Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Presidential Bodyguard?

The requirements of the United States Secret Service are the most demanding of any personal protection assignment available. It is often the culmination of a long career in the military, law enforcement and federal protection agencies. If you think that you may want to be a bodyguard of the nation's leader one day, consider the steps in education, training and personal sacrifice that may be involved. It can be a dangerous and taxing job, for which very few people are qualified.

The United States Secret Service employs approximately three thousand special agents. At any given time, the President and his family may have as many as a hundred Secret Service bodyguards in their vicinity. In more public places, up to 250 or 300 have been used. Although the number of bodyguards does allow for an element of protection in and of itself, the training and level of professional sophistication of even one of these agents should never be underestimated.

The very basic requirements for appointment to the Secret Service are United States Citizenship and being between the ages of 21 and 37 at the time employment begins. A bachelor's degree is required from an accredited college or university or the candidate may have at least three years of experience. This experience must be in some form of law enforcement or criminal investigation. Experience simply as a bodyguard is not sufficient for this elite position.

There are also physical demands for the President's bodyguards, and understandably so. Attacks on the President may come from any direction and at any time. An agent should be physically and mentally prepared for any situation. For this reason, eyesight is vital to a Presidential bodyguard. The uncorrected vision of an agent can be no worse than 20/60 and must be correctable to 20/20. Lasik and other corrective eye surgeries have been approved as acceptable, and allowances can be made for Secret Service candidates who are undergoing or have recently undergone these procedures.

Intense screening is implemented for each Secret Service candidate. Because a large part of the Secret Service's job beyond bodyguard to the President is investigating counterfeit and fraud, the Treasury Enforcement Agent written exam must be passed. As part of the interview process, each candidate will also be subjected to a thorough personal screening process. This will include background investigations on yourself and your family to determine security clearance status. Drug and medical screenings are also necessary for all potential Secret Service positions, bodyguard or not, as well as a polygraph.

Once appointed as a Secret Service agent, these new national bodyguards are put through a rigorous eleven week training program. After this, specialized instruction training will take place for sixteen weeks in the particular area for which you have been hired. As is easy to tell, the job of a Secret Service agent is much more involved than a standard bodyguard position, and is much more demanding than any other job you may ever have. Agents should be prepared to work away from their homes for up to or longer than a month at a time. The locations they may be assigned to are often less than desirable and can harbor certain elements of danger.

As very few will ever be allowed to find out, a Secret Service agent is not your run-of-the-mill bodyguard. The level of training, education, security and duty they carry rivals that of top military personnel. For some, the process is not worth the trouble and happiness may be found as a bodyguard in the private sector. However, if you've read this entire article and your adrenaline is pumping, waiting to find out more, then the United States Secret Service may have a place for you.