My Objective:

That my coworkers and I go home safely, with minimal use of force, liability free.

These are the things I love:

Teaching people who have already trained in martial arts how to apply their skills to real conflict.

Teaching officers- people who might need it- the simple, practical skills they need to stay alive or the equally simple and practical skills they need to restrain a threat without getting sued…and I like teaching the difference.

THE DETAILS:

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in experimental psychology with a minor in biology from Oregon State. I’d planned on a double major, but Biochem killed me. While at OSU I earned varsities in Judo and Fencing and dabbled in Karate, Tae Kwon Do and European weapons. I’ve studied Martial Arts since 1981. I’ve been a corrections officer since 1991, much of that in booking or maximum security or mental health.

In 1998 a lot of things happened. I earned my mokuroku in Sosuishitsu-ryu jujutsu from Dave Sumner; I published two articles in national magazines; I was named to the CERT (Corrections Emergency Response Team) and was made the DT and Hand-to-Hand instructor for the team. I was also promoted to sergeant.

By the end of the year I was designing and teaching classes for the rest of the agency, both Corrections and Enforcement. In 2002 I was named the CERT leader.

By 1998 I already had lots of “dirt time” in Booking, something over two hundred uses of force, some ugly (PCP and/or outnumbered and/or ambushed and/or weapons) but I’d only had to take care of myself. Suddenly I was responsible for teaching rookies how to do what I did. I had to really think about what made things work. Being responsible for their lives upped the ante.

CERT also allowed me access to huge amounts of training- I’ve trained with distraction devices (flash-bang grenades), a wide variety of less-lethal technology (40 mm and 37 mm grenade launchers used to fire everything from gas to rubber balls; paintball guns that fire pellets filled with pepper spray, a variety of chemical munitions and shotgun-fired impact devices, pepper spray, and electrical stun devices). I’ve had the opportunity for specialized high-risk transport EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course) and have trained with the local US Marshals in close combat handgun skills.

More importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to use some of these tools and learn what was left out of class.

There has been other agency training as well- CNT (Crisis Negotiations Team, sometimes called Hostage Negotiators) classes; Weapons of Mass Destruction class from FEMA and DHS; attended school for the Incident Command System; certified as a Use of Force and Confrontational Simulation instructor.  Even received a certification as a “Challenge Course Facilitator” in case anyone wants to walk a high wire and do some team building. I’ve been a volunteer for the Search and Rescue unit and a peer counselor for my deputies. I was a medic, NBC defense instructor and rappel master in the National Guard long ago; studied EMT I and II (categories that no longer exist, roughly equivalent to an EMT-Intermediate); bounced in a casino for a couple of years and attended Tom Brown’s survival and tracking basic course… and I grew up in the Eastern Oregon desert without electricity or running water. 

THINGS MOVE FAST

In 2007 alone I had almost 290 hours of training- CERT, shooting, briefings on Terrorism threats and more classes on WMDs as well as interview and interrogation, investigations and labor law.  The essence of a dynamic life is change.  Hopefully the change is growth. 

And then 2008-

My book, “Meditations on Violence” was published by YMAA and I went to a certain dry and sandy place.  I was offered a chance to serve with the Department of Justice’s ICITAP programming: teaching, advising and mentoring the Iraqi Correctional Service in how to run a safe, secure and humane prison.  It was great experience.

HERE’S THE TRUTH:

Violence is bigger than me. There’s more out there and more kinds of violence than I’ll ever see… and certainly more than I could live through. I’ve never been a victim of domestic violence and I’ve never been taken hostage, but in my writing and teaching I presume to give advice on those two subjects. I’ve never been in an active war zone or a fire fight. Never been bombed, nuked or gassed, except by trainers. Violence is a bigger subject than any person will ever understand completely or deeply. I’ve put as much personal experience into my teaching and writing as I can, along with advice from people I know and trust to be experienced. I also quote or paraphrase researchers (many of whom have never bled or spilled blood in either fear or anger) when the research sounds right.

Take my advice for what it is worth. Use what you can use. Discard anything that doesn’t make sense. Test everything. See what makes sense to you and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t, ask why. In the end, your life is your responsibility, and it's your own gut and instincts that you have to live with whether you're enjoying time with your family or facing your worst nightmare.

Never, ever, ever delegate responsibility for your own safety. Never, ever, ever override your own experience and common sense on the say-so of some self-appointed "expert".  Not even me. Especially me.

FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY:

"Sarge is what happens when you raise a kid without a television." -Senior officer explaining me to a rookie.

"It's easy to understand Rory if you just take it for granted that he was raised by coyotes."- My lovely wife.

“Rory is a meat-eater, plain and simple.” Marc “Animal” MacYoung

“I’m an ordinary, average guy. Kind, sweet, innocent, gentle and vulnerable.” -Me

“Just so you know, we had a meeting and decided that if you ever go bad, we’re just shooting you from a distance.”- SWAT officer after a class.

“So basically what you do is thug wrangling.”- Frayn

“Have sarge talk to him. He’s really good with violent schizophrenics.”- Dep. J. Leader

          With the Team

    Rusafa Prison Complex, Baghdad, Iraq

              FOB Warrior Kirkuk, Iraq

Climbing around, Sulaymaniyah District,     Kurdish region Iraq