Sigma Security Group

Overview
Sigma Security Group, LLC is a private military company (PMC) based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, established in the early 1980s. It was involved in conflicts in the mid-1980s in various locations in the Middle East, as well as Papua New Guinea in 1997, and had a contract with the government under then-Prime Minister Julius Chan. In 1998 in Sierra Leone, Sigma had a contract with ousted President Kabbah and in Liberia in 2003 was involved in a rebel attempt to evict the then-president Charles Taylor near the end of the civil war. Sigma currently maintains a roster of approximately 500 contractors from military and civilian backgrounds and is active domestically and internationally, accepting private and government contracts.

Sigma was founded and managed by retired MACV-SOG team leader John Cooper. Sigma bills itself as a PMC and offers military training, "operational support" such as equipment and arms procurement, and limited direct military activity, intelligence gathering, and public relations services to governments and corporations. While the mass media often refers to Sigma as a mercenary company, the company's founders dispute that characterization. A commercial adviser for Sigma once told the BBC that the firm saw themselves differently from mercenaries, stating that they were an established entity with “established sets of principles” and that they employed professional people. He reiterated that the firm would not accept contracts from groups or governments that would jeopardize its reputation.

Early History, 1968
Sigma Security Group has its roots in the Vietnam War, where Staff Sergeant John Cooper was deployed as a fireteam leader under the MACV-SOG during the Tet Offensive. The Central Intelligence Agency, desperate to hold off an escalating Vietnamese offensive and Soviet support for the communist initiative, oversaw the creation of a special operations force comprised of operators from multiple countries. This task team would come to be identified as OPS-99 "Sigma," from which the company would later derive its name.

Ultimately, OPS-99 Group would fail in their tasking; John Cooper retired with an honorable discharge immediately following the end of the Vietnam War, though he maintained contact with his team for many years after. In 1984, these men would come together to form Sigma Security Group, an international security contracting firm dedicated to assisting in foreign and domestic conflicts through operational support, training, and direct intervention where necessary.

Sigma Security Group, 1984
Jack Cooper's task team would gather again in 1984 under the title of "Sigma Security Group," their first deployment being to the Zagros Mountains, Iraq. Initially deployed to assist with materiel support for Kurdish Democratic Party rebels in the region, Sigma would provide both military training and arms procurement in an effort to establish their country of Kurdistan inside the existing Iraq. However, as the conflict began to escalate, Sigma Security was called upon to engage in direct military action. Operation Tempest would become their first combat deployment since Vietnam, and the first action they would see as Sigma Security.

In their first deployments working with the Kurdish Peshmerga, Sigma operators would assist in clearing a number of Iraqi strongholds and forward operating bases, paving the way for a full takeover. Their cooperation in the Kurdish offensive was most notable during a raid on Kalae Noowi Airbase on June 18, in an attempt to cripple the Iraqi fast-air capability that had been decimating the Peshmerga throughout their push into the heart of the region. Their primary target would be two SU-25 Frogfoots.

Unfortunately, despite a successful operation, the Iraqi forces had anticipated and accepted the likelihood of Kalae Noowi being lost to the Peshmerga. A SCUD missile, weaponized with sarin nerve gas was deployed to the town, decimating the joint offensive and wounding or killing dozens of rebels and Sigma personnel. John Cooper himself was killed in a hasty rescue attempt as his UH-1Y helicopter was disabled by a 9K38 Igla, leaving him wounded and immobile in the midst of the chemical attack.

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