Credentials & Qualifications
Firearms Instructor / Coach
Rangemaster Master Firearms Instructor
Tom Givens of Rangemaster has over 50 years of firearms training experience. He has trained thousands of firearms instructors and over 60 thousand students.
Master Firearms Instructor Development Course
Protective Pistolcraft Instructor Development Course (Basic + Advanced Level)
Scheduled: Professional Pistolcraft Instructor Development (8/15-17/2025)
The Complete Combatant Instructor
Deliberate Coaching with Brian Hill of The Compete Combatant
Rangemaster TacCon ‘23, ‘24 & ‘25, scheduled for ‘26.
Received blocks of firearms instructor training from industry leaders including Tom Givens, Massad Ayoob, John Farnham, Claude Werner, Aquil Qadir, Tiffany Johnson and others.
NRA Pistol Instructor (Expired)
Insured by FTAProtect, the Firearms Trainers Association
Firearms Training
Ben Stoeger (8X USPSA National Champion, 1X IPSC World Champion) Fundamentals (2-Day) plus Skills and Drills (2-day) - Participated 3-4x, Hosted and participated 2X
The Complete Combatant, Brian Hill: Earned Purple Belt and Accurate Ant patches on the Core 4 Drill (Deliberate Coaching).
Gabe WhiteTraining: 2-Day Pistol Shooting Solutions, Earned a “Light Pin” in 2 separate classes, cusp of Turbo Pin (grrr).
Modern Samurai Project, Scott Jedlinski, Red Dot Fundamentals
The Way of the Gun,Frank Proctor: Pistol/Carbine 2X, Low-Light Pistol 1X
Alabama Defensive Pistol Academy, Matt Sims
Rangemaster TacCon ‘23, ‘24 & ‘25, scheduled for ‘26. Received firearms instruction from Tatiana Whitlock, Karl Rehn, Gabe White, Ashton Ray & Tim Chandler and Rhett Neumayer.
Certified Glock Armorer (4/2025)
Brocks Gap Training Center Range Safety Officer (2016, 2025)
Action Pistol Competition
USPSA - United States Practical Shooting Association
Ranked A-Class in the Production Division
Life Member L4420
Range Safety Officer (expired)
IDPA - International Defensive Pistol Association
Ranked Expert in Stock Service Pistol and Enhanced Service Pistol
Member A516325
Safety Officer (expired )
From ~2015-2020 my shooting budget for training and competition was approximately 20-40K rounds of personally reloaded 9mm per year, limited primarily by time!
According to Practiscore, I’ve shot well over 100 action pistol matches, primarily USPSA between roughly 2014 and 2018.
Martial Arts
Currently Practicing
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Purple Belt under Coach Chris Mize, Heroes Martial Arts Academy affiliated with Erik Paulson’s CSW Combat Submission BJJ
Coaching Kids BJJ Class 2/week
Recent BJJ Competitions
Birmingham International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2024, 7/13/2024: Won Gold in Blue Belt, Master 6
Genesis 32, Auburn, AL 2/24/2024 - Blue Belt, won Gold in both Gi and No-Gi
American Grappling Federation (AGF) 2023 Birmingham BJJ Championships, won Silver in No-Gi 30yo+
Prior Martial Arts Experience
Black Belt in Russian Sombo, Operated the Birmingham Sombo Club from 1998-2007
Mid-level belts in Judo
Mid-level belts in 2 different styles of Japanese Jujitsu
Integrated Combatives
Integrated Combatives practitioner and instructor (multi-disciplinary, pressure-tested self-defense in a weapons based environment) roughly following the Shivworks paradigm.
Running a weekly Integrated Combatives study group.
Combatives University Green Belt under Matt Larsen, Father of Modern Combatives
Extreme Close Quarters Concepts aka ECQC (‘19, ‘25)
Edged Weapons Overview aka EWO (‘23, ‘24)
Combatives Association Summit ‘23, ‘24, scheduled for ‘25
Red Zone Threat Management, Jerry Wetzel, Red Zone Prime
Jay Martin Combatives Camping Weekends 6/2024 & 4/2025 as a participant
Assistant Instructor for Combatives
Primary Instructor.for firearms training.
Rangemaster TacCon ‘23, ‘24 & ‘25, scheduled for ‘26. Attended many blocks of instruction from Shivworks “Collective” instructors: Craig Douglas, Scott Oates, Cecil Burch, Chris Fry and Larry Lindeman
Aaron Janetti, Knife Control Concepts 1 (KCC)1, Scheduled 9/6-7
Medical Training
Red Cross First Aid, CPR and AED (10/2023)
Scheduled 6/28-29/2025 with Aaron Jamison, Valkyries Austere Medical Solutions Emergency Casualty Care Course (ECCC)
Stop The Bleed (4h, ~2018)