The Days of Wine, Roses and Contract Work
The uniform was as distinctive as the military get-up most of the men and women used to wear. They exchanged camouflage cargo pants and blouse for 5.11s and a polo shirt, still a uniform though. In country the dress may have been a little relaxed but so was the dress for the active duty war fighter. The big difference? The pay for one. The even bigger difference? Limited bureaucracy. If the shit hit the fan the turnaround time was much shorter for the contractors, in most cases. But there was a trade-off. Speed sacrificed robustness. When the contractors left the wire, they were effectively on their own unless their company provided a QRF, Quick Reaction Force. Most of us are aware of what has happened to contractors caught out on their own, defending an outpost with little hope of reinforcements swooping into their aide. What-a-job. But someone had to do it, right?
Marcus Dresden, the protagonist of Waves of Deception (book one of the Marcus Dresden Thriller series) is a contractor with First Watch, the world’s largest private security contracting company. Of course, he did his time in uniform, twenty-five years on active duty, trudging through the sand box and other garden spots around the globe. He was a skilled warrior and saw his fair share of action. Becoming a contractor seemed a natural extension for someone with his background. It provided him with the flexibility so many veterans crave. It shot him with an occasional dose of high-speed adrenaline that all veterans need. And he was able to mingle with men and women of his ilk. To the other people, those people out in the world just do not get veterans (ok, maybe they do but not at the root level… you just had to be there). Even if Dresden kept to himself, kept to the periphery of the contracting world (as he does in Waves of Deception) the needs were still there. Those needs could be satiated in part by his work with First Watch.
I wanted my character to be able to move from place to place. Dresden would have a home base, but I didn’t want him to be stuck there. Contracting seemed to afford my character this freedom of movement. It afforded me plausibility, a reason for him to rapidly move from place to place. It seemed like the perfect back drop for my character. It also seemed like a great way to fit him into odd scenarios. The kind of scenarios you stop and ponder while reading or watching a movie. You say to yourself, “ok, now wait… how does a stay at home mom end up breaking into a top-secret military facility in the dead of night to rescue her son’s grandfather…” you get the point. Plausibility. Dresden does the same thing you think, “ok, I don’t really know how or if he really could do that but… considering his background and that he works for a security company… I’m gonna give him a pass.” And by the way if you do, give him a pass – thank you.
Go read it, Waves of Deception (due out in September 2020) and let me know what you think. You can leave a comment here or email me at brian@bgroganbooks.com. Better yet join my Newsletter and get all the updates and promo’s, including becoming part of the exclusive Pre-Reader Club. The only way to do that is to subscribe at bgroganbooks.com.
Thanks again for reading.