What’s a key skill of a successful manager? For David Bohrer, ensuring his fellow Marines were properly armed and trained was key for him. These are also qualities of responsibility which allow him to excel in the business of safeguarding valuables.

“When I was deployed to Iraq, I worked in the camp armory, not only fixing weapons but overseeing inventory and ordering parts for both weapons and tanks,” Bohrer said. Accountability and leadership were crucial, and I bring that same mentality to my civilian job.”

On the Job
Bohrer, formerly a Marine Corps Reservist, manages the Akron, Ohio, branch of Dunbar Armored, one of the world’s premier security companies. With 17 armored driver/guards, Bohrer’s branch serves 200 customers – banks, credit unions, and grocery stores. The armored truck crews pick up daily cash deposits from the customers and deliver them to banks, and the next day transport change and other currency from the banks back to the customers.

Bohrer opens his branch early in the morning dispensing to armed driver/guards any money that must be delivered to customers and making sure they leave the facility safely. He then reviews various reports, handles administrative matters and tracks how quickly each truck makes its rounds. When the vehicles return at day’s end, Bohrer checks in his staff, places money going out to the banks the next day into the vault and organizes the deposits by bank before locking up and heading home.

“Sometimes when a driver calls in sick, I hit the road myself,” said Bohrer, who started with Dunbar as a driver/guard. “It’s all about leadership, which the military taught me. Where else can you be 21 or 22 and placed in charge of a squad of Marines or millions of dollars of equipment?

“Time management was another valuable skill I learned,” he said. “I have to stay ahead of paperwork and personnel issues. Even when I go on the road to make a delivery, my management responsibilities don’t go away.”

A Legendary Security Company
Dunbar Armored is America’s largest independent armored transportation carrier, serving major retailers, financial institutions and government agencies. It’s a division of The Dunbar Companies, which consists of five other entities providing various security services. Based in Hunt Valley, Md., Dunbar Armored has 5,000 employees at 70 locations nationwide.

In Uniform
A Cleveland native, Bohrer enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1998. After boot camp at Parris Island, he went to Aberdeen Proving Ground for training in small arms repair. When Bohrer returned to Cleveland in 2000, he was stationed at nearby Brook Park and worked various construction jobs. In 2002, he was hired as a driver/guard with Dunbar at its Cleveland branch.

His reserve unit was activated in early 2005, serving in Al Anbar Province and Al Asad. When he came back to Ohio in early 2006, he channeled his combat-tested maturity and discipline into various supervisory and management promotions with Dunbar before taking the helm of its Akron branch.

Although Bohrer left the Reserves in 2006, he maintains close ties with the military, even in his hiring choices. “Dunbar as a company has a lot of employees with military experience,” he said. “More than 50 percent of my staff is prior military. When I receive an application from a military veteran, I place it closer to the top because in most cases they are the most qualified. Veterans are disciplined, flexible, trained to use firearms – which is important in my industry – and hard workers. It makes for great camaraderie."