Neryl Joyce

Neryl Joyce’s story is one of unlikely career changes and extreme military environments, as she went from supermarket worker to highly trained bodyguard.

Joyce was a single mum raising her son, and working at her local Woolworth’s store when she realised she wanted to make a change in her life. She began her incredible journey to becoming one of the world’s most well known Personal Protection Operatives. After joining the Australian army as a Military Police Officer, she retrained on the Close Personal Protection Course, and in 2004, started working in Iraq. The bold move saw her become a security contractor in one of the harshest environments known to man, protecting high risk targets and putting her life on the line for her work. She worked for a private military company for a few years, but quickly realised it wasn’t for her. Tragically, she lost some of her close colleagues on the infamous Route Irish, and, deciding that the toxic company culture was costing lives, moved on to work with Blackwater Security Consulting. Joyce offered protection to staff working on the Iraqi Presidential election.

Since leaving Iraq and returning to Australia to be with her son, Joyce has released a book called Mercenary Mum which gives readers an insight into life as high-risk security personnel. The book is set to be made into a Hollywood film in the coming months. After retiring from the personal protection industry, Joyce now runs a detention centre on Christmas Island.