How To Become A Force Protection Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a force protection officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a force protection officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.48 an hour? That's $50,927 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 38,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreForce Protection OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $50,927

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.60%

Asian 5.63%

Black or African American 14.62%

Hispanic or Latino 18.21%

Unknown 5.33%

White 54.61%

Gender

female 12.07%

male 87.93%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a force protection officer

Explore force protection officer education requirements

Most common force protection officer degrees

Bachelor's

53.2 %

Associate

21.0 %

Master's

10.6 %

Start to develop specific force protection officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Operations Procedures	15.73%
Law Enforcement	9.20%
Control Points	7.85%
Security Operations	4.42%
Emergency Alarms	4.23%

Complete relevant force protection officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New force protection officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a force protection officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real force protection officer resumes.

Research force protection officer duties and responsibilities

Manage safety and hazmat procedures.
Observe activities within military installation from watch towers arm with M4 and M9 IAW force protection arming status.
Qualify on M9 pistol; M4 rifle; M60 machine gun; and M249 squad automatic weapon.
Administer comprehensive plans for providing support to combat organizations force structure and evolving personnel management proposals.

Prepare your force protection officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your force protection officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a force protection officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable force protection officer resume templates

Build a professional force protection officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your force protection officer resume.