I’m Justin, the owner and operator of SwiftSilentDeadly.com. Most people define themselves by their job title. I have done a lot of different jobs and have a broad array of skills. If I had to define myself in a single word, I would say, “I’m an adventurer.” I pride myself on being a "Jack of All Trades, Master of a Few." I can't shoot a 5-second F.A.S.T., run a 5-minute mile, or rebuild an engine, and I don’t have a traditional career. But I can do a whole bunch of things really well. Here's a quick rundown of my life up to this point:
Author of Competent & Dangerous: Master the Skills to be a Man Among Men
Sworn law enforcement officer,
Practicing Paramedic and Search & Rescue (SAR) Team member,
Former full-time special operations instructor for the U.S. Military,
Former "OGA" contractor with many deployments to Central Asia,
Former Marine Raider with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines,
Author of seven books, dozens of online and print magazines, and this blog,
World traveler with 28 countries and 46/50 U.S. states under my belt (so far),
In addition to travel I have lived all over the U.S. - New England, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the Southeast, the Midwest - in big cities and very small towns,
I spent a year traveling the U.S. as an early adopter of #vanlife
If you want to know more, here is a quick list of recent podcast appearances:
SELECT TRAINING
Below is a list of select training I have attended. This is not all-inclusive, but a sampling of training relevant to the materials I frequently discuss on this site. If you read between the lines a bit you might also be able to figure out a thing or two about my work history.
Pistol, Carbine, & Tactics Training
MARSOF Direct Action & Special Reconnaissance Courses (16 weeks) - MARSOC
MARSOF Technical Surveillance Course (12 weeks) - MARSOC\
Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure - MARSOC
Custom CQB Course - Blackwater, USA
Pistol/Carbine Course - TigerSwan, Inc.
Competition Handgun - Mike Seeklander (my AAR)
Cognitive Conclave - Erick Gelhaus, John Hearne, & Lee Weems (my AAR)
Protective Pistolcraft Instructor Development Course - Tom Givens, Tiffany Johnson & Aqil Qadir, John Hearne (my AAR)
Tactical Vision & Surgical Marksmanship - Dustin Salomon (SLG's AAR)
On Demand Performance - Pistol-Training.com/Simon Golob (my AAR)
Tactical Pistol I - Greg Ellifritz
Shotgun Training
Shotgun Skills - Tim Chandler & Ashton Ray (my AAR)
Shotgun Skills (Coin #11) - Rob & Matt Haught, Bob Mefford (my AAR)
Full Spectrum Shotgun - Zach Cox, Adam Roth, Jonathon Willis (my AAR)
Revolver Training
Practical Revolvers - Chuck Haggard (my AAR)
Snubnose Revolvers - Greg Ellifritz (my AAR)
RevolverFest 2025 - Mike Wood, Greg Ellifritz
Medical Training
Paramedic (NREMT, plus BLS, ACLS/PALS, GEMS, AMLS, PHTLS, TECC, PTEP)
Tactical Combat Casualty Care (approx 6x) - U.S. Navy, U.S. DoS, Other Government Agency
Operator's Emergency Medical Skills w/ Live Tissue Lab (5 days) - Deployment Medicine, Inc.
Tactical First Aid & Collapse Medicine - Greg Ellifritz
Survival/SAR Training
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) - U.S. Navy
Field Survival Course - Randall's Adventure Training (my AAR)
Basic Survival Course - Pathfinder School/Dave Canterbury (my AAR)
Land Search Field Team MemberMountain Search & Rescue (Awareness, Operations, Technician)
Advanced Wilderness Rescue - Randall's Adventure Training
Technical Rescue - Water
Technical Rescue - Wilderness
High Performance Driving Training
Law Enforcement Driver Training (5 days) - Portion of Police Academy
Evasive Driving Course (5 days) - Bill Scott Racing
Worldwide Personal Security Specialist Course (WPPS II) (included 5 days of driving) - Blackwater, USA
Digital Security Training:
Social Engineering for Penetration Testers (5 days) - Chris Hadnagy
Cyber Advanced Support Operations (CASO) (10 days) - White Canvas Group
Commercial Signature Reduction (CSR)(5 days) - Blackhorse Solutions
Electronic Security & Signature Reduction (ESSR) - Blackbird Technologies
Covert Entry/Restraint Defeat Training
Surreptitious Entry I, II, & III, Vehicle Access I & II (25 training days total) - Undisclosed Provider
Covert Entry Course (5 days) - U.S. Army Counter-Surreptitious Entry School
Basic Alarms Overview Course (5 days) - U.S. Army Counter-Surreptitious Entry School
Unconventional Breaching Methods (5 days) - The Ben-Jim School
Basic Locksmithing Course (6 days) - Associated Locksmiths of America
Instructor Training/Certifications
Law Enforcement General Instructor Certification
Rangemaster Certified InstructorNAEMT Instructor Preparation Course, NAEMT
Formal Schools Instructor Course, USMC
Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor (Brown Belt), USMC
Periodic Gut-Checks/Physical & Mental Challenges
GoRuck "Tough" Event Finisher, 10/23 (my AAR)
Field Survival Course - Randall's Adventure Training, 03/23