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New Anti-Piracy Firm Launched By Two U.S. Armed Services Veterans

Published Jun 12, 2012 9:20 AM by The Maritime Executive

Providing high-quality training and ethics based approach to security and anti-piracy solutions in war risk regions at sea

Skye Maritime, a new firm offering security and anti-piracy solutions for clients operating in war risk regions at sea, is beginning operations this month. The company, launched by two U.S. Armed Forces veterans, provides a specialized training and ethics based approach to security, employing teams of highly skilled professionals with backgrounds in the U.S. armed forces and law enforcement communities.

The firm helps clients by providing services aimed at understanding and predicting changes in pirate threat tactics, techniques and procedures. In-turn they offer protection to combat those threats, including detailed risk assessments, physical security consulting, and embedded armed teams. Their security professionals are carefully screened, receive extensive follow-on threat-based training, and deploy with superior insurance, weapons and equipment. Skye Maritime's operations are centered on carefully vetted rules for the use of force and standard operating procedures supported by a 24/7 maritime operations center to ensure each mission is executed with extreme precision. Their procedures and credentials have been carefully vetted and approved by a major U.S. shipping company who now enlists Skye Maritime as an authorized service vendor.

"We are excited to offer our distinctive security services to our clients who are looking for reliable protection for their vessels, crew and cargo," says Skye Maritime CEO Mike Slattery, who served with distinction in the Navy aboard the submarine USS Jimmy Carter conducting classified missions around the world. "We have carefully and purposefully spent the past year building our procedures and training our teams with extensive care and precision. We are confident our uniquely professional approach to maritime security will distinguish Skye Maritime as a highly trusted company that will bring our clients added value in very uncertain environments around the globe."

Slattery has partnered with Alexander Martin, who serves as President of Skye Maritime, and is a former active duty Marine Corps Captain who led infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units in multiple combat deployments. Together they formed Skye Maritime, in part, to create full-time jobs for veterans with special operations and combat experience; specifically those who were born to lead, protect and serve. The firm operates under the standard that its in-house assessment, selection and training curriculum coupled with the seasoned combat professionals that go through each course best prepares its maritime security team members to make the right decisions in a complex maritime environment and enable them to more accurately identify credible threats and, in such a situation, react with discretion and restraint.

"While serving as the assault element leader of the counter-piracy operations raid force for Task Force 151 off the coast of Somalia, our unit embraced the understanding that what was 'special' about our special operations capability was that we didn't shoot if we didn't have to - that we would train harder and perform with a higher degree of professionalism and excellence so that we did not have to take any lives if at all possible. That was exactly what happened when we took back the Magellan Star from pirates in 2010," explained Martin. "That very same ethos of restraint, discipline, excellence and dedication to our mission is the heartbeat of Skye Maritime."

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Source: http://www.marketwatch.com