Private Security Force Training -US

PENSACOLA -- Fighting pirates, guarding ships and keeping people safe on ground and at sea.
That's what a private military company in Pensacola is now training veterans to do abroad.

Channel Three's Joe Douglass dropped in on some of their action-packed classes.
Get in, sit down, hold on and lock and load.
This ain't gonna be your typical boat ride.

Trainees fire blanks at some approaching pirates in Pensacola Bay.
They then switch to a rescue drill, cautiously pulling an unknown person out of the water.

Kolton Krottinger, CEO, Condottieri Contractors: "It's not like uh, Pirates of the Caribbean."

Kolton Krottinger is calling the shots here.
He says he experienced the real deal in Africa.
Kolton Krottinger, CEO, Condottieri Contractors: "I did four years of anti-piracy in MSRON, Mobile Security Unit and same for our instructors."

The Navy veteran is the CEO of Condottieri Contractors.
Kolton Krottinger, CEO, Condottieri Contractors: "We do the training and then we also send boots on ground overseas. The whole point of this is to give jobs to these guys."

Those jobs almost all require military or law enforcement experience.
Some in the security business say further training is not needed to get them, but Krottinger's students are almost all veterans.

Mark Burke, Student: "I served six years in the U.S. Army as Airborne Infantry."
Aaron Ragan, Student: "Four years in the Marine Corps, infantry mortars, two tours to Iraq."

The students come from throughout country and the world to learn how to provide security and combat medical treatment on land.

"I'm hurt! Medic!"
And at sea.
Aaron Ragan, Student: "I'm hoping for big things. The ultimate goal is that my wife never has to work again."

Aaron Ragan is from Arizona.
He says he was drawn in by the chance to potentially earn good money overseas and to work with fellow veterans.

Aaron Ragan, Student: "There is a Kamraderie. There is a bond that you share with everybody that's a veteran."
Mark Burke, Student: "None of us have ever met and by the first night we were going out to dinner together and it was just like we'd known each other for years."

Training sessions last from around a week to twelve days and range in price from nearly 2700 dollars to about 5400 bucks.

A job is not guaranteed but Krottinger says he wants to get work for as many of his students as possible.

Kolton Krottinger, CEO, Condottieri Contractors: "It's all about will. This is not your 8 to 5 job."