No adult ever wants to be surprised by an attacker and put in a dangerous situation, especially if children might be involved. Being no stranger to danger, former US Navy Seal, Jimmy Graham, wants to equip people with response skills that can protect and save lives.
Prior to settling with his wife and children in Castle Rock, Graham lived in Montana serving as a Navy Seal for 15 years. Most of that time was spent in active duty, while the remaining seven years, in the reserves, deployed him all over the world.
“Reserve time is like having a part-time job when they need you,” Graham said. “My full-time job was working for the government as a member of the Global Response Staff (GRS) keeping embassies safe around the world.”
Before it made the news, Graham was also part of the team of protective officers that were showcased in the movie ‘13 hours.’ “I was a lead instructor and also deployed as one of them…I was actually in Benghazi (Lybia) prior to those attacks.”
Eventually, that lead to a position at a civilian company that gave training in Close Quarters Defense (CQD) to groups like Seal teams and the State Department. He taught courses that taught both armed and unarmed people how to get the upper hand in a fight to help them attain the best results.
Now stateside, for the past four years, he has been using his knowledge of protective, combat training to give individuals and businesses the skills to defend themselves against an intruder. “Duty to Act was officially born in 2012,” he continued, “I had been thinking about for a while, especially after things happened at Sandy Hook.”
When that occurred, Graham could offer no immediate help because he was thousands of miles away. “I was on the wrong continent, in Lybia, seeing children my kid’s ages slaughtered in the U.S.”
In those types of extreme situations, Duty to Act wants to prepare people to think quickly and response with the best outcome. “We want to show others the training I have learned from being an elite Special Operations Officer – with that – we can close the gap and protect people in active shooter scenarios.”
Recently, Liz, who asked to omit her last name, said taking Graham’s Active Shooter Response course made her realize the value of the training firsthand. “At the end of the day, I realized how unprepared and naïve I was,” she remarked. “After the training and simulations, I now have confidence in my ability to react.”
Whether it’s an individual or a business that signs up for a class, Graham thinks the training they learn is not only necessary for their own safety but community safety.
“For example, let’s take an office scenario where a guy comes in and starts shooting people – though there’s an 8 minute national average, most of these are over in 2 to 5 minutes,” he said. “It’s so quick that when the police get there, it’s already over; we’re saying, don’t make that so.”
For more information you can visit dutytoact.com.
