Vets say 'no' to bodyguard jobs

• Source: Global Times
• [03:43 November 25 2009]
• Comments

By Lin Meilian

In a dimly-lit bar where you can hardly distinguish men from women in the darkness, a security guard is busy keeping an eye on the crowd, looking for drunks and troublemakers. His professional instinct tells him to stay alert.

Yan Hai has been a "bouncer,"a bar security guard, since he retired from the army in 2006. Like many of his army "brothers,"he thinks his security job is much safer than the dangerous job of personal bodyguard though private guards earn three times his monthly salary of 2,000 yuan ($292).

"I was prepared to die for my country, but I'm not prepared to die for money,"Yan told the Global Times Tuesday.

Yan was not surprised when he heard several veterans had said "no"to personal bodyguard agencies Tuesday at a Chongqing job fair sponsored by the People's Armed Police Force.

"Many people believe that higher salary brings higher risk, but it is not the truth,"said a veteran bodyguard surnamed Cao, who earns 6,000 yuan ($877) a month.

About 300 ex-servicemen from the anti-terrorism force attended the job fair. More than 200 of them managed to land security jobs within two hours, Chongqing Evening News reported.

But most gave a cold shoulder to private bodyguard offers.

Hou Qinjian, manager of Chongqing Jiangbei Security Service Co Ltd, one of 50 pri-vate enterprises that attended Tuesday's job affair, came back empty-handed.

Hou's main mission was to recruit fresh blood for his private bodyguard team.

"Our body guards are usually ex-servicemen who are trained in lots of skills that are needed to serve our clients,"Hou told the Global Times Tuesday.