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Specops Staff Bios

We are proud to be working with an amazing group of men, each hand-selected and trusted by Specops Co-Founder Mykel Hawke to deliver incredible Specops Training Missions and Adventures. Specops team members are highly-seasoned and experienced Special Operations veterans. Each has been chosen based on his accomplishments, extensive training, real-world experience, personality and ability to instill confidence and convey information in a professional and intensely fun way.

Meet a few of the Specops Team Members:

Hawke is Co-founder and Director of Operations for SpecOps Adventure Company. He's an experienced survival instructor in the jungle, desert, arctic, sea and urban environments. He's a published author with a bestselling book, and a public speaker and lecturer on crisis responses to manmade and natural disasters including WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction). Hawke represents SpecOps on-camera and in creative program development during media productions.

Hawke has over twenty years of combined military, civilian and government experience. He has served as a senior enlisted member of the U.S. Army's Special Forces and as a Commissioned Officer as a Team Commander. He has been a U.S. Government Contractor and Country Project Manager abroad. Hawke has training and experience in telecommunications, intelligence operations, remote medical management, combat search and rescue, guerrilla warfare, counter terrorism, security tactics and languages. He has deployed to hotspots throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle-East, Latin America, South East Asia and Western Africa.

Hawke has worked with the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, Other Government Agencies (OGA's) & Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's). His accomplishments include the establishment and operation of a Combat Medic School in Azerbaijan and a Combat Search & Rescue Program in Colombia. He has also served as a Project Manager in Haiti and Sierra Leone, conducting medical evacuations, troops & munitions re-supply, quick reaction forces and VIP transport. He has developed and controlled the international education and adventure for SpecOps programs based in Costa Rica.

Hawke most recently served in Afghanistan as a Commander of Mujahideen Militia against Taliban and Al-Qaeda Forces.

Highlights of Hawke's Official Military Training:

Special Forces Detachment Commander Course -18A
Combined Arms Service Staff School (CAS3)
Officer Advanced Course - Civil Affairs -38A
Officer Advanced Course- Infantry - 11A
Medical Service Officer Course - 70B
Anti-Terrorism & Force Protection Instructor (AT/FP Level II)
Government Detention & Hostage Negotiation (PGD/HD SERE 245)
Personnel Recovery (JPRA 102)
Survival, Escape, Resistance & Evasion (SERE, Level-C)
Special Operations Medical Sergeant Course (18D)
Special Forces Morse Code & Communications Course (18E)
Special Forces Intelligence and Operations Course (18F)
Advanced Non Commissioned Course (ANCOC)
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
National Registry EMT Paramedic
Combat Anesthesia
Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Combat Chemical Casualty Care
Special Forces Jump Master Course
Defense Language Institute (Russian)
Blackbelt - Aikido
Scuba Diver

Note: Due to some training being classified, not all courses are posted.

Hawke is also a 3rd Degree Blackbelt in Aikido, 1st degree in Judo and well studied in Karate and various forms of Kung-Fu. He has been a skydiver, and currently enjoys scuba diving, shooting, climbing, hiking, camping, fishing and most outdoor activities.

Languages:

Russian (advanced)
Spanish (intermediate)
French, Turkish, Italian (basic)
Serbo-Croation (basic)

Education:

B.S. - Biology and M.S. Psychology, graduated with honors (Magna Cum Laude)

Trip has been a member of the Special Operations community for over twenty years and has been serving on an Army Special Forces A-Team almost as long. Spending most of his team-time conducting counter-drug and foreign internal defense missions in Latin America through the nineties, recent years has found his A-Team shifting gears into more traditional unconventional warfare rolls such as counter insurgency and guerrilla warfare in the Middle-East.

In addition to his military endeavourers, Trip has worked with the State of Maryland Narcotics Task Force, The National Ski Patrol, and has volunteered as a Firefighter and an EMT. Most recently, Trip has added Safety and Risk-Management to his credentials by becoming a certified instructor through the National Safety Council and has been trained in OSHA compliance.

Training Highlights:

U.S. Army Infantry Training (11B)
U.S. Army Airborne Course
U.S. Army Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Course (18B)
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Training (Level-C, High Risk)
U.S. Army Special Forces Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course
Mountain Warfare School Winter Phase
National Ski Patrol Alpine Rescue Course
Combat Lifesaver Course
Emergency Medical Technician - Ambulance
Emergency Medical Technician - Tactical
Ground Safety Officer Training
Defensive Driving Instructor
Gryphon Group Mobile Force Protection Course

Languages:

He speaks fluent 5.56mm and 7.62mm

Education:

Bachelors of Science in Mass Communications

Sam "the Man" is an expert martial artist and expert at survival and field medicine. He has over 10 years of military experience as a U.S. Special Forces Medic, an interrogator and a linguist. Sam has over 25 years of martial arts experience both as a student and instructor ranging in styles from traditional Chinese martial arts, to stick and knife fighting, to Mixed Martial Arts and grappling.

Professional Highlights:

Special Forces Medical Sergeant and member of Counter Narcotics Team
Military Intelligence and Interrogator
Gifted Linguist and Instructor for language
Trainer for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms SWAT teams in Small Unit Tactics
Taught wilderness living skills for the Colorado Outdoor Education Program
Taught medicinal and edible plants for the Boulder School of Natural Medicine
Martial arts instructor: Wing Chun, Pentjak Silat, classic mixed (no-holds barred), etc.

Civilian Education:

B.A. Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder

Military Schools:

Interrogator School, Ft. Huachuca, AZ
Defense Language Institute (German), San Francisco, CA
Primary Leadership Development Course, Kitzingen, Germany
Airborne School, Ft. Benning, GA
Special Forces Medic School & Qualification Course, Ft. Bragg, NC
Advanced Leadership Development Course, Ft. Bragg, NC
Basic Thai Language Course, Denver, CO
Basic Chinese Mandarin Course, Denver, CO

Additionally: Sam is a fluent German linguist, Master Pianist, and Professional Programmer.

Jay is the co-founder of Specops and has over eighteen years of military experience. This includes four years in a U.S. Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalion (team leader) and fourteen years in the U.S. Army Special Forces (medical sergeant). He has extensive training in medicine, anti-terrorism and languages. Jay has deployed primarily throughout Latin America and served as a senior medic in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Jay is also an experienced outdoor survival instructor, writer, and adventure tour guide. He has developed and implemented programs in wilderness first aid, trauma management, jungle survival, land navigation and waterborne operations. He has published numerous articles on outdoor survival skills and techniques, and has served as a technical advisor on a number of documentary and adventure filming programs, including The Learning Channel, MTV's Road Rules, Danish Television, and Travel on the Edge in Costa Rica.

Training Highlights:

U.S. Army Special Operations Medical Sergeant Course (18D)
U.S.M.C. Amphibious Reconnaissance School (0321)
U.S.M.C. Infantry Training School (ITS)
U.S. National Registry EMT-Paramedic
Special Operations Target Interdiction Course (SOTIC) level II
Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat (SFAUC)
Survival Evasion Resistance Escape SERE Level C (High Risk)
Individual Terrorism Awareness Course (INTAC)
Antiterrorism Instructor Qualification Course (AIQC)
Advanced Terrorism Abduction and Hostage Survival (ATAHS)
Force Protection level II
U.S. Navy SCUBA
U.S. Army Airborne Course
Special Operations Language Course - Arabic-Egyptian (6 months)
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)

Languages:

Spanish (advanced); German (intermediate); Arabic and Pashto (beginner)

Education:

Bachelor of Science, Liberal Arts University of the State of New York

Rick "the Viking" has spent over eighteen years in Special Forces. In that time, he has done nearly everything there is to do, from Special Forces schools and skills to operations and missions. He was the first ever to plan and conduct a counter-ambush against the Taliban forces in Afghanistan while on the skids of the Cobra helicopter, as seen on NBC News Nightline with Ted Coppel and also the Military Channel: Red Dog, On the Hunt. He is just about a one-man A-team, and his size reflects that. But he's a friendly grizzly bear, unless you try to steal his chow. Prior to that, he spent over seven years in Special Operations aviation as a flight engineer of Chinook helicopters.