The Second Tour

From the uniform to the contract

A free newsletter for veterans going into armed security work: getting hired, rotations, pay and life on contract.

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Written by
A former Marine
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Free
A soldier on post in a sandbagged guard tower above a valley villageA Marine walks a patrol through dry fields with a black detection dogUN security personnel manage a crowd behind wire at an aid distribution siteAircrew walk off an E-3 surveillance aircraft on a desert flight line
Guard tower, FOB Mizan, Zabul, Afghanistan, 2009

Written from the post

Recruiters sell the day rate. This site covers the rest: which licences matter, what a rotation does to a family, how to read an offer, and what the work is like on a twelve-hour post.

4 years
US Marine Corps infantry, 2013 to 2017
9 years
  • Armed security abroad
  • Armed security back home
Every other week
One email, free, no recruiter spam
A new plywood guard tower on top of a wall of HESCO barriers
Guard tower on HESCO barriers, FOB Sharana, Paktika, Afghanistan, 2012.

Work out a rotation

Pick the rotation on the offer and type the day rate. See how much of the year you are gone, and what it pays if only days in country are paid.

Rotation, days on and days off

On 60 on and 30 off you are away about 243 days a year and home about 122.

Plain arithmetic for comparing offers. It leaves out travel days, tax, and anything you pay for yourself. Check every number against the contract.

Three C-17 transport aircraft parked on the Bagram flightline, mountains behind
C-17s on the flightline, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2009. Every rotation has a trip out and a trip back.

The articles

Filed the way the move happens: get hired, do the work, keep the money and the family. Get new ones by email.

Getting hired First ones coming

Résumés, clearances, licences and the companies that hire.

  • Turning a military record into a contractor résumé Coming
  • Which licences and certificates actually get you hired Coming

The work First ones coming

Posts, rotations and what a day on contract looks like.

  • What a 12-hour static post really asks of you Coming
  • Rotations explained: on, off, and the travel in between Coming

Money and life abroad First ones coming

Day rates, taxes, family and coming home.

  • Day rate versus salary: reading a contract offer Coming
  • Taxes when you earn abroad: questions for a CPA Coming

Why I write this

This is the guide I wish someone had handed me before my first contract.

I served in the Marine Corps infantry from 2013 to 2017. When I got out, the skills I had were real, but the civilian world did not know what to do with them.

Contracting did. For the last nine years, off and on, I have worked armed security contracts in Afghanistan, Haiti and Saudi Arabia. Nobody handed me a guide. I had to piece together how hiring works, what a rotation does to a family, and what to check in a contract before you sign it.

UN security personnel manage a crowd behind wire at an aid distribution site
Aid distribution site, Petit-Goâve, Haiti, 2010.

The Second Tour is that guide, written for the soldier, Marine, sailor or airman thinking about a second tour as a civilian, and for the people at home who live with the rotation too.

I write from what I did and saw. When I do not know something, I will say so and find someone who does. When something is sponsored, I will tell you.

If you have a question about a contract, a company or a rotation, write to me at hello@thesecondtour.com. The good questions become articles.

M. Boston

Former Marine and armed security contractor

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If you are thinking about contracting, the newsletter is the short version of this site, sent to your inbox.

  • A new articleHiring, rotations, pay or life on contract, written from the post.
  • A job worth a lookOne real opening and what to check before you apply.
  • A straight answerOne reader’s question, answered plainly.

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