Having just completed the September Longmoor Security Hostile Environment Close Protection Operator (HECPO) Course, I can thoroughly recommend both the course and the trainers to anybody wishing to pursue a future career in Close Protection, either in the Hostile or the Corporate environment.

The First Person on Scene (FPOS) Intermediate course was outstanding, a must for all future Close Protection operatives. It was run by a knowledgeable Ex Military; Close Protection trained Paramedic with vast experience in all Hostile situations. The lessons are well paced with lots of scenarios based on possible events, which include the use of Oxygen and De-fibrillation. An excellent start to the week and the course.

As soon as the FPOS was complete it was straight on to the main part of the course. This phase of the course would involve instruction on the role of the CPO ready for your Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence exam. The trainer once again was very experienced and pitched all the lessons very well, with lots of practicals to confirm our knowledge and understanding; this also included a very interesting day understanding Surveillance and Counter Surveillance, which was used well by the team on the final exercise. After the final exercise and exam the course was now looking forward to the final part, the Hostile Training Package.

The Hostile Training Package is conducted in Slovenia on various ranges; the instruction given was superb and relaxed. Each day we were given a full brief on the capabilities of the weapons and most importantly safety. We had hands on the Glock 17, 19 and AK variants. On the last day we conducted live firing vehicle anti-ambush drills and finished off with a shoot using the .44 Magnum of Dirty Harry fame, a good time had by all.

Overall the course had a good array of trainers with recent operational experience, the venue was excellent and the Slovenia range package is the best I’ve seen. If you want the best course on the market and the best trainers choose Longmoor, you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you Longmoor.

Mike Davies - Ex RAF Regiment – September 2011.