High Risk Environment Course Part I: UNLOC and TACMED
Several months ago, I mentioned an upcoming event called the High Risk Environment Course (HREC). It was put on by my good friends at the American Warrior Society. I taught a day and a half of the five-day class. I won't go into too much detail here, because my good friend Dr. T.C. Fuller has offered to write Part I of the High Risk Environment Course covering my portions: UNLOC and TACMED.
Disclaimers
The two portions I taught were my own Unconventional Lock Opening Concepts (UNLOC) and a tactical medical class I unimaginatively called "TACMED." I won't bore you with too many more details because T.C. describes the class quite well. I will offer a disclaimer, though: while I would like to be, I am not an impartial observer of this class. My participation was as paid instructor. As such, my opinion is likely very biased.
Secondly, I asked T.C. to write up his observations of my class, but without coordinating it with him beforehand. He wasn't paid to write this, I didn't ask him to say any particular thing - these are his thoughts. Frankly he was very flattering of me, so I want to make that clear. Since we were both instructors at HREC and can't really call this a review, think of it more as an opinion piece.
Before we begin I also want to point out T.C.'s excellent books. He is the author of the following works (please note, the links are affiliate links):
Without further ado, what follows is T.C. Fuller's report of my classes in the High Risk Environment Course.
High Risk Environment Course (HREC)
I was invited to be one of the five instructors at the American Warrior Society’s (AWS’s) recent “High Risk Environment Course”, held in Crossville, TN from November 11th through the 17th, 2025. There, the AWS assembled 20 dedicated students with a wide variety of backgrounds, training, and experience, along with four outstanding instructors (and me).
L – R: Justin, Mike Seeklander, Rich Brown, Dr. T.C. Fuller, and Will Parker
The idea behind the weeklong course was a rather unique approach, which seems increasingly difficult in the heavily trod training market. Instead of a single topic for the week, AWS tasked the assembled instructors with delivering instruction on a variety of topic in which they are not only subject matter experts, but with which they also have unassailable real-world experience.
The calm before the storm.
One such person is our friend Justin. His life story reads like a fictional adventure protagonist. Only the problem is, were he such a character, the audience would likely not believe his backstory.
Justin's Backstory
He started out as a US Marine Corps Raider. For those who are unaware, the Marine Raiders are the special operations component of the United States Marine Corps (USMC), falling under U.S. Special Operations Command (USSCCOM) for operational purposes. They are tasked with “direct action”, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, and foreign internal defense missions, which generally translates to “kill people and break their toys” with some other stuff tossed in for good measure. That job included deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines for Justin.
Not being one to sit around being bored, he then became an “OGA contractor”. For those that do not speak the jargon of the GWOT (Global War on Terror), OGA is short for “Other Government Agency”. That is, a government agency that is not the Department of Defense. Which one? Well, I was deployed to Afghanistan and Cuba with the FBI. While in those garden spots, I was described as being with OGA. And while I do not know for certain which government agency Justin was with (I’ve never asked, as that is a bit gauche in our circles), I have my suspicions. Hint, it was probably not the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Regardless, that job included deployments to various warm and sandy locales, filled with unfriendly natives.
Justin, in his element.
Justin has also been a podcast producer and co-host, a special operations instructor for the US military, and an author (seven books and counting). He has traveled the world and the US (28 countries and 44 states by his accounting). He is currently serving as a sworn law enforcement officer as a full-time job, while volunteering his free time (seriously, he has free time) as a paramedic on a mountain search and rescue team.
The list of training he has received and given is simply too voluminous to list in this small space. However, a lengthy (though not exhaustive) list is available on his "About" page. Take a moment and check it out. I will wait.
Impressive, right?
Justin was the first instructor up to bat at HREC this year and he did not disappoint.
UNLOC
The first class he gave was on lock picking. Turns out this was a skill required in his [REDACTED] days, so he received extensive training along the way. Enough to become a certified locksmith in his own right. He also taught it [REDACTED].
I have run across plenty of instructors over the last four decades who were skilled practitioners. I have also run into those with very impressive experiential credentials, including many of the Vietnam veteran infantrymen who were my first trainers in the Army. Likewise, I have had several outstanding teachers and mentors in that time. It is rare, in my experience, to find yourself confronted with all three in the same person.
Justin is one of those rare few.
His curriculum took us through some basic terms and a brief history of the development of locks. Oddly fascinating stuff, at least to me and others in the class. We then began attacking locks with the tools that we had brought, purchased as part of the course and based on Justin’s recommendations†.
Justin’s instruction had us all whacking away and in no time, we were opening lock after lock. Justin made changes to the curriculum on the fly, based on the class’s demonstrated skill and interests. His encyclopedic knowledge of the topic made these changes seamless, while adding to the engagement of the students as he kept us working on things we actively wanted to work on.
After lunch on site, we continued attacking increasingly difficult locks. Success rates varied, but that was more about developing new skills than it was about instructor competence. Thanks to his instruction, we all felt comfortable in our knowledge of how to attack the various locks we confronted. We simply needed additional practice. I know I left confident in that fact and eager to sit and fiddle with locks.
TACMED
Justin brought that ability to inspire curiosity and motivation to his next class, TACMED, on Day Two. Knowing his audience and what we were most likely to run into in the difficult circumstances the course was based on, Justin presented instruction on wounds to expect, general information on how to confront them, and detailed information on what gear to secure beforehand. Equally helpful was his instruction on what NOT to get.
The entire course centered around students understanding what they could do and what they could not from a skill perspective. He then carefully admonished everyone to eschew trying to buy gear as a replacement for skill. Developing lifesaving skills takes years of training and effort. And while a four-hour class was not going to so much as scratch the surface of that project, it could convince even the most recalcitrant of learners to think hard.
Justin covered such basics as seal the trunk, pack the joints, and (as a last resort) tourniquet the limbs. He spent quite a bit of time on the tourniquet, actually. His basic point was that while modern tourniquets save tons of lives, we now tend to jump straight to using them for everything from a hang nail to the traumatic loss of a limb. They need to be used when needed, but they are not always needed. A subtle but important point.
Also handy was his guidance on equipment, discussing both good and bad gear. Similar to his previous class, Justin make specific recommendations on current “best in class” equipment, particularly bandages and tourniquets. As a guy who regularly uses these things professionally, combined with his insatiable desire to learn and ensure his own knowledge is as close to the bleeding edge (see what I did there?) as possible, Justin’s advice was absolutely solid.
My Takeaways
So what was the overall takeaway? My own lockpick set is now improved by the gear I bought based on Justin’s class and by my vastly increased knowledge of the subject matter. I have successfully picked about 75% of the locks in my own house since returning. Happily, I already had good locks on my exterior doors, so I have failed on them. After this class, however, I know exactly why. I will be improving them as well, once the holiday bills are dealt with, again based on Justin’s course.
As to the TACMED class, I made purchases based on this class before the week was out and have updated my own medical kits appropriately. I have strongly suggested to my wife that additional medical training for us both would be a great idea, again using information from Justin to bolster my argument. I may mess around, overshoot, and end up an EMT if I am not careful.
To me, that is the real testament to Justin’s instruction. The raw data, the knowledge of gear and techniques, that he passed on was fantastic and well worth the cost of entry all by itself. But much more than that, it was impressive to see just how much motivation and interest in the subject matter that he was able to inspire in his students. When someone can teach so well that the passion they inspire last weeks after the course, you know you have found someone special in the instructional sphere. Justin is one such person. I recommend his classes and cannot speak of them highly enough.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a difficult padlock I am going to tackle again before lunch.
Justin's Closing Thoughts
And that's it, guys! A sincere thanks to T.C. Fuller for taking the time to write this, and for being so generous with his praise. I do believe HREC was an oustanding training experience, and I hope to see you there next year!
Oh, one more thing: Taylor from Defenders and Disciples Youtube channel is doing a video of the course. It will be a little while before it's out, due to the huge volume of content, but I'll make you guys aware when it is.
† Note from Justin on tools: my UNLOCKit, the companion set of tools to my UNLOC class, will be available for public sale soon. I am working on acquiring all the components and making the necessary modifications. Stay tuned.