I spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy, with over 10 years in Naval Special Warfare and several years in security units. After joining the Navy 6 months after graduating high school, my first command was a Frigate stationed in Pascagoula, MS, the USS John L. Hall FFG-32. A diesel mechanic by trade, I volunteered for security-related positions every chance I could. I volunteered and was selected as the ship's small boat engineer and coxswain (small boat operator) and served as the coxswain that transported U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment personnel on visit, board, search, seizure (VBSS) boat runs to suspected drug boats while on Counter Drug operations in the Caribbean Sea area of responsibility (AOR). I also volunteered and qualified as the ship's assistant Master-At-Arms (Navy police officer) where I conducted urinalysis testing and served as the “bailiff” at several Commanding Officers Captain’s Masts.

   In May of 2001, I transferred to the Small Boat Division at Naval Support Activity Annapolis, MD, which supports the U.S. Naval Academy. Later that month, I had the great pleasure of working beside the U.S. Secret Service by securing the perimeter of the Landing Zone for Marine One when President Bush (43) visited the Naval Academy to give the commencement speech for the graduating class of Midshipmen. In August 2001, I once again volunteered and was selected to work for the base security department as a patrolman. After the 9/11 attacks, I was re-assigned to the USMC security company who had the responsibility in securing the Naval Academy Complex. In this role, I served as armed sentry at entry control points, patrolman, and personal security details for high-ranking politicians and military personnel while on visits to the Naval Academy. 

   I packed up my family and moved back to Mississippi in June of 2003, this time, assigned to my first Naval Special Warfare command, a Special Boat Team. There, I would once again serve as the assistant Master-At-Arms, small boat engineer and tactical combat instructor. From 2004-2006, I would travel to various South American and Asians countries to train their special forces units in small boat operations, small unit operations, small arms weapons, close quarter battle, tactical first aid, land navigation and defensive driving. During this time at this unit, I made (2) combat deployments to Iraq where I planned and executed over 80 tactical convoy operations, covering over 600 miles of enemy territory. Due to my combat experience, I was hand selected by my leadership to personally escort several millions of dollars of Naval Special Warfare weapons, boats, and other equipment to and from Iraq, South Korea, and Colombia, South America. I would also gain first-hand knowledge and tactical training from famed special forces groups such as SEAL Team 6/DEVGRU and the British Special Boat Service. 

   My naval career took me and my family to San Diego, CA in the summer of 2008 where I would become a Navy S.E.R.E. (Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape) school instructor. Here I assisted in the training of over 5,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel in all aspects of outdoor and hostage survival training and on how to conduct themselves to be able to survive in a Prisoner of War type scenario-based training. I would later receive my Master Training Specialist, Instructor and High-Risk Training Instructor certifications, as well as becoming a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in land navigation, animal/human tracking, evasion, food/water procurement, field first aid, tactical communications, personal recovery, and fire starting. As an SME, I would travel to other military bases in the region to give abbreviated course lectures to units before they would leave for combat deployments. During my time at this unit, I would attend the Navy’s Advanced Evasion Course in Maine and the Air Force’s Urban Evasion course in Washington State and was instrumental in creating the course curriculum that is used in Urban Evasion courses taught by the U.S. Navy S.E.R.E. school in San Diego, CA. 

   In 2011, I transferred to one of the Navy SEAL Teams in Coronado, CA. There I would serve as assistant Master-At-Arms, the command Anti-Terrorism Officer and lead Petty Officer for his department which included small boat training, operations and maintenance, supply and logistics, and transportation.  On a 2015 deployment to Guam, I was the Petty Officer in charge of a 52-man team, in charge of everything from admin, logistics, medical, weapons, communications gear, and small boat operations in support of a SEAL Team deployment in the Pacific Ocean Area of Responsibility.

   I received many military awards during my military career, but one that is more special and more rewarding to me is the Volunteer Service Medal that I received for my years of volunteer service. I volunteered for activities such as placing American flags and wreaths on the gravesites of past service members at a national cemetery in Mississippi, coach youth sports in Mississippi and San Diego, created a 55-mile round trip bike ride to honor and celebrate POW/MIA Day every September, and coordinated monthly meetings with the San Diego Chapter of P.O.W.s to talk and listen to their personal stories and experiences. To receive the military Volunteer Service Medal, it takes several hundred, sometimes thousands of hours of dedicating yourself to those tasks.

   Throughout my career, I have been certified as a Terrorism Liaison Officer and Infrastructure Liaison Officer by the San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center (FBI Fusion Center), and other certifications from the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, C2 Shooting Solutions, Blackwater Training Center, Homeland Security I & II from the American Board Certification of Homeland Security, and International and Domestic Terrorism from the California Specialized Training Institute among others. I have also earned certifications of Level II Anti-Terrorism Officer from (2) U.S. federal agencies and the title of Master Anti-Terrorism Specialist from a nationally renowned organization.

   I retired from the Navy in March 2017 and immediately moved to Washington D.C. and began working in the private security industry. I have worked as an armed security officer at 2 foreign embassies (Saudi Arabia and UAE) and was the head of security for the UAE embassy. I am also a certified Personal Protection Specialist (bodyguard) in the state of Virginia and have served on personal protection details for top executives of the NRA, U.S. politicians (both parties), and several current and former ambassadors to the U.S. as well as the head of security for a residence that was built by former First Lady Jackie Kennedy's stepfather, Hugh Dudley Auchincloss, called "Merrywood", in which President Kennedy and the First Lady lived in during their transition to the White House. From August 5, 2019 – July 31, 2020, I was the 2nd in command of security for President Trump’s campaign headquarters in Arlington, VA, which I will forever be thankful for the opportunity.