Gate Guard Positions

TX: Gate Guards are needed by OverWatch Enterprises, LLC, for security in the oil field in the Eagle Ford Shale area in south texas. GATES AVAILABLE NOW! Applicants should be neat and clean in appearance, fit and able to withstand outdoor working conditions in remote locations.

Must have a RV in good working order 

All applicants and applying partners will need to have or obtain a license as a Level II Noncommissioned Security Officer through the DPS, license applications can be submitted on the DPS website.

Applicants must be able to pass a DPS background check, fingerprinting and drug screening.

If you are interested please fill out an employment application online at overwatchent.com or call for further information 830.589.3002, ask for Kasey.

Where exactly will this posting be?  My employer is sending me to Dilley next month for a 2-6 month temporary duty that may turn into a permanent position.  I'll be working full-time (and then some), but my fiance' has been looking for income.  We have been appalled at the monthly rates and lack of security for the RV parks in the area, but would like to live out of our RV while I'm there.  This opportunity may just be a win-win for us.  If  the location is within a 1/2 hour drive of Dilley and provides full hook-ups (water, electricity, and sewer), we'll sign up!

You can go ahead and apply and if we receive any word on a rig up near Dilley, we can send you that way. Apply at www.overwatchent.com. Thanks!

Will do! 

My wife and I wanted to go on an Alaska cruise, but the budget would not allow it. So, we took a gate guard job that was to pay $150/day. We lasted ten days and wimped out. I have never quit a job before because I could not stand it, but this was more than we could bear. We did not have a day when there was less than 150 trucks through the gate. Oil and water tankers ran every one to two hours day and night. They went by about 30 feet from the bedroom window. There was a three cylinder diesel generator running continually about twenty feet from the trailer. The dust was so fine all it took was the shadow of a ghost of a breeze and it would blow. The trucks kept it stirred up terribly. Day time temperature was in the nineties and hundreds. I never got over three continous hours of sleep for ten days and my wife even less. One of us had to be up and awake twenty-four hours a day. When my wife and I got a chance to sit down together, she said she could not take it anymore. At the same time, I was wondering how I was going to tell her the same thing. I am not saying this is an impossible job, because I know there are many people doing it. But, if you are planning on taking a gate guard job, please consider everything.

I did learn something. If on my next job, I have to wrestle three twelve foot long starving crocodiles while standing neck deep in steaming hot human excrement and wearing a barbed wire jockey strap, I can say, "This ain't too bad. At least I ain't a gate guard in Texas."

halfwright said:

I did learn something. If on my next job, I have to wrestle three twelve foot long starving crocodiles while standing neck deep in steaming hot human excrement and wearing a barbed wire jockey strap, I can say, "This ain't too bad. At least I ain't a gate guard in Texas."

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Now, that would be a tough gig!    ;D    ;D

By doing the math, $150 a day for 24 hours a day of work, that comes out to $6.25 an hour.

Caryl

Food for thought.  That's the thing:  I have a full-time job down there that will demand 40+ hours/week from me.  If I don't get sufficient rest, I can jeopardize the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of people.  Plus, I have to be able to break free to take the 2 1/2 hour drive to check on my elderly mother every now and again.  If the job is as you've described it, halfwright, it ain't worth it.

halfwright said:

One of us had to be up and awake twenty-four hours a day.  I am not saying this is an impossible job, because I know there are many people doing it. But, if you are planning on taking a gate guard job, please consider everything.

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I always say this job is not rocket science but again it is not for everybody.  What you describe is South Texas in the summer.  It is dry and hot.  The oil business is booming so it IS busy.  Nothing you described is unusual or unexpected in  my experience.  A *small* amount of research on the web would have provided plenty of background info as to what one could expect.

As usual, someone comes up with the "it only pays xxx per hour".  This comment is ALWAYS made by someone who has generally been no closer to a drilling rig than someone else's blog.  I made a GOOD living last year doing this.  I slept in my own bed, ate my own food, watched my TV and got paid for doing it.  It had no lot rent or utilities.  It beats swamping out campground restrooms and dealing with whiney campers.

YMMV

Then there's the 24 hour days when only a handful of vehicles come through the gate and you twiddle yer thumbs in boredom.
Informing friends that road runners are real. Killing rattlesnakes that hang around your vicinity with a Toyota, posting a photo of a Texas brown tarantula and freaking out our northern friends...priceless.  The night sky is amazing, sunsets and sunrises as well. We are so close to the road we can't open our awning all the way and the genny is within 10 feet of our bedroom The genny and bedroom A/C act as white noise to blank out the traffic noise. This our first gate, won't settle for such a small site in the future. Have not seen any illegals, do see Border Patrol at least a few time a day, some times they are very active on foot in the air and 4X4 vehicles. Not for everyone, must use due diligence before venturing into this.
We did research on Andy's site and others, entered into this fully informed, its not half bad and with nearly no overhead it is a good way to shovel cash into the bank account.

Bill

Andyj,

Yes, there are many benefits and the money is good. But, I surely fall into the "not for everybody" category. I am just too old to put up with the noise, heat, dust, confinement and lack of sleep. For me, life is just too short to put up with that kind of job. 

Two of my workers this past summer signed up for the gate gig this winter.  Knowing their personality I will be amazed if they stay.  Him, probably no problem, her, we shall see. 

For me it is a no way, but for others, it takes all kinds for any job.  Our work camping gig is not sloshing restrooms and cleaning campsites, but working in a bookstore and we love it.  But!  It too is not for everyone. 

As to the poster that wants to use the job as a base to work another job, I would caution, because these are really for a couple to share, I think your wife will kill you and stash your body on one of the exiting trucks.

driftless shifter said:

Have not seen any illegals, do see Border Patrol at least a few time a day, some times they are very active on foot in the air and 4X4 vehicles. Not for everyone, must use due diligence before venturing into this.

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Where are you working that you see BP all the time?  Two questions (I am retired BP):  Do you speak any Spanish?  Do you have a gun?  Not all of those pobrecitos are nice people, so cuidado.  If you're there long enough, they will show up asking for water or food.  I would not deny them either, but I would make them stand WAY back while I put it on the steps and then lock up.  By the way, I was talking about the illegals.  Don't EVER feed a Border Patrol Agent.  They are harder to get rid of than stray cats.

We are south of Carrizo Springs.
No.
No, tragic boating accident. A naked Irish with  a hammer in hand will scare the poop out of most people. If not I'll throw a bowling ball at 'em.
We figure they must avoid the lights and activity. Some of the truckers have seen them in the distance. More concerned about the rattlers. I do nights, wife does days. I'll toss water out window if asked. The Texacans keep an eye out for us and give us a heads up if any are spotted. Good people out here.

Bill

Some areas are very active with illegal traffic.  The narco traffic concerns me far more.  We called in every single illegal we saw. We also kept all the vehicles locked and everything outside that was worth anything out of plain view.

When working those high traffic illegal areas we insisted on one of those light tower generators vs. the puny shop lights.  Lighting up 4 acres at night is a GOOD thing.

Rattlesnakes are everywhere!  I kept the pad clean and did not walk ANYWHERE I could not see the ground.  We have killed as many as 3 in one day.  A good flashlight or better yet a headlamp is a must.  The preferred rattlesnake dispatch tool is a long handled garden hoe.