Q: Do you teach firearms? If so, where, when and for how much?
A: Short answer: no.
Long answer: I don’t offer firearms training classes. I can no longer demonstrate (due to disability and old age) at the level I deem appropriate for a professional firearms instructor. I remain a fine firearms coach but only informally. The firearms work that I do is taking accomplished firearms instructors and improving their teaching skills to enable phenomenal instruction. I’m an instructor of instructors on instruction, or I design training to do that. i do design accelerated learning firearms classes but rely on other instructors to perform the actual teaching.
For civilian-oriented defensive training, I recommend Greg Ellifritz, Claude Werner, Tom Givens. For tactical pistol work, Paul Howe, Kyle DeFoor, Larry Vickers, Pat McNamara, Dave Harrington. For advanced pistolcraft focused on marksmanship and gun handling the Rogers Shooting School, privates with Claude Werner, or possibly Mike Seeklander.
Q: Situational awareness training is what I’m interested in — how do you do what you do?
A: The training we do in situational awareness uses the innate neuroplasticity of the human brain to change cognition and neurology in a way that immediately enhances situational awareness. We do that via a structure of exercises and experiences. The change is immediate and so far appears to be permanent. Read through the peer reviewed study of our work published in THE JOURNAL OF CRIME AND POLICE PSYCHOLOGY HERE for a retrospective analysis.
Q: Enjoying AIR MARSHALS!
A: Glad you enjoy it. It was the first novel I ever wrote, and it got me my first agent, but didn’t get published for a long time. Pissed off some people in Homeland Security and the new Federal Air Marshal Service, but they’ll get over it. One of these days.
Q: How can I fight against human trafficking in the way THE REVENGERS do?
A: I don’t recommend, endorse, or condone vigilantism. It’s great for fiction, rife with bad consequences in the real world. If you are as well off as you say, and have a family to worry about, I’d suggest one of two (or both) tracks:
1) Donate money HERE
2) Hire professional investigators and/or professional recovery specialists to conduct location and rescues. Back in the day, there were a LOT of notable retired SF/SEAL types who used their skillsets to infiltrate countries and bad places in the US to locate and recover missing children. Not cheap — and full of poseurs and rip offs — but if you can make it fly extremely rewarding.
Q: What’s up with all the super soldiers and artificial intelligence stuff?
A. I have interest in both areas. I’ve helped “build” super-soldiers (via training) and continue to consult on an ongoing basis with various organizations involved in that. I’m a Subject Matter Expert on the applications of artificial intelligence for an Artificial Intelligence Group within the largest law firm in the upper midwest. I’m a polymath. I teach myself about stuff that interests me. Apparently well enough that I get to consult internationally about some of those areas, LOL.
Q: What’s the status of your company Accentus-Ludus LLC? Are you still delivering training and accepting RFI, RFP, etc?
A: We’re in the process of selling the business and some accompanying intellectual property.
Q: In your post on what’s new in 2021, you said you had some wannabes following you around and shooting at your targets? Is that for real?
A: Sadly, yes. Being both an author of popular fiction and a consultant in a rarified area, I seem to attract more than my fair share of nut-jobs. Apparently someone and his friends who fancied themselves “Master Instructors” thought they’d follow me around and test my situational awareness, and then check me out on the range since I was supposedly “all that” as a firearms instructor. I could go on my rant about the fragile egos of insecure men who like the title of “Instructor” but I won’t. That sort of behavior is laughable, especially with 30-something “Master Firearms Instructors” who think they have to show up a 65 year old disabled man. Pathetic.
Q: Where can I find instructors that teach your material in the United States?
A: There aren’t any. All the instructors that have done instructor training with me are active duty Tier One people. If you want to travel, Dennis Martin, though semi-retired, was my collaborator for a long time. That’s in the UK. I have two instructors, one in Israel, one in South Africa, both of whom train private individuals. I’ll check with them and see if they’re cool with me posting their contact info. I’m HOPING to conduct a master class to a) bring all my current instructors up to speed on the latest evolutions I’ve designed and b) train a new cadre of instructors to go out and do the work. While I’m busy on books, the problem with our training approach is that it’s 90% experiential via exercises and scenarios. Doesn’t translate well to the written page.
Thanks for the questions and feel free to keep them coming. Please don’t be offended if I don’t answer personally and answer here instead. Your personal information will not be posted. Since I often get the same question several times I’ll combine my answer and post it here for everyone’s education.