...)

Aaaaaand done good sir.

[emergencychimp]

What I don't understand, is why?? why do people do this? Claim they are something they aren't?

I just don't get it, anyone got any ideas?

[seansamurai1]

Now I may be wrong here but the guy was shot in the ankle. That in my eyes is a career ender. A lot of bone and a lot of tendons in that area, one standard bullet will just about remove your foot.

[starscream]

Account created, exposure commencing....

[ThePope]

Mates have found "his" pics posted on an old blog.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[loki7491]

Having read a bit more of this (work is slow and the boss is away) i have decided he is 100% full of shit!

The really disturbing part is in the introduction... PMC or Mercenary to those who play video games...

The boys who i know in the job certainly don't consider themselves mercenaries, many have standing contracts with the UN for Christs sake! So is this guy:
a) A mercenary*
b) A PMC**
c) Full of shit

Answers on a post card to the "I'm full of shit competition"....

I and those i know in the trade consider:

* mercenaries to be those who will fight anybody if the money is right - they have no political agenda or their own or moral purpose, it is purely for the cash and they will work for the highest bidder.

** A PMC is somebody who usually works for the likes of the UN or as a private security operative such a protecting construction of a oil pipeline through bandit country or protecting a vessel from piracy.

[starscream]

He keeps removing my posts. Surely, of there's nothing to hide, he'd answer my questions.

One of his posts says he won't take pics of himself on the job, but is willing to post a pic of Qatari currency next to his passport. I can do that here ffs.

[ThePope]

Hes added some "proof" pictures to his op

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[seansamurai1]

Indeed.
They also have very strict rule and regs as well, their 'ROE' is probably tighter than the armed forces.
The guy has no idea, especially when he mentions the rigs. 'Relatively secure rigs', they wouldn't need contractors if they were relatively secure. Those rigs are in contact nearly every other day, it was worse when the Iranians were pissing about with the borders (hence the HMS Cornwall fiasco).

[blytm]

He keeps removing my posts. Surely, of there's nothing to hide, he'd answer my questions.

Link him to this thread.

[seansamurai1]

He already has been.

That is not a gunshot scar. A gunshot scar is much more pronounced, it removes a lot of skin and tissue as well as bone.
Unless it was a glancing shot.
A Mk6 lid with a name permanent marked in is not evidence. I could buy a 6 for 30 quid and do that tonight.
I know loads of lads with lots of nice watches.
A what looks like a training mortar round is easy to get, Christ I could buy a training seawolf missile if I wanted.
The money is new and straight from an exchange, getting that in Qatar is pretty slim.
Why would operations be carried out in the UAE? It's a safe zone (not completely though) thousands of Brits work there.
My local Airsoft sight has those very same radios.
Proves nothing.
Proof of an army career is a start. Then some actual hard evidence of being a PMC needs to be brought forwards, none of the 'evidence' pictures convinces me in the slightest.

[blytm]

It's a joke, threads like his. I could take a pictures of my Afghan, Oman and UAE Visa's along with a couple of pictures of me with guns and say I'm a PMC and it would be more convincing.

Also if he's done the proof pictures why's he not still in Afghan? Or did I miss something?

[loki7491]

Work computer wont let me open any of the pics up....

Training mortar you say? In duck egg blue?

Drop me a PM... i know a man with one as a prop at his airsoft site - depending on what else is in the photo, it could be re-created just north of London by tea time!

[seansamurai1]

PM sent.

Looking at the scar he's got, looks very much like a friend of mines scar.


He strangely wasn't shot, he fell off his bike and broke his wrist causing the bone to pop through the skin.

[seansamurai1]

Missed the edit time.

That picture shows about 26 dibdobs which the last time I was out there was a very small denomination.

[loki7491]

We were using it 1/4 inch bundles as it is worth nothing. The notes were all 250 Dinars (a pinkish colour) and it quite literally was worth more as a piece of paper than it was as money.

We would carry tens of thousands of Dinar and pay in what seemed like "fair" wads rather than a monetary value! Fixing tyres, carpenters, air-condition engineers etc

$4 US dollars was the equivilent to a months wage on my first visit (Iraq) My second visit there saw me paying $5 a time for bootleg DVDs! And we think we have issues with money in this country.

[seansamurai1]

Yep, I bought a taxi for about 40 quid then drove it into the dock whilst crappers.
The taxi driver was buzzing cos it was about a years wages in one go, and we paid the taxi fare on top.

His latest is there are no forces personnel looking after the rigs!
So what the f**k is Northumberland doing and what the flying f**k have my last 2 deployments been about?

[starscream]

I think he actually believes his own lies. I've seen bullet wounds first hand when I worked in Bristol's main hospital. And what he has is no bullet wound. If a 7.62 hit his ankle, there wouldn't be much of it left. Not just a lump on his ankle.

[Black Templar]

Right you cruel lot. Leave the poor little girl alone, she's clearly attention seeking and due back from day release soon.
Now if you've finished mauling the poor little creature I'm going to take my Mk IX Spitfire for a spin. And don't think I've not got a picture of one. From the BofB, in 1916 over Malta. Perfectly believable.

[Agent]

If this guy is going to be a walt at least be convincing..

1. He was shot in the Ankle? he still has a ankle..unless the gun he was shot by was a .22 that scar is nowt. I have sadly seen execution videos with AKs involved ...the exit wound looks identical to an open egg facehugger thing from alien...the wound is huge n gaping ..and bigger than an ankle...its not nice at all its devestation

2. PMCs dont exist, they are security firms, even g4s have armed loonies in dangerous places, only company consideded pmc and hence why the term caught on is or was Blackwater or Academia..whatever their name is they keep changing it...see i could be wrong on this one because private militaries do exist in the shadows and we dont know about them, but talking in a commercial mainstream sense ill stand by my point.

[seansamurai1]

I was in teh SAS and am leet as fook.
Look heres my evidence.

[Black Templar]

Oh bravo!

[seansamurai1]

Ive got one of me cleaning the windows of the officers mess at hereford.

Looks a little extreme armed with an M4 and stuff but these are dangerous times ya know!

[blytm]

You Walt that's not an M4 it's an AK38 godddddddddd!

[seansamurai1]

YOU PLAY TOO MUCH CoD YOU NOOOOB! :D

On a plus, Ive just left my reply.

[Boo-Sabum Ben]

I call Walt, simply because he has that much time to spend on the Internet!

[blytm]

I don't haddock a clue what you mean!

[seansamurai1]

Its not even Qatari currency hes showing!!!

[seansamurai1]

They look different or are my eyes deceiving me?

Hmm not sure, he might actually be right on that but it is a holiday destination after all.

[bobthebuilder]

I completely agree, I know a couple and neither say what they do unless they really know you.

As far as I know, if you spend 6 months away from the UK in any order (so 2 months on 2 months off for example), as long as your on time is more than 6 months, you are tax free.

not sure if it's six months (might be slightly longer) but there's certainly something along those lines.

[blytm]

It's 90 days a year can be spent in the UK anymore then you pay tax.

[seansamurai1]

RFA guys are tax free after 6 and 1 day spent out of the country, it might be a 90 days at a time?

[Boo-Sabum Ben]

Id like to know why he has a green DPM hat for working in arab countries...

[seansamurai1]

Apparently thats from his army days.

[blytm]

RFA guys are tax free after 6 and 1 day spent out of the country, it might be a 90 days at a time?

Not sure then but for us lot it's 90 days, our holidays are even arranged around it. Can't remember the form to look up now E91 or something.

[seansamurai1]

meh, by the by really, the armed forces dont fall under tax free, just get a rebate under certain conditions.
10 months away and got cock all from the taxman and still paid tax the whole time for a country I wasnt living in. Thanks.

[starscream]

He seems strangely interested in trying to wind me up, and make comments about me. Lmao