“ARG Operations was set up in response to the growing need
to provide quality professionals in an industry which requires
respect. Although we have been (and continue to be) operational
ourselves, we went for some time simply passing on work to
other people and providing people through recommendation to
do a wide variety of CP tasks. It then came to a point that we
realised we are very fortunate in having many people who we
have worked with over the years, who are highly professional,
experienced and are ‘cut from the same cloth’. We then decided
to officially become a provider of close protection operatives
ourselves. In doing this, we instantly had an impressive database
of operatives. In running our own operations wing and training
wing, this gave us a special ability to increase our database
further with those people who have trained with us and show an
innate ability for close protection at the highest levels.”
“ARG Training has been the building block on which the rest of
the company was built. We provide training in a number of areas
such as close protection, live firearms, surveillance, advanced
driving and FPOS. As I mentioned earlier, this allows the capability
to train our operatives in many different aspects of the security
industry and leads to well-trained and multi-skilled professionals.
As may be expected we now train many of our servicemen
and women from different areas of our armed forces through
ELCAS as they leave on resettlement. My ethos in training is the
same as with the other branches of ARG, our aim is quality and
not quantity. It would be quite easy to put as many ‘bums on
seats’ as possible, however that’s not what we are about. Firstly,
we will never go above eight people on any one course and at
a number of points the students may find that there is one DS
for each student. As well as this, I interview every prospective
student to find out what they are made of and for them to also
see what we are made of, so they can make an informed decision
about training with us.”
“We always have and always will offer an open door policy
to all our students and operatives who are welcome to come
in to see us for a brew and have a chat, or get further advice
on things. The way I see it is we have a vested interest in each
and every person who trains with us and works with us. There
may be a number of other companies doing it now but we have
offered free CPD events for years to anyone who has trained with
us, regardless of whether they are still working with us, or have
moved on to other things.”
INTELLIGENCE
ARG
OPERATIONS
TRAINING
COMPANY PROFILE:
and projects, we are responsible for training many people who
operate in hostile environments to provide specialist tactics and
to ensure they are ‘up to scratch’ on their weapons handling and
safety before deploying on transit.
“It must be said that the main reason for our success is Bob
Dunkley. Bob’s unique position and skill brings a unique dimension
to what we do. Bob Dunkley has been the CQB firearms instructor
to the world’s Special Forces, Police Forces worldwide and close
protection teams for over 30 years. He is the leading firearms
instructor and subject matter expert (SME) in the UK and possibly
the world. He is one of five world masters in combat shooting. I
have been serving my ‘apprenticeship’ with Bob for 26 years now
and as I always say, I am only half way through it! All in all, we
can be confident in saying that when people train with us they
are getting something they simply cannot get anywhere else.”
PMCI: How did ARG come about and what was the inspiration
behind your vision?
PH: “By 2006 I had been working in close protection for many
years. Having served as an Authorised Firearms Officer I have
protected a number of people including Tony and Cherie Blair
and ex-Labour MP Lord Mandleson at a time when he was the
Northern Ireland Secretary. I also worked across the globe for
the former Prime Minister of Qatar and his family, a man who
valued the high standards of British-trained operatives after
graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst himself
in the 70’s. As well as this, because of what Bob has been and
done and is still doing, I was afforded the backing of someone at
the top of their game and what came with that was the entire
training complex from which we now do all of our training from.
The reason I mention all of this, is because I have worked in the
industry at various levels and this led me to want to create a
company whose core values were absolute professionalism, with
the ability to maintain the highest of standards and integrity.”
PMCI: How many ‘departments’ do you have to ARG?
PH: “As we stand at the moment we have a number of
departments who all work towards a common cause. Whist
they are all, in essence, independent of each other, each of the
departments complement and feed each other to create the
company I envisioned so many years ago. I will break each of our
departments down for you below to give you a brief idea of what
each one of them is about:
“ARG Intelligence is a comparatively new development for ARG,
as with operations each of us has worked in surveillance and
intelligence gathering for years and in a great many capacities,
again having forged many great working relationships with
different people and companies. Having looked at the sheer
amount of skilled individuals we work with, we decided to create
our own corporate intelligence wing. Our current capabilities are
quite impressive and have led us to some strong partnerships
with companies and individuals a ɽչ