The Bodyguard Manual: Protection Techniques of the Professionals

Rating:
Summary: Decent general purpose book on EP work.
Review: Don't let the review titled "Accompagnement VIP" throw you off. That particular reviewer obviously has been reading "Inside Delta Force" a few times too many and has taken it to heart as being the end-all for executive protection work. Granted, "Inside Delta Force" is a damn good book, and I highly recommend it (but not as an example of what real-world EP work consists of).

But I'm getting off-topic and ranting.

This is a good overall book, and the author obviously has the credibility to stand behind what he says. He hits the high points about EP work, which is as good as it gets in learning how to do this job. Any decent EP course you choose to attend will do nothing more. An EP team's operating procedures are set by the team leader and are strongly influenced by the principal you are protecting.

Mr Thompson also emphasizes the one true reality of EP work. It's boring 90% of the time. And if you are doing your job correctly, this is how it should be.

The high-profile stuff in the news (SF guys with President Karzai, L. Paul Bremer in Irag, etc) are not the norm for EP work. Is it truly "Executive Protection"? Yes, but from a more "para-military" sense. EP work extends to covering corporate execs, celebrities, politicians, royal families, doctors working at abortion clinics..... the list is endless.

"The Bodyguard Manual: Protection Techniques of the Professionals" can be good for the individual looking to learn about bodyguards in general, someone trying to get their foot in the door, or even the seasoned professional looking to get a fresh perspective on how others do the job.

It's all in how you look at it and what you take from it!!

"Gingii"
USMC '89-'02
executive protection work '02-present

Rating:
Summary: Accompagnement VIP
Review: There is a french defenition for what this book explains, it is called (accompagnement VIP). I enjoy reading Mr thompson books, they are correct but academic, good as a presentation for a University degree, especialy the Concord chapter that is part of history now. But I would have some reservations of recommending this book as for professionals. Today's pro teams deal with very high risk and dangerous situations, I am talking about Delta force operators driving the US ambassador into west Beirut during conflict and coordinating their only E&E with a Zodiac at sea,or bodyguards Coordinating Embassy security with 24 hour mobile counter assault teams, protecting VIP in Iraq, Afghanistan,Pakistan where you are monitored by the enemy 24h, your cars already marked, and your movements noticed and your face already photographed,where the ambush is inevitable one day or another,protecting VIP's conducting negotiations in high risk areas and countries and sometimes between borders, that what we could call bodyguarding for proffessionals these days, and these are only few examples. The only problem is that those professionals are on duty now, hope one day one of them will share his experience with Amazon. I gave this book 3 stars for the hard efforts that Mr Thompson is still putting in delivering a correct message.