Pacific West Academy Graduation Class 66 September-November 2024

Hi, my name is Benji Rosenfeld. I’ll be your host for the graduation of CESS Class 66. I want to just start off briefly about talking about what it is that we actually do here. What we do at Pacific West Academy is that we train security professionals to be tactically proficient in the field, so they can bring another level of training to the details and companies that they’re going to be joining. We have a wide range of students that come here from all over the country, sometimes the world, looking to improve their skills and their job outlook in the security industry, which is ever growing. We take them through a variety of skills testing, everything from EVOC to behavioral training, to combatives, to an extensive range training week, which goes on for a long time, which is very long hours. It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s long hours, it’s a lot of shooting, a lot of running, all that kind of stuff.

And we really push the students to their limits at pretty much every phase, certainly every morning during combatives. So that is what our objective is here at the academy. Very unique program. We’re the only 39-day program in the entire United States, so it’s about a 10-week program that our students go through before entering the field. We have some students who come here who are already in the field. We have people who already own security companies. We have people who are looking to go abroad overseas or into the law enforcement industry. So we have a very wide range and eclectic set of students that come through here. You are class number 66. We have had 66 other classes come through here in this time, and you are the latest iteration of this training that has been going on for all this time.

I’ve been here since class five, so you are my 61st class, and it is my honor to, of course, be here to give out your plaques and your other certifications and to set you out on your career in the security industry. So what we have now is that I’m just going to go through each of you individual. Individually, we’re going to talk a little bit about each of you. We’ve grown great relationships between each other, and of course, between instructor and student, and I think it was especially strong in this class. So we’re going to go ahead and start talking about that. I’m going to start talking about our first student. It’s all going to be in alphabetical order and we’re going to work our way through. We have a full class, 16 students. So this could take a little bit of time, but we’re going to do it and we’re going to have some fun. So this particular student came in with a lot of experience.

For me, his experience really showed during his FTXs and some of the details that we put him on while he was here at the academy. He always volunteered for any details or any additional work that came about. He always seemed to know where to be and what to do. He came in with a lot of good combative skills already, was in good physical condition. He was very impressive on the range. What I have to say about this student is that going through the shoot house with him, there’s a certain professionalism that it’s hard to describe. As an instructor, sometimes you feel it, sometimes you don’t. With this individual, he really came in and gave me the professional vibes when we were in the shoot house. You’ve seen what that shoot house is like, right? It’s tight. It has certain technical things about it that you have to understand. It’s dangerous. It’s a dangerous thing.

We do push the envelope in here, but with this individual, I really felt like I was in there with a professional. And even though he came in with his already preexisting professional skills, he managed to still make big improvements. He has an exciting career in the security industry ahead of him. He has a great sense of humor. I think that’s going to help him quite a lot. He was also one of the papa bears of the course, and he is one tough dude. I really felt that on the combatives mats yesterday. He really kept pushing, really, really pushed. So if he really applies these things, he’s already in the field. I think that he can only increase from here in terms of management, whether it’s close protection, going abroad, the sky really is the limit for this individual. I’m talking about Henri Ian Amparado. All right guys, ready? One, two, three. Okay.

Say something if you want. Well, it’s been fun, Benji. I know the combatives is pretty good. Working with everybody else, I learned a lot of skills, especially with the shadow company over there. That’s it. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. So this next individual really came in and pushed very hard. He’s a very tough individual. He really had a good push yesterday, I’ll tell you what, on the final. He really, really did push very, very hard all throughout the class, was excellent during his field training exercises. One thing I remember about this one individual is he came up to me after one especially difficult combatives class and he said, “Man, Benji,” he goes, “I have a long way to go.” What I want this individual to understand is that we all have a long way to go. Okay? I have a long way to go. We all have a long way to go, even on the mats. For as many times as you got beat up while you were out here, I’ve been beat up three or four times for every one of your one, and I still get beat up today. Some of you managed to beat me up yesterday as well. The point is, is that we all have a long way to go if we continue to go, right?

If you stay where you are, it’s not so long. If you keep on going, it’s very long. So with this individual, I do really hope that he continues to go all the way, and I know he has it in him. I know he’s going to keep pushing hard to accomplish whatever he sets out to do. His instructors have big expectations of him. I’m talking about Courtney Boykin.

All right guys, ready? One, two, three. Good. Say something if you Want. I’m not really big on speeches, but I definitely enjoyed this class. Everybody here, I definitely gained another brother. If you need anything, let me know. I’m in Miami. I don’t know for how long, but wherever I go, y’all damn sure are going to go. Appreciate it. Oh, last word. Now, they not like us. Yeah.

Yeah. That’s definitely going to be our anthem for this class. All right, this next individual coming up, another exceptional individual. And I have to say, and I know I said it yesterday, this was an exceptional class. This really was. So to be exceptional, to still stand out, even though you are amongst other tremendous individuals is very impressive. He came in, very experienced individual, in tremendous physical condition. We were out doing the FTX down in Venice, and I’m sitting down, I’m the client, and I’m looking at my perimeter, and I see this big guy, this big, strong guy, and he’s wearing a cutoff shirt. And I’m like, “Oh, who’s that?” And I’m looking at him and I couldn’t tell who it was, and I thought maybe it was this individual. I said, “Ah, that guy’s not buff enough to be our guy.” And then I’m looking over and he walks over, he’s like, “Oh my God, it is our guy.”

He really, really gave off very, very strong close protection vibes. He really has everything you need and came already in with a lot of preexisting experience, a lot of preexisting experience, a lot of experience and tremendous physical condition, was definitely one of the papa bears of the course as well. Kind of kept guys in line a little bit without being loud about it. That’s another thing about this class is that I really didn’t hear about too many issues. And what I also really liked about this class is that there wasn’t any one leader. That was the other interesting thing is that everyone stepped up in their own way when it was time to step up. So this individual has the exact temperament that we’re looking for in someone to really excel in the security industry.

Whether it’s close protection, whether it’s management, whether it’s training, logistics, whatever it is, this individual has all of the intangibles to excel in our industry. I’m talking about Mr. Bryant Brown.

Too strong. Handshake is too strong. Over here. Yeah. Ready? One, two, three.

Thank you guys. I love being here to experience, and I really feel like y’all family and thank everyone from the administration. Everyone, thank you guys. Love y’all.

All right. So this next individual, definitely large and in charge, made big improvements while in the course, improved physically quite a bit while he was here in the course. He also honed his mental skills. Challenging to converse. He’s always up with the next question, the next question, the next question. And you have to, as an instructor, it keeps us sharp when you have students who are always on top of you asking you the next question. So it definitely helps the instructor to have a student like this. I know the student is currently very interested in a career in law enforcement and God knows that we need good police officers, but I would love for this individual to really stick in the security field. I think it’s a very, very good, very good fit for him. And he would be a tremendous addition to any team anywhere, whether in the United States or abroad. Big, strong guy with the exact right mindset for this line of work.

It’s not enough to be big. It’s not enough to be strong. It’s not enough to be a good athlete. Those guys come and go. Those are typically guys six months, a year, and they’re out. Not this individual. This individual is very, very well geared to doing this line of work and being in our business. He was excellent on the mats, excellent on the mats and pushed. Even though he’s a larger guy, he stuck on the mats, which is all we’re looking for yesterday during the combatives final. I told you from the beginning, it’s about not quitting. That is what yesterday is about. And I’ve had many, many, many students quit during the final. To me, quitting is taking a 15 minute break. That’s quitting. 15 minute break while everyone else is out here, including your instructors suffering with you. 10, 15 minutes. That’s a quit, isn’t it? You threw in the towel, 15 minutes. Do you get 15 minutes out there? No. No, you don’t.

You don’t get to tell the guy to stop, right? You don’t get to ask the attacker to attack the client on another time. It is what it is when it is. So this individual, I hope to see him in the field. I’d like to say I know I’m going to see him in the field. Mr. Floyd Chester. All right, guys. One, two, three.

I have a question. No, I’m definitely glad I took the chance on myself because this was definitely a great opportunity for me. I loved the shoot house, the shooting course. Everything was great. Great group of guys. Man, look, I would say if y’all ever in Chicago, but I’m in San Diego right now, so hopefully this is greener passages for me, so I can’t wait to see what this leads me.

All right. This next student, very talented student, physically and mentally. He’s already in the field doing work. He worked a lot of details for us while going through the academy and also for himself because he is currently working in the security industry out in Hollywood and various places throughout Los Angeles currently, which of course did result in some late nights, which of course resulted in some late arrivals to the academy, but that’s okay. We dealt with it and it was never severe. It was never over, yeah, 10 minutes. Okay. But it was never completely disrespectful, which we definitely appreciate. All of those late nights, all that work that he has going on, definitely a hustler in various different fields, which I like, because in this business you do have to push in various ways, in whatever way that you can sometimes. It didn’t stop him from impressing every step of the way.

This individual can go in any direction that he wants if he continues his training, if he stays active in the field. He also has tremendous social intelligence. He really is good at making good connections, very good at conversing, getting people to feel good about his presence. He did have a little bit of a tough go yesterday on the combatives final, but not for one second did I think that he was going to, that he was going to mark out or anything like that. He kept going. I know that’s our term that we’ve been using here. He definitely kept powering through, which was exactly what we expected. Mr. Londel Coles. All right guys, one, two, three.

All right y’all. I didn’t really have a speech here for y’all today, but I mean, much love, man. I had a great time with the course, great time with you guys. It really feels like a family, you know what I mean? Yeah. I look forward to seeing you guys every day and I’ll be seeing you guys in the field for sure.

All right, this next student, another very impressive student, definitely gives off the bodyguard vibe, which I don’t think is necessarily something that you necessarily need to succeed, but it’s certainly helpful if you have that vibe going for you already. And I also think that you can also develop that vibe, but some people just kind of just have it. He came into the course in tremendous shape. That’s another great thing about this class is that we didn’t have anybody who was out of shape. Everybody was in tremendous shape, and especially this individual. Also has a very sharp mind. That’s what really showed during the FTXs and in the classroom. Another guy who also had great questions all the way, made sure to keep the instructors on their toes and was always prepared for whatever the day threw at him. I heard he had some fun at EVOC too. I don’t know if that’s true, but I heard he had a little bit of fun at EVOC.

He also has a great sense of humor. He really helps to keep things light in those down times. Always giving off a good joke, a good story, sometimes a great story that he would give us, especially on those long, long field days. Big improvements in combative, of course, being a big, strong athlete like that, he’s always going to have certain advantages, but we’re always going to hope that he continues his training and looks for technical excellence on the mats, on the range, and of course in the whole curriculum that we covered, which is what the curriculum is about as well. It does give us a baseline to be able to follow when we leave here. So I know that we’re going to be seeing him. His instructors wish him well, and we know that we’re going to be seeing him in the field sometimes real soon. I’m talking about Mr. Jacob Fadness. All right guys, ready? One, two, three.

Thanks. Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s been an honor and a pleasure being a part of this class with everyone. Thank you to the students, the instructors, everyone. It’s been a great time. You guys are like brothers. It has been like a family at the house. So yeah, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and hopefully I see some of you guys in the field.

So this next student, yet another impressive student, this guy excelled at TECC, excelled on the range, on the mats, at everything else that we threw at him. He came in with a strong academic background and definitely used that background to help him prepare for each phase of the course. However, this individual has a secret and he’s very, very intelligent guy, very well-read guy, very heavy on the academics, but he does have a secret that I’m sure the people that work with him in his normal world probably don’t know about him. This is one exceptionally tough individual. This is one very, very tough dude. Some of you saw our sparring match yesterday and I watched him all throughout the course. He was always seeking out the most difficult partners, the biggest challenges. Even when I would tell him, maybe look for someone your own size, this type of thing. No, no, no. Always very combative, has a combative mindset, which is what we like.

So he came here with the intention of really, really testing himself. Toughness will only take you so far. We got to make the technical adjustments to make sure that toughness is something that comes later, not something that we lead with. We want to be tough when we got to be tough, but this guy’s toughness has clearly gotten him very far in life. He came here with already a successful business, and that’s something I really got to say that I do admire, and I admire everyone who comes through this course and leaves their family behind for 10 weeks. But most of us, we’ve been in this game a long, long time. For a guy to go from having a successful business that has nothing to do with this and decide to come in here and challenge himself with you guys, and I do mean you guys, okay, is a very impressive feat in and of itself. I was not surprised that he kept on coming. I’ve watched him the entire course.

If he applies this mentality, which he clearly already does, if he applies it to the security industry, there really is no limit to what this guy can do. He can fit in in any spot that he needs. And I think now with the training, he’s going to be a very, very impressive candidate. I’m talking about Mr. Michael Gaus. All right guys, one, two, three.

I want to say thank you to my fellow students. I learned a lot from you guys while I was here. The instructors, it wouldn’t be what it is without you guys doing what you do. And you guys really honed all of the skills that we needed in order to finish this course. I want to thank Omar and Oded for making all of this possible. And thanks again, everyone.

All right. I know I’m starting off all my sentences with another exceptional student, but it is true. This is yet another exceptional student and a class full of exceptional students. It can be difficult to stand out. However, this person did find their way to stand out. Very intelligent with great presence, with great presence for the industry. That’s another thing. Some of us are great at giving that presence. Some of us are good at other things, but this guy definitely has that presence that a lot of clients are really looking for. We also think, well, at least I think and I hope that this person looks like they got the martial arts bug, a very, very good athlete. He would take to this very, very naturally. And I hope that he continues to advance that part of his training as well and all of the other phases of training as well. Demonstrated great social intelligence, like we talked about a lot.

A lot of this game comes down to your social intelligence and the physical abilities that you bring for your clients. So social intelligence and physical capabilities. That’s a huge part of our business no matter which way we slice it. Of course, the soft skills is always a thing that people are talking about. We did provide a lot of soft skill training. But in the end, most clients, they’re looking for a guy who has social intelligence and brings a physical dimension to the protection aspect, which is why people hire us. People hire us because they do not feel safe and they want to hire someone to facilitate their movements so that they and their families can move safely through society. Definitely demonstrated the physical and the mental toughness, which is what we need in this game. Sometimes things in this game are going great. You get a contract, it’s a one year contract. You go 10, 15, 20 different countries. The year is over.

The client says goodbye and you’re back to square one. They might not tour again for another several years, could be, or several months. Mental toughness to go, “You know what? Maybe I need to take another job in the security industry. Maybe I need to take some estate work. Maybe I need to not travel right now and look for a solid company and to just do EP work around town.” A lot of us like to be independent contractors and that is a great life. But guys, as someone who’s done both, as someone who’s been an independent contractor and someone who’s gotten to work for a company, if you can find yourself a great company, to be attached to a great company in this industry is a tremendous advantage. I can tell that. So try both and I hope that you find what it is that you’re looking for. This individual puts all of his attributes together. Like many of the other individuals in this course, the sky is the limit.

The security industry is the perfect fit for him even though he can go in whatever direction he wants. We really hope he sticks with security. I’m talking about Mr. Meza Thompson. Thompson Meza or Meza Thompson. One, Two, three.

All right. I did not have a speech prepared. So I’m a man of few words. I just want to say thank you to PWA. Thank you to Benji. Thank you to my colleagues. I know you guys are not from LA, but if you guys ever find yourself in LA and you know how to count, you can count on me.

I didn’t know where you were going with that. All right. Now this next guy. I got to interview this guy on the way in from the course, so I’m glad to see him that we went from interview to graduation together. He came in with a lot of combative experience, very tough individual, very skilled individual, brings a lot to the table in that regard. He also has a lot of security experience. He is one of the quiet types. He’s not always talking about his background and what he’s done and so on and so forth, but he has done a lot and it showed all throughout the course. Anyone who had to deal with this individual on the mats knows exactly what he’s bringing to that world. And I got to feel a little bit of that yesterday too. I can’t believe I made you guys fight this guy so many times in a row. You guys really should have said something. Very, very tough individual.

He attacked every phase of the training with strong determination, impressed every step of the way, could fit on any team in the entire security industry. Could be a tremendous advanced guy or a close protection guy. Guys, a lot of times the close protection guy is doing well because he has the right advanced guy. A lot of times. So don’t disregard that work. A lot of people see it as a step down. I love doing advances. If I was on a team and I was the advanced guy, I would be the advanced guy all the way. And every time an operation goes, I would know that I played a huge role in that. A lot of times the lead guy is getting to a place that he has not been to because he’s not been able to get to and he’s going to have to on the advanced guy. And this guy could fill either of those roles easily, whether it’s close protection or an advanced guy, management, logistics, whatever.

He has everything he needs to get ahead and stay ahead in our business. I’m talking about Mr. Jeff Nelson. All right guys, one, two, three.

All right guys. 10 weeks is up. I had a long speech After Combat as yesterday. I forgot everything. Thank you to the administrators, instructors, my classmate, and a big thank you to my family for letting me do what I do.

Well, so our next individual here, he’s definitely a quiet type, definitely a very quiet guy. However, being quiet is a part of our core principles, isn’t it? It’s part of being in the industry, your ability to be quiet, right? You’re going to see things sometimes that you’re going to just have to be quiet about. Okay? It just is what it is. I mean, you’re not telling your wife, you’re not telling your girlfriend, you’re not telling even management necessarily. It’s something that you saw that you’re going to Remain Quiet about. And that is a big part of the industry. Part of your appeal in the industry is the client knowing that you don’t talk and you can stay quiet because it’s not necessarily a matter of illegality, right? It might just be a matter of people not wanting to know what their hobbies and habits are. So our ability to stay quiet is tremendous and this individual already has that.

He does try to fly beneath the radar, which may be investigations, counter surveillance, advancing, this type of thing. Maybe this is going to be a little bit more up this person’s alley. But after a while, he is hard to miss because he is an impressive individual and he did do a lot throughout the course that made him stand out. I also got a chance to work with him at the recent detail and we were able to iron out some of the technical deficiencies and that’s really the best thing is when we can get students into the field and actually show them step by step with an instructor in a live detail what to do. And that’s one of the great things about our program is that when we do have details like the one that we did together, we do typically try to put the students on those because that really is the best training.

I can go in the classroom all day and talk and show you PowerPoints, but in the end, as we know, there’s nothing like being in the field and going through these things. So he already has some really excellent and exciting work lined up for himself. I’m sure he probably didn’t tell anyone about it, but he told me a little about it. He is definitely the quiet type and it is work. It is exciting work. He’s going to be overseas and we know that he’s going to do a great job and we hope that he harnesses all of his training and helps represent the academy a little bit and himself, whether in the United States or overseas. I’m talking about Mr. Paolo Parreno. All right guys, one, two, three. Great.

Thank you. I just wanted to say I thank you. This was an absolutely amazing opportunity. I’m very grateful, really appreciated the camaraderie and this wouldn’t be possible without everyone here. Thank you.

All right. Onto our next very impressive student. This guy also excelled at every phase, classroom, field exercises, made high strides on the mats, big improvements. He came in, he definitely had the desire to engage, but he had some technical deficiencies, which he cleaned up tremendously throughout the course. You guys got additional combatives training. So you guys were exposed to more physicality, more sparring. We also got to cover more subjects that sometimes that we don’t get to cover. So I’m really glad about this and this person was there every step of the way at the range, also big improvements, very professional out at the range. It’s a funny thing. You can get a person who’s relatively inexperienced, but if they are professional in the way that they go about learning the material, we can really cut down on safety issues, especially at the range guys.

The range is dangerous no matter what, and there’s no removing danger from the range. Sometimes we’ll have a guy who’s an extremely experienced pistol shooter and we’ll have a guy that’s day one. But even if you have a day one guy, not that this individual is, but even if you have a day one guy who has that professionalism and that student’s mindset, he really, really cuts down on the danger aspect because this person is alert and learning and humility, understanding that even if you’re good at something else that doesn’t make you good at this. So that’s something that we run into all the time, right? I’m good at rifle, therefore pistol will be easy, right? I’m good at boxing, therefore I’ll be good at jujitsu, so on and so forth. These are fundamentally different things that yield similar outcomes for the individual that is being applied to, but they are in fact different.

So the fact that this person was able to be humble and have the student’s mentality the entire time to me is very, very impressive. And when you have those types of attributes, it makes excelling at anything you do in life a lot, lot easier. And these are lessons that I myself didn’t always follow, especially when I was this individual’s age, but he seems to be well ahead of the curve. So he’s also fast, in good shape. However, for me, the most impressive thing, and it’s why we do the final on the last day because it really is a character check, is what impressed me the most was how he behaved yesterday when I knew his tank was empty. That’s the whole point of the combatives final. The combatives final is fatigue seeking. We’re seeking fatigue, right? We’re looking for that, like Ron was doing, several students were doing, you’re laid out, you’re on your back. And now you have some decisions to make, don’t you? You’re down.

I didn’t say you can’t lie down. I didn’t say you can’t get knocked down. I didn’t say you can’t go down. It’s about for how long? How long are you going to stay down there for, right? This individual never stayed down. I don’t even think he went down and I tried to make him go down, but he wouldn’t go down. So it really all speaks to his character as well. This guy has all of the intangibles. All he needs to do is pick what he wants to do and he’s going to get there no problem. I’m talking about Mr. Ricardo Rosales. All right guys. One, two, three. Good. Hi Mehar.

I don’t know what to say, but I had been missing the brotherhood for a long time. Found it with you guys. I’m really grateful for that. Grateful for Benji, all the instructors, especially Benji, made me laugh a lot. He’s crazy, but yeah, it was a great experience and I loved it. Thank you.

All right, this next student, little bit of a confusing student, various names. We’re not going to get into that here. However, all kidding aside, excellent student, universally liked by his classmates and his instructors. Brings a lot of great energy to whatever he’s doing. Definitely not afraid to have a laugh, even when things are not going so well. Yesterday we’re on the mats over here and he got himself a pretty good bloody nose, a pretty good one and I’ve seen a few. And this guy in typical fashion, his response was to laugh. He just kept laughing, laughing. Your nose, it’s bleeding. It’s pretty badly. Yo should go ha ha ha. Just kept laughing through it, right? And a lot of us would be well served to laugh a little bit more when things are not going our way. Isn’t that right? We could all do that. So this is a very, very strong character. It’s a different character in a different way. Most of us, what do we do? We don’t laugh.

We don’t cry. We always kind of just have that stoic look about us, right? And it works for some of us. It doesn’t work for others. And there’s definitely a spectrum of people who can operate in this. And sometimes having that positive energy is something that clients and people and classmates and whatever and instructors very much like and very much appreciate because it does make life a little bit easier, especially when we’re being challenged. He excelled at his FTXs. He got to do some work here for our company. He did very well on the range, especially considering that he shoots SIG. That’s very, very… I was blown away. I’ve never seen a SIG do well on the range. He still does need to switch to Glock, even though he shoots that other brand relatively well, but that’s a whole other matter. This guy’s going to do big things wherever he goes.

His official name is Dongze Shi, but we called him Bob and that’s how we’re going to remember him. Thank you. All right Guys. One, two, three.

All right. So I want to thank everybody, all my classmates and instructors for everything that you guys did. It was awesome and it was a great experience. For me, no, I came here without any expectations and then this was My Expectation. This is everything what I was looking for, and then also getting a lot of experience in the AP world. So thank everybody here. Thank you.

Well done, comrade. All right, this next student, this next student, this student’s all around excellence was obvious from the very beginning. His dedication to the course and especially to his future as a security professional should serve as an example to all of his classmates, to classmates and other professionals who are already in the field. There’s a lot of people in this industry who are in this industry because of their background, right? They get in, sometimes it goes well, they lean on their background. Sometimes it goes well for them, sometimes it doesn’t. But then there’s these other individuals who pursue excellence in what they do, okay? Whether it’s security, whether it’s fitness, whatever it is that they’re doing, they pursue excellence. And that’s what we should be doing. What did we come here for 10 weeks for? What do these instructors show up for every single day if we’re not pursuing excellence?

If you’re not pursuing excellence, what are you pursuing? And this person’s definitely not shy about pursuing excellence. There was not a phase of training that he did not excel at. So naturally I had to bring him down a peg or two yesterday during the combatives final. It just is what it is. He was flexing way too much, almost take my job from me. So I had to throw down just a little bit. However, a combatives final is going to take a lot, it’s going to take a lot more than a combatives final to stop this individual. This individual already has his own security company. He’s poised to do great things. So he came here already in the field already with an operating business and decided, you know what? That’s not excellent enough. I need to pursue more excellence. And he came here to Pacific West Academy and impressed his classmates and his instructors. I’m talking about Mr. MyQuez Todd. All right. Ready. One, two, three.

Phillip, thank y’all man. It was an honor going through this course with you guys. You guys did exceptionally well. I’m actually very impressed with a lot of you guys. I don’t find myself anything impressive because I’ve been doing this inside of the military and outside of the military for a while, but I’m very impressed with a lot of you guys. Keep going. You guys have excellent, bright futures ahead of you guys and I look forward to seeing you in the field. My instructor team, thank you guys so much for putting this together. It was amazing. The courses I’ve been to outside of this one, this one tops them all pretty much. So keep doing what you guys are doing and thank you for the opportunity.

All right. So this next individual for me really demonstrates our core principles. He is definitely quiet, assertive, and is definitely in control. That was clear all throughout the course. Much like Todd, there was nothing we could throw at him that he was not going to excel at. This individual came into the course in tremendous physical condition and is physically one of the strongest individuals to ever come through this academy. And we’ve had some very, very strong dudes come through this academy and he definitely stood out in that regard as well. After getting to see him work in the field on this detail that we were able to work through, after getting to see him actually work and be in detail and demonstrate professionalism and carry out whatever task he wanted to do, the task we gave him, I doubt is the one that he exactly wanted to do, but he did it to a very, very high degree. I have no doubt that he’s going to be a success.

It just so happens that this individual and Todd are partners in their security company and it’s hard to imagine two better partners working together to achieve excellence in this industry. These guys stayed together and they apply all of the fundamentals that they applied while they were here and there really is no stopping this individual and there’s definitely no stopping them if he has another partner with the similar values as he does. I’m talking about Mr. Deijon Tyler. All right guys. One, two, three. There we go. Did you get a good picture? I did. You Did?

Okay. All right. I just want to start by saying thank you to the instructors. Definitely got a lot of knowledge that I’ll be using for it forever. Thank you for all my classmates. Y’all are like brothers and I’ve been missing it since I got out the army. So I definitely want to thank you all for being y’all, being an upstanding gentleman. So thank you.

Did you almost say be you? Did you almost go that route? Be you, huh? Don’t change for nobody. All right guys, just a couple more individuals to go. So what I got to say about this individual is that he is the real deal. He really is. He can sometimes come off as quiet and to himself, but you put him in a live situation, you put him out into the field and he just knows what to do. He was a part of my FTX group, which was an excellent, excellent group. Everyone in that group across the board, that was one of the best FTXs that I’ve ever been a client for, a mock client for. Really, really exceptional. And what we saw was usually what happens, especially when we’re working in teams, right, is that the security team is typically is either expanding or contracting based on what’s going on. Usually we’ll have the one close protection guy near and the guys on the periphery, they’re either expanding or contracting depending on what’s going on.

And this guy definitely has that expanding and contracting instinct for what it is when he’s working on a team. Came with a lot of energy to the range and to the mats. And I also have to say, I did push this individual a little bit harder than some of you, and I don’t really know why. Very nice guy, very fit guy, very tough guy, but I though that I could get a little bit more out of him, and we did. And he did have a very tough go yesterday on the final. But true to his character, he kept pushing. And I have to say, yesterday was an impressive day across the board. I was even impressed that no one got sick. No one needed to throw up or anything like that, which usually will have multiples of those going on. So it really, really speaks to the character. It speaks to this individual’s character. I did not hold back on this individual yesterday.

I wanted to see something and he showed me what I wanted to see, which is why it’s my honor to graduate him and to give him his plaque. I’m talking about Mr. Michael Vivanco. All right guys, ready? One, two, three.

Well, this means a lot to me, honestly, being here with all you guys, accomplishing something. I came to California two years ago with a goal. Four years ago, I saw an ad about this academy saying, I’m going to do this one day, finally up here graduating, so it means a lot to me to be here with you guys too. Thank you.

All right. Last but not least, I guess I can use this individual’s name while I’m talking about him, right? Yeah. Me and this individual, we had a really, really excellent back and forth all throughout the course, so I really appreciated that about him. So I’m talking about Ron Williams. Don’t come up yet. Talking about Ron Williams. Ron is a very impressive individual. When I first met you, I didn’t really know what to think. I didn’t really know what to think. I though to myself like nice guy, very, very funny guy, but I figured you would struggle for some reason. And I don’t really know why. He’s in good shape. He’s got all that going for him. But struggle, he did not. He did not struggle. Of course, there were challenging things which challenged you, but you never struggled necessarily, I would say. Maybe you felt like you struggled, but to me it did not look like you were struggling necessarily.

He excelled in the course, brought a tremendous amount of positive energy, which I know his classmates really appreciated and his instructors also really appreciated because like we said, man, this is a very… It’s a tough thing to go through this course, but teaching this course is also difficult. You guys see what it is. You guys never came here one day and there wasn’t an instructor waiting for you. Whether it was five in the morning to go to EVOC, whether it was six in the morning to go to the range, whether it was 7:30 for combatives or whatever it was we were doing, it requires an instructor. Sometimes it requires all the instructors, sometimes it requires some, sometimes it requires one. But it is a very difficult job. So we can get students that make our lives easier or we can get whole classes that make our lives easier, that make it easy to show up in the morning.

I have to tell you as an instructor, it really, really makes it worthwhile doing. After every course, I always say to myself, I’m like, “Oh, it’s got to be the last one.” When I got to 50, I was like, “I’ll do 50 courses and I’ll move on with my life.” Now I’ve bumped it up to 100 because we just keep getting great courses. When I started here at Class five, it was a little bit different. The industry was new, training was new in this thing, and we would get a basket of individuals, right? And I’m not going to say anything those guys are near and dear to my heart, just like you guys are, even though it was a long, long time ago, but it was definitely a different thing. Now we really do get a very high level of student, and that makes me bump it up to 100. And probably when I get to 100, I’m going to say 150, but for now we’re sticking it to 100.

This individual, on top of his individual, Braun, on top of his excellence, his overall excellence, he just brings a lot of good old common sense to a situation, which is a lot of times what we need. A lot of times what we’re doing in the security industry isn’t necessarily rocket surgery, right? Isn’t necessarily rocket surgery, right? Security guys, rocket surgery, right? Not necessarily that. Sometimes what we’re doing just requires some good old common sense and leave it to a guy from North Carolina to have plenty of that. We could definitely use some of that over here in LA for sure. One thing that also impressed me is that every time I would turn around, I would see Ron fighting the biggest guy in the class. And I’m looking at his face and I’m like, “Okay, well, he’s got to be scared. He’s got to be intimidated. He’s got to be something.” Nope. I know when we’re fighting, I know what the different looks mean.

And what I saw from Ron was that yes, he’s looking at this individual, but he is thinking of ways to win. He’s not thinking about how big and how strong the guy is. He’s thinking about how am I going to win? When you probably should have been thinking, “How am I going to survive?” Right? But rather than that, he takes it to another level and he says, “How am I going to win? If I’m going to do this thing, then I’m going to do it to win, not to do well, not to hang in there.” And by the way, that’s something that I do. A lot of times when I’m confronted with, especially in a 30 year, I’m confronted with a 20-year-old guy who reminds me of myself when I was 20 and whatever, a lot of times I’m just looking to hang with that guy. I’m just looking to hang. I’m not going to let him beat me up too bad, right? But you have a different mentality, and that was very, very apparent all throughout the course.

He was pushed extremely hard yesterday, extremely hard on the range, very professional, very seasoned. That’s something that I really got. And I don’t even really know your background. I never asked you about it at all, but maybe I’ll hear about it now, now that it’s going to be your last day. Whatever it is, it prepared you very well for a career in the security industry. It prepared you to do well here at Pacific West Academy, and that was all very obvious all throughout the course. Whether we’re talking about close protection, advanced logistics, training, management, you can do whatever you want. I’m talking about Mr. Ron Williams. All right Guys. One, two, three.

Yeah. Man, I really appreciate it. This really means a lot to me. Y’all don’t know. I’ve been trying to get here for years. It’s been a long road and I really appreciate Appreciate it. I always remember y’all. Y’all are better than y’all was last year. I’ve been saying that. Y’all just stick with it, man, because just don’t give up. Always try to win. Find a way. It might not seem like, but find a way to win because it’s always blue on the other side of them clouds, man. Even though it’s gloomy, just remember the sun is still shining. So thank y’all.

All right. Now, I want to hand out some of our awards here. Well, all of our awards. It’s going to be for our top three. Okay? And another thing, this came down. The difference between the top three is less than a percentage point. Between the top three, it’s like 0.9, 0.7, 0.3, something like that. So unbelievably close race. The third guy in this course has a high enough score to be the first guy from the last course, just to give you an idea. And that really speaks to the overall excellence of this course, which I think has been the theme of this graduation. It’s been excellence. So this third position, I like to call it, well, we like to call it the Gray Man Award because the gray man is something that we should all really be striving to. Someone who can do everything in the industry. You can ask him to do anything. It doesn’t matter what it is. He does it.

He does it to a high degree and he does not stand out, which is the biggest thing. If you want to stand out, join the circus. Okay? This is not for you. This is about not standing out. Okay? And you know what? Sometimes it is a thankless job. You work with someone for three weeks, a month, you go to tremendous lengths for them and then it’s over and you don’t even get a thank you. That’s okay. We know that we did an excellent job and that’s what matters. Whether they thank us or not, that doesn’t matter. They are safe and you played a huge role in that. So people’s attitudes, it can either be about the job itself or it can be about the client. It can’t really always be both. Sometimes it can be both. But a lot of times, if you just know how to do this job well and you care about it and you pursue excellence, it won’t matter who the client is, nor should it matter. I don’t care if my client is extremely famous or completely anonymous.

It does not influence the service that I give them at all. You see? It doesn’t matter who the client is. So for our Gray Man Award, it is my honor and privilege to give this award to Mr. Michael Gaus. I put a lot of good stuff in there for you guys. Belly bands, holsters, cleaning kits, other stuff in there as well. Our number two, our number two guy, our runner up, and this was razor, razor clothes. I’m going to stop with the suspense. Our number two award goes to Mr. Deijon Tyler. All right. Okay. So our Top Gun Award, you get a Sumto watch from it. Excellent, excellent watch. It’s an excellent watch. What can I tell you? We want you to wear this while this individual is in the field. It is not super uncommon for two Top Guns to cross paths and to both be wearing Sumto watches. So if you’re out there and if the detail calls for it, we would love you to wear this watch while you’re out there in the field.

Our Top Gun Award goes to Mr. MyQuez Todd. Appreciate it.

Excellent. Excellent, excellent. So that’s the awards. I know that they were competing with each other with it and also against all of you. It’s a ruthless world out there, right? But no, all three of these guys displayed excellence all throughout. This whole class displayed excellence all throughout. So that’s what we have for you guys. That was our graduation. I just want to make some closing statements. What’s important now is to hit the ground running. Don’t take a week off. Don’t take time off. I know Thanksgiving is coming up. Of course you should take that time with your family, but don’t completely relax. Try to hit the ground running. Right now you did accomplish something. This is an accomplishment, but it’s not enough, right? If you’re not currently in the EP world or even in the security world, if you’re just having your certs and you’re looking to go out there, do that as quickly as possible. Don’t wait.

One thing about very active people like us, because we’re all more or less the same, we have to stay active. If we’re not active, if we’re not pushing, that’s when we start to mess up and we start to do stupid things that we don’t need to do. And we set ourselves back farther than we need to be. So we can avoid a lot of these mistakes by just hitting the ground running. This is a tremendous accomplishment what you’ve done here for the last 10 weeks. Most of the people that you know and most of the people that you meet will not be capable of doing what you’ve done. It feels like somewhat of a regular thing to you guys because you guys have been challenged many times all throughout your life, but think about just your average person who goes to college, gets the job, does nine to five, so on and so forth. That’s a different set of challenges, right? But our challenges are very unique.

And that’s another reason why you guys need to stay in touch and form a network because you’re not always going to meet a lot of people out there that share your values and your outlook and your ambitions. You need to be around people who are pursuing the same things as you, or at least similar things to you. This is why I advise you to join a combative gym, an MMA gym, a jujitsu gym, whatever it is, not for the workout, not for the workout because you’re going to meet people in there that share your value system. So that’s what’s important with that. The next thing for us to understand, and I know that I’ve said it before, you are the only people that give value to being a graduate from this academy. I cannot give it value. We cannot purchase value. It doesn’t matter who we hire.

The value comes from you guys being out in the field, demonstrating your training, your next level professionalism, your next level excellence to your employers. Whether you get exactly the job you want out the gate or not, you still go and do the thing to the best of your ability, to the best of your training. You might not get what you want out of the gate. You have to be ready for that. What is the point of all of these challenges that you’ve put yourself through if the next challenge of I didn’t get the job I want is the one that takes you out? We have people right now who were top guns who are really underperforming out there, who came here, they did the thing, they impressed, and then they simply never did anything in this field. And the thing they’re doing right now is really not consistent and they’re probably going to end up back here anyway, back in the security field anyway.

You don’t have to question if this is right for you. This is right for you. You are exactly where you should be. You don’t come to places like this by accident. It was a long decision process. Took you a couple years to get over here and you never lost that determination to get here. So it is you who gives it value. This is not a gym, okay? This is not a YMCA. This is the Pacific West Academy and you are graduates of it. And now go show them the difference between you and people who have not graduated from here. So with that, I say graduated class CESS 66, graduated. Before I forget, which I did forget last time. First, I would like to thank Ms. Christina who runs our administrative side.

She’s the one who gets you guys in here, stays in touch with you through the long weeks, months, and years that it might take for you to get here and make sure that absolutely is everything in line and proper for you guys to be able to sit down and study and not worry about the VA or the government or anyone else. So round of applause for Ms. Christina. I would like to thank some of our other staff as well who were instructors with you and who mostly work on the security side. I’d like to thank Mr. Jake, Mr. Jason Bloom as well. Round of applause for them. I would like to thank our management as well, Omer and Oded for making all this possible. I’ll never forget it. The year was 2006. I’m sitting right before my first EP detail. I get in the car with Oded. It’s midnight on Coldwater Canyon. We drive through the canyons. He tells me to get in his car. I get in his car and he says, “So I hear you’re good at combatives.”

I said, “Yeah, I’m okay. You know, it’s good.” He goes, “Well, one day…” This is 2006, okay? “One day we’re going to have an academy and we’re going to teach combatives there and we’re going to teach pistol and we’re going to teach the world and we’re going to change the world and the security industry. “We’re going to do that was in 2006. 18 years later, here we are. It’s our 61st class. So who else I would like to thank as well? I would like to thank all of my fellow instructors. I’d like to thank Mr. Jordan Gonzalez, who’s an excellent instructor. Mr. Matt, Mr. John Biggs, Roz, Mark Ackenback, our driving instructors, all of our contract instructors who do a tremendous job, who are instructors just like us, who are pushing very hard and are always, always, always pursuing excellence. So I’d like to thank them very much as well. Round of applause. I’d also like to thank your families, my family, our family who showed up here today.

They deal with our stuff. It’s not easy being with guys like us. It’s not even easy being our cousin, you know what I mean? It’s really not. Why? Because we’re always doing something that’s just a little bit riskier than, than the average thing. So it’s really not easy being a loved one of ours. So let’s go ahead and give them a big round of applause. And if I’m forgetting anyone, I apologize. Dave, our medical guy as well, we can always go down the line, our maintenance crew that keeps this place going as well. Absolutely anyone who has anything to do with our course, thank you whether you’re here or not. And of course I’d like to thank me. No, I’m kidding. Thank you guys very much. We’re offline, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So guys, now what we’re going to do, we’re going to take one more picture. Okay? Let’s move these seats out of the way. I want the tall guys in the front and I want the short guys.