Pacific West Academy Graduation Class 65 August-October 2024

Hi, I’m Benji Rosenfeld. I’ll be conducting your graduation here today for class number 65 from Pacific West Academy. So before we get started, I just kind of wanted to briefly talk about what it is that we do here at Pacific West Academy for the people watching at home and your family and friends who have attended here today. Here at Pacific West Academy, we train people for a career in the security industry generally, but with an emphasis on executive protection. That is what, generally speaking, the people who attend this course are most interested in, and that is the general focus. We obviously put them through an entire battery of of examinations and courses while they’re here. I use the word battery because we have a pretty extensive combatives course here that we put the guys through, which concluded yesterday with our combatives finals.

Some of them are wearing it on their face and on their bodies, but they all fought through it very, very well. So I just kind of wanted to get through here, talk about some of our students. We’re going to be handing out plaques as well, and me and your other instructors who obviously are out instructing other students today also had some very nice things to say about you guys in general. This was a really, really excellent class, only a little bit of a smaller class for a variety of reasons, but sometimes that really leads to better classes overall. You get a little bit more instructor focus while you’re here. We get to know you a little bit better, your strengths, your weaknesses, your pluses, your minuses, and we get to work on those things while you’re here.

And more importantly, we get to give you a set of fundamentals and culture to take with you when you leave this academy so that you can continue to be successful and uphold some of the culture that you acquired here while you were here at the academy. So today is not the end, but we like to look at it as the beginning, the beginning of your future. So I’m just going to start going through some of our students, some of our graduates. We have some nice things to say about you guys and I figured let’s just go ahead and get it started. So our first student right here, this student was really a tremendous student throughout the course. He demonstrated a true student mentality, which was really greatly appreciated by, by his instructors. He was highly efficient at everything he was asked to carry out from FTXs to range to EVOC to combatives. He also demonstrated tremendous toughness during the combatives finals.

Some of you might not know this, but this individual has some pretty severe preexisting injuries that he was dealing with while he was here at the academy and you would not know it. You would not know it by how, by how he performed. And I was even to surprised to find out about some of these issues that he was feeling because he did not complain, he did not ask for less, he did not come to me or any of his instructors and ask for any accommodations. He simply toughed it out, which is something that in this industry you may have to do from time to time. You don’t get the job that you want. You might have to tough it out for a little bit longer, work maybe some, a post that perhaps you’re not as interested in, but you’ll do it in the hopes of getting something better in the future. He also has already a lot of opportunities lined up here domestically and as far away as Australia.

We’re going to wish him well in all of his future endeavors. Alejandro Ayala. Our guys over here. One, two, three. Okay. So you can say a couple things if you want.

All right. First I want to thank all my classmates. You know, they’ve been pretty amazing to me. Everyone at the house has been an awesome time. I’d like to thank my wife and daughter who couldn’t be here with me today, but been supporting me all the way from Australia and thank PWA, all the instructors who kind of stuck by our side and, you know, kind of pushed us through. And thanks to the faculty members that couldn’t be there during the rain days and stuff, but still helped us out. Thank you guys.

Okay, this next student was another truly excellent student all throughout the course. He demonstrated for me and his other instructors a real tremendous amount of professionalism and toughness during the course. Professionalism is a type of currency in our industry, okay? People know you by your professionalism. That’s what they know you by. Resumes are great, experience is great. All those things are good, but professionalism, how you portray yourself to your employers, to your, excuse me, to your colleagues, that is one of the currencies that we use as executive protection agents. When you are professional, people are much more likely to help you in whatever it is when you are in the field. This person would excel on any security team from close protection all the way to investigations.

If that’s something that he would be interested in doing, I, I personally think that’s something that he would also really excel at on top of close protection, advanced work. He really does have a bright future in this industry. He has a very good head on his shoulders and we know that he’s going to do big things out in the field. I’m talking about Mr. Kristopher Coon. All right guys, one, two, three. Perfect. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you guys, all you guys. It’s been a really eventful class and I’ve had a really great experience here. The instructors, you guys are always willing to work with us, willing to teach us, answer any questions we have. And this has overall been one of the best learning experiences in my life and I’m really happy to have been a part of it and thankful to all my classmates. You guys are great and I know that each one of you is going to go far, so thank you.

All right. Well, this next student, this next student is already doing big things in the security industry. He’s worked extensively as an EP agent and even worked while attending the course. He did show big improvements across the board as well. And I have to say, one of the things that impressed the instructors was for someone to already be active in the field and to take time out of their career, away from their family, away from their friends. I know he’s a local guy, but this is still a big commitment. For someone to take that approach while they’re already gainfully employed in the security industry and especially in the executive protection agency, the executive protection industry, which requires a tremendous amount of commitment to still find the time to come and to train and to have almost perfect attendance all throughout the course for us was really very impressive.

And he’s already doing well, but we wish him even greater things in the future and we really want to see you out there in the field one of these days soon. Mr. DeVaughn Fitts. All right guys, one, two, three. Perfect. Thank you.

Just want to thank you guys for the opportunity. Really learned a lot from you guys, sharpened my skills in a lot of ways beyond what I expected. Also want to thank you guys for just more so like the personal lessons that you guys gave us as well, like how we should carry ourselves, how we should be as a father, as parents, as men, just helping us be better. So thank you guys for all of that and continue to do what you guys do. Continue to keep the thrills with it. Really appreciate it.

All right, this next student, this next student for me was definitely quiet, assertive, and in control. He had a really rough goal yesterday during the final. Unfortunately, he drew me in the last round when he was already pretty tired. That was kind of a rough way to go. I almost forgot about him, but I didn’t forget about him because I knew he was quiet, assertive, and in control and he did demonstrate toughness all throughout the course. But what happens during the final is that, and rather than the usual combatives class, you do reach exhaustion during the final. I do, right? And I only do probably half of it, right? So I know that if I’m tired, you must be very, very tired. And this student was definitely very tired and he, however, he really toughed it out the way that I expected him to, the way all of his instructors expected him to all throughout the course.

Tremendous levels of professionalism and overall social intelligence, which is another currency that we have here as executive protection agencies. So we talked about professionalism as well as one of our currencies. And this guy has everything that he needs to excel to a very high degree in any aspect of the security industry that he wants. It’s Mr. Brian Flaherty. All right guys, one, two, three.

I’d just like to thank my classmates. You guys kept it fun. The house was never boring. It was good working with y’all. Shout out to the instructors. I learned a lot. I’m excited to work and shout out PWA for giving this opportunity and you guys are going to do well. Thank you guys.

So this next student, definitely a unique character, definitely a unique character. The thing about it though is that even though he’s a unique character, he is also uniquely talented. He’s a real jack of all trades. He can talk and negotiate with the best of them. I’m sure that we’ve realized that as his instructors and classmates throughout the course. He has a lot of physical prowess, which was… I watched him all throughout the course and I was definitely aware of that and I became more aware of it yesterday when we sparred. And he really is a very physically a pretty formidable guy. And I know he doesn’t train that much or has not trained that extensively. So he really took to this type of training, to the combatives training, to the range, to all of the tactical situations that we went into. So he demonstrated physical prowess and tactical comprehension. Usually people have one or the other.

They’re either tactically very good or they’re physically very good. There’s not a lot of people who are both or who can even look forward to being both. That is how rare that combination is. We all think he has a very, very bright future in the security industry. We really do hope he sticks with it. He can do whatever he wants. As long as he stays away from Amish beards, he’s going to do very, very well out in the, out in the field. If he shows up how he is today, the sky’s truly the limit. Mr. Derek High. All right guys. One, two, three. Good to go. Thank you.

Gentlemen, a few words here. I appreciate all y’all. Teachers are great. This has been the best thing I’ve did in a long time, so I appreciate y’all.

So this next student, one thing about this course is that it was a little bit smaller course and one of the other advantages of that is that there’s a potential for a little bit less riffraff. Sometimes when you have a class of 16, you might have one or two strays. In this course, we really truly did not, and this student really exemplified that. He demonstrated excellence all throughout the course. Very sharp mind and keen eye for security, put him in some situations during the FTX, things that he didn’t maybe have a ton of experience with, and he really behaved in a very, very professional manner all the way through. He can also really sneak up on you physically. You really cannot sleep on this guy at all. So he demonstrated tremendous social intelligence, tremendous common intelligence, physicality, very engaged in the classroom and made big stride on the range and on the mats.

And we hope that he sticks with all of that training and continues to build upon the foundation that we built here for him here at Pacific West Academy. I’m talking about Angel Jimenez. All right. One, two, three. Good.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to start off by thanking all my classmates, thanking everyone who attended. We all really appreciate your support to those who are attending. Instructors and staff, thank you for making all this training possible. All the staff behind the scheduling and everything, helping us with the GI Bill. I’m sure that helped a lot of us. It definitely helped me. I was never able to really put all that training to use. Pacific West Academy helped me learn how to use the GI Bill and I really appreciate that, as well as helping me improve my skillset. I really appreciate all the good training that I got here. And to all my classmates, thank you for all the, the good emphasis on the training that you gave me. A lot of you guys helped me realize who I was. I’m not very social. I was really quiet for the most part, but you guys helped me become who I am right now, and I really appreciate that.

Instructors, thank you once again. And if you guys stay in California, I’m local to San Fernando Valley. Reach out if you need anything. Thank you.

All right, this next student. Another definitely unique character. He definitely provided a lot of comic relief here at the academy and at the house, which is well needed. And that’s something that people really underestimate. You need a guy like this in your course. It makes the course better. It keeps things light. One thing about this course is that there really wasn’t a lot of conflict. And when you have that type of energy that’s kind of bursting out of someone of positivity, that is something that maybe you’re not aware that it’s helping your experience, but it is. And that’s something that can be very difficult to appreciate in the moment, but you should appreciate it now. With that being said, this individual is very formidable, especially physically. He showed up in tremendous physical condition. We all, we all saw the Tupperware, so we all know that he’s in, that he’s in tremendous, tremendous shape.

He, aside from that, listen, I’m known to crack a joke or two. I’m known to be a little bit of the comic relief as well, perhaps in a different style, but it was more or less the same objective. So tremendous physical condition and was an excellent student at every phase of the academy, whether we were talking about the range or the combatives final yesterday. I’ve been watching him the entire course and he really showed up yesterday, big time. I definitely waited for him to be tired to, to see him because I saw that he was really, really into it and that’s what we need. And you know what? Some of you were not so into it in the beginning, but when you have that person on the mats who is really high energy, that kind of brings you up too a little bit, doesn’t it? In this industry, yes, we do work alone a lot of the times, but sometimes we are on teams.

And when you are on those teams, four, five, six, maybe 10 plus, having that guy, you’ll find it very, very very important for you. So we do think that he has a tremendous, tremendous future in the security game. We think he can do whatever it is that he wants so long as he sets his mind to it. Maybe travel with a little less Tupperware. It is a very, very distracting thing, okay? So if we can limit the amount of items we have on us, on us, I think that the focus can really be tremendous. And with focus comes accomplishment. And we are not worried about this individual accomplishing big things out in the field as an executive protection agent, as a security person in the security field, or in whatever field he chooses to go into after this. I’m talking about Mr. James Kubeck. All right guys. One, two, three. Got it. Thanks.

Thanks, Benji. Just want to thank you all, all the students. Guys, thank you for putting up with me in the house. All the instructors, you guys all did a phenomenal job, all the way from the range, TCC. It was just a great experience all in all. I’ve told my friends about this course and a few of them are interested in joining in the future, so thank you.

So this next student that we have coming up here, he’s actually one of our legacy students. I believe that he’s only one of two or three students that we’ve had who actually had another family member come through the course. So obviously we had to give him a little bit extra challenges, a little bit extra on his plate, and obviously I want to prepare him for his final combatives match against his brother, which is, I’m still looking forward to it. Hopefully we can get it done today at some point, maybe after graduation. That’s what we’re, we’re hoping for. So he’s definitely a legacy student. We really like to see that. We would like to see you guys send your brothers, your cousins, your uncles, whoever it is, because we like to run this as a family and therefore we like to have people recommend their family and their friends, of course. He really does embody quiet, assertive and in control. He really doesn’t talk if he doesn’t need to.

I’m sure he’s a little bit different at the house, but when he was here at the academy, he demonstrated absolute professionalism, which is what we really, really appreciate. And I know sometimes maybe I can get a little bit funny and a little bit astray, and so guys who are able to really stay on task and stay professional through whatever is going on is a very, very impressive attribute. So as we were saying before with professionalism, with social intelligence, rigt, these are other things that are also currency in our industry. He is definitely one of those guys who can do whatever he wants. He can go in whatever direction. We definitely feel that he’s a natural for this industry. I’m talking about Christian Maldonado. All right guys. One, two, three.

Thank you to all the instructors for pushing me to my limits. I never knew I could keep going even though I’m exhausted. Throw up once, but no one saw that. Thank you to all my family and friends who support me and big thank you to my classmates. Thank you.

So this next student, our last but not least, I’m sure he already knows who he is. So Mr. Carlos Ramirez. Carlos is another real jack of all trades. Some of us were born to be specialists. Some of us were born to be generalists. I think you guys know that I’m sort of a generalist, general practitioner, as I like to call it, without the MD at the end, right? That’s kind of how I like to teach you guys. That’s what I like to convey, and I do think that it is something that you should pursue. And once you achieve the general proficiency in the security industry and in our, and in what is required of that, that after that you can begin to think about specialization. So this guy is already well on the, well on the road to being a great jack of all trades in the industry. He demonstrated excellence across the board at every phase of the training.

He has high scores from combatives to TECC and was definitely well liked by his instructors and his fellow students. Now, Carlos also had a bit of a rough go yesterday. We were pushing him. We were pushing him pretty hard. We had our longest combatives final ever yesterday. It was over two and a half hours. It is usually only one and a half hours, but I said to myself, “We’re a little bit smaller group. I know they’re tough guys. Let’s see how tough.” It turns out that they’re extremely tough all across the board, and Carlos is definitely no exception to that observation. So he really sucked that up. And also at the range, TECC, FTXs, his general demeanor and professionalism really went a long way. The sky is the limit for Mr. Carlos. Mr. Carlos Ramirez. All right guys. One, two, three. Okay.

Thank you. Made a big life change to come here, kind of rolled the dice like I’m sure a few of us did. And I’m just glad to see that, that, you know, we got through this academy and I’m grateful for really good training. I feel really not sure that I’m going to succeed, but I feel confident that the training that I have is going to really turn over well for me in whatever job that I go to. And I’m grateful for all the instructors for being such good men, grateful to all of you for being such great man with me and, and I’m excited to see what we do. Thanks.

All right. So before we wrap this up, we have a couple other things that, that we like to do. So obviously we do have a top gun. We have our runner up and then we have our third position, which we like to sort of call the, the gray man, which is someone who does everything to a very high degree, but doesn’t really stand out in that way. And it’s a lot of times it’s those guys that are making your operations run smoothly, the guys who are sort of working behind the scenes that maybe you don’t see, but you should feel during your, during your detail, especially when things are running very smoothly. So what I want to start from the gray man, which would be our third highest score. This individual had high scores all across the board. The difference between the top gun and the third position was about two percentage points. So it was very, very high. And between the whole class, it was also extremely high, extremely close.

So these are our top three. So our gray man award is going to go to Mr. Kristopher Coon. And you can say something if you want. Yeah. I’ve already said all I want, so Yeah.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible and my family that’s watching, friends. Yeah, been a great experience.

So in those bags, we got a lot of good stuff in there. I put some cleaning kits, holsters, hat, some other stuff in there, flashlight, some other stuff that you can use in the field as well. Our second highest score, well, he has the right name for it, Mr. Derek High. I miss y’all, Tulsa.

And we do have a top gun award. This, like I said, came down to one, a couple percentage points. This person, according to me, according to my colleagues as well and his scores definitely deserves this award. So he’s going to receive an additional plaque and a Sunto watch, which I believe some of you probably used while you were in the military and stuff like that. And we’re really excited about his career, Mr. Carlos Ramirez.

Yeah, thanks again. I’m happy I got this. I, I wanted, I really set the expectation to myself that as soon as I heard about this award, that I wouldn’t leave the school without it. So I’m really grateful. Thank you.

Excellent. That’s awesome. I’m glad to hear that you came here with with that much steam and with that type of objective. So that concludes the the award giving and the plaques, and now is just some words from me, and then and then we’ll get out of here. I want to thank you guys for being excellent students. Also, before we get started, I want to thank your friends and your family for coming here today and supporting you. Nothing’s really possible without them, and most of the time we’re doing these things for them, not just for ourselves. And you guys really were a tremendous, tremendous class. The character in this class was very, very high, all the way from our top gun all the way through our, our bottom nine. Very, very high. It’s actually quite rare to have this many solid students.

I really, truly believe that any single one of you could achieve and go to the highest levels of the security industry that you want, whether it’s instruction. I think all of you would be great instructors, whether it’s being executive protection agents or in some other form of security. But the important thing now is to understand, like I said at the beginning, that this is not the end, this is the beginning. Graduating from Pacific West Academy is an accomplishment and it is a very difficult thing to do, but we cannot stop there. We have to keep on going. So go home, enjoy the weekend, okay? And on Monday, let’s get back to work. Let’s get back to work. I’m going to be back here on Monday or Tuesday with a whole new group of guys, okay? And I’m going to be back here doing my thing and I hope on Monday you guys are doing your thing.

Like I told you guys yesterday, the only person that makes being a graduate from this academy mean anything is you. Make it mean something. It doesn’t have to mean something to everyone around you, but it does have to mean something to you. When you are out there, if you simply demonstrate that you are quiet, assertive, and in control, you will accomplish big things over time, maybe not right away, but over time. That is one of the lessons that we learn here on the mats. In the beginning, some of you were getting beat up pretty good. And by the end, you were all doing better. Even though you were exhausted, you were performing better. Some of you could barely breathe, but you were still making improvements, looking for a way to win. So when you are out there, if you want it to mean anything that you are a graduate of Pacific West Academy, that is on you. We have done our part.

Hopefully we’ve imparted knowledge to you and hopefully, most importantly, that you’re taking some of the culture from this academy with you. And in some small way, we can contribute to your future success as security professionals. So I wish you all well in your future endeavors, in whatever it is. We are here for you. As the staff here at Pacific West Academy, you know I’m probably going to be here forever. They’re probably going to bury me under the mats, which is fine. I’ve actually though about putting it in my will. But but but that’s what it is. You guys are graduates of Pacific West Academy. Make it mean something. Thank you very much. Also, also before, before we conclude entirely, I want to thank all of my fellow instructors and colleagues from Jordan to Matt, John Biggs, Roz our EVOC instructors, anyone who taught you anything, I would like to thank them right now. Mr. Jake as well.

And Jason, he teaches a hell of a resume class, doesn’t he? Yeah. I also want to thank our administrative staff. None of this would be possible without them. I want to thank Ms. Christina for being our student coordinator. She really takes care of you guys here. She’s definitely the mama bear of the course. Mama bear for y’all, I promise. Not so much for us, but of course none of these things would be really possible without her without her professionalism and her ability to do her job. So we want to thank Ms. Christina. We also want to make we also want to thank Andrea. She makes sure that these doors stay open and that we are in complete compliance with everything that we’re doing, even that I’m in compliance. I know I’m not always in compliance, but she definitely always helps with that very integral part of our team.

And to all of the the other staff that make this place work from our upper management to our maintenance who takes care of the place when you guys leave, sometimes while you are here keeping this place in the best possible condition, I want to thank them as well. And if I forgot anyone I’m sorry, these guys beat me up pretty good last night, but I want to thank you guys too, if I forgot anyone. And thank you guys very much. And I’m sure I’ll see you guys in the field and you guys can call me whenever you need. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay.