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==Background==
The company's founders are [[Scott Custer]], a former US Army officer and defense consultant, and former [[CIA]] officer [[Michael Battles]], who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the Republican primary. Battles is a [[Fox News]] Channel commentator. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html] Both Custer and Battles are often described in the media as "former US Army Rangers." In fact, they are both mere graduates of the US Army Ranger course[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_School], a nine week US Army leadership school, and not former members of the US Army Ranger Regiment[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_Rangers]. The distinction may seem obscure, but it is an important one for US Army veterans, particularly veterans of the Ranger Regiment, which is one of the US Army's most elite formations.
Custer Battles was a newly formed company with no experience in the security industry when it landed one of the first contracts issued in [[Iraq]] in the spring of 2003 to secure the airport. The no-bid contract was worth $16 million when it was awarded in the chaos after the fall of [[Saddam Hussein]]. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html]
