Pacific West Academy Graduation Class 74 August – October 2025

Good morning, graduates, family, friends, everyone on the live stream. My name is Ethan White and I have the distinct honor of being the institutional director here at Pacific West Academy. Today is a day of celebration, not just for the accomplishments of the individuals in front of us, but for what their achievements mean for our communities, our country, and the world. As we gather to honor the graduates of class 74, I want to reflect on why the role they’re stepping into is so profoundly important now more than ever. We live in a world that is increasingly complex. Whether it’s protecting individuals, organizations, or communities, the need for skilled, prepared, and ethical protectors has never been greater. At Pacific West Academy, we believe that providing you with knowledge and skills to meet these challenges is not just our mission, it’s our responsibility.

The Certified Executive Security Specialist Program is built on the understanding that the work you do matters. It isn’t just about securing a client or a property, it’s about creating peace of mind, upholding safety, and being stability in uncertain times. Your hard work over the past 10 weeks, 348 hours of training, to be exact, has prepared you to serve not only as professionals in your field, but also as leaders in a critical and honorable mission. At Pacific West Academy, we are very proud to be the only accredited institution offering in this type of program. This accreditation signifies more than just a standard of excellence. It represents a commitment to equipping you with the tools to face the world’s challenges head on. It is this commitment that has brought students from all across the US to join our program, united by a shared dedication to a high purpose.

Class 74, your efforts over these weeks have been nothing short of extraordinary. You’ve pushed through rigorous training, honed your skills, and built bonds, trust, and camaraderie with one another. And today we celebrate your success, but we also celebrate what that success will mean for the people and communities that you will go on to protect. As we begin today’s ceremony, I ask you all to reflect on the journey that’s brought us here and the vital role that these graduates will play in the world. Class 74, you have earned your place among the elite. Today is the start of a new chapter in your lives, and we’re really proud to celebrate this moment with you. So congratulations, and let’s go ahead and begin this ceremony.

All right, hello to everyone watching at home, the family and friends who came to watch all of my colleagues, and of course the graduates here today. I want to talk just very briefly about what we go through here. It’s a very, very extensive course, and aside from all of the physicality and all of the tactical and fun stuff that we do, what I really like about my job is that every month, every couple months when we get a new class in, we get people who are essentially already qualified to enter the security industry and already receive a good employment. All these guys are bringing in really interesting backgrounds, military backgrounds, law enforcement backgrounds, and also sometimes already security backgrounds.

And they choose to come here anyway, which I think speaks to the quality of the individual that are people willing to give you an opportunity, but the people who come here, they don’t just want an opportunity, they want excellence. They want to enter the field and they want to be excellent high level agents with corresponding pay structure, of course, as well, right? So that’s really the great thing here is that we get dedicated individuals who are already ready to enter the field. Also for myself, you know, the fact that I still get a little bit nervous before I do these things, I got a little bit of the chicks and whatever shows me that this is class 74. They are my 69th class that I’ve had the pleasure of training and taking through this course. I always say like I’m going to do a hundred classes and retire and kind of get out of the game. I’ll be around 41 when that happens.

It’s only a couple years down the road, but every time we get excellent classes like this one, it really inspires me that, you know what, maybe I’ll do 200 classes, see how that goes, you know? So it really makes it easy for the instructors to show up, especially when you have a group of individuals who are here to really demonstrate real excellence across the board, from their professionalism, their demeanor, and their physical skills. Ultimately, if you’re going to be in this industry, there’s a particular set of skills that you’re simply going to need that there’s no real way to go around, especially in the times that we’re living in. I also want to make something else clear. Security people, security industry, security guards, executive protection agents, we’re not first responders. We’re the first responders.

When something happens in a public place or something happens to an individual, most likely the initial intensity of the situation will fall upon a security person. And we’ve even seen recently all across the United States, security people being at the root of the event and acting in decisive fashion that saves lives. We don’t get the same levels of recognition that everybody else gets, but like I say all the time, if you want to applause, join the circus. Okay? We don’t need applause. When one of us goes down, they don’t lower the flags, they don’t repeat our names a thousand times, but every year there’s people just like us who make tremendous sacrifices at their job and they don’t get the acknowledgement, but it is important for our clients to understand, for the public to understand that security agents are not first responders, we’re the first responders. That is the difference.

And maybe we won’t receive the acknowledgement for it in most of our lives and even people who’ve made these sacrifices don’t get the acknowledgement that they deserve, but we all know what it takes to succeed in this industry. It is no small feat to turn security into a career. The vast majority of the jobs that are out there are not career worthy jobs. So what we do here is that we make sure that our students go into the part of the industry where there are careers waiting for you. Security is like everything else. There’s low level, there’s mid-level, there’s high level. And I can tell you that no other group of individuals, no other institution is more committed, more dedicated to making sure that high level security agents are in the field. We do the best that we can. We’ve graduated around 1400 students who have come here and they’re all excellent, excellent agents in the field and extremely high performers. We have data on this.

Our agents, people who are graduating from this academy are performing extremely high in the field. We have video evidence of it. We have journalistic evidence of it, so on and so forth. So the people who come here are extremely dedicated professionals and future professionals, and it’s a real pleasure for me and my colleagues to be in such a position to hand our knowledge over to the next batch of great security professionals. So now I’m going to go ahead and talk about each of you one by one, you know, maybe have a little fun with it. Let’s see how it goes. All right, this first student, this first student demonstrated very high levels of professionalism and demonstrated a high aptitude for all the material covered. I got to work with the student quite a bit on the range, went through the shooting house with him several times and he really made great strides, especially on his last run, which he got a very strong score on.

Made great strides on the mats and had good academic scores. As far as his mats go and, and his combatives goes, he’s very interesting individual to watch. Very, very cool customer. Never panics even when he’s tired, even when someone’s getting the better of him, he’s really able to keep his eye on the ball and continue to demonstrate at a very high level. Has the exact correct demeanor and temperament that we’re looking for, for someone to be a close protection agent or a covert security agent, which speaks to how dynamic he is as an individual. He could really go in any direction he wants. I think he’d be a great close protection guy. I also think he’d be a great covert advance guy, which are my preferences, by the way. I usually fall into the close protection thing, but when I get a chance to go do a good advance or to do overt work, that’s something that I really, really enjoy doing.

And I think the student has a similar aptitude for that sort of work. If he really stays on the grind and keeps training, the sky is truly the limit for this student. I’m talking about Mr. Antonio Martin. Look at the camera. Shake my hand.

All right. Thank you to Pacific West Academy. I want to say thank you to all the instructors, Benji, Matt, Frank, Steve. The rest of them that I don’t remember their names right now, but we had way more instructors, but I would say all the instructors taught us a lot. They stayed calm with us, made sure that if we had any questions or we was nervous about something, they made sure that we were good. And like he said, the job that we’re going into is something that, it’s dangerous, but it’s something that all of us here is built for. You know, most of us was in the military, some of us was in security. And like I said, I enjoyed the school and I’m ready to get out there. So thank you.

All right. This next student really demonstrated throughout the course that he’s the total package. He definitely gives off the high profile close protection agent vibes, but I’m confident you could put him on any team in any role and he would excel. Super professional demeanor, definitely has also the right voice projection for this profession as well for sure. On the range was a high performer throughout. On the mats, he gave as good as he got and really improved his overall skillset. He also had some of the best questions in the classroom, which definitely made me and my colleagues stay on our toes. Made me had to make sure I could justify all of my rants, of course, which I know that I’m well known for. He also managed to work several good security details while in the course, which was not easy to do while attending the academy.

When you go out and you work and you do serious details, eight, 10, 12 hour details, and the next day you come to class, that really does demonstrate a very strong work ethic, which is definitely something you’re going to need out here in this industry. The people who typically get ahead are the professional, dedicated people who say yes. I just had to say yes to a detail 10 minutes ago. And the more that we can say yes and demonstrate our professionalism, the better we’re going to do in this industry. He received excellent feedback about him from clients. I heard back from clients about him and his demeanor and his professionalism. Has tremendous potential and I know he’s going to be sticking around LA, so I definitely look forward to seeing this individual in the field. I’m talking about Mr. Brandon Duplanty.

Best thing I know about speech is keep them short. If I’m thanking you, you know who I’m thinking, which is everybody because it took all of us and I’ll accept everything that you, all the compliments and everything you say. I’ll – Have to take your word for it, but thank you.

All right. This next student has a very interesting backstory. He’s really worked in many different facets of the security industry, all the way up to investigations. He really made the rounds in the security industry. However, I think he’s finally really found his niche, which is as a culture protection agent. He’s definitely had his side quests and he’s tried many different professional fields. He’s one of those guys who could do anything and you’ll find in the industry that most security people who turned this into a career, we could have done other things with our lives. Everybody in here is intelligent enough to go be an accountant, to go be a lawyer. Maybe you’re not rocket scientists, but you definitely could have become lawyers or accountants or something that requires you to be seated more of the time. But I think that what happens with people like us is that we see that, yes, we’re smart enough. Yes, the checks are good.

Yes, everything is good, but something else isn’t good inside, meaning that people that do this, that are in this industry and really dedicate themselves, we’re doing it because in a way we also need to do it in order for us to be fulfilled. We need to be protecting individuals, we need to be protecting the public. And when we do protect individuals, we are also protecting the client. If an emergency happens and the client is around, once the client is secured or maybe he’s not secured, we’re going to be the people who are acting in these situations, whether it’s a medical issue, traffic accident, or a direct attack.

We’re going to be the people who are managing these situations and we want to be the ones managing these situations because most of us have already been in these situations and we understand that they’re extremely, extremely complex and stressful and most people are simply not cut out to handle these situations even one time in their life, let alone make it their life’s work. I think he’s one of those guys, like I said, who could do anything as a profession. I think his future clients and the public is going to be a little bit safer without him, with him out in the field and doing what he was actually made to do, which is to be a protector. I’m talking about Mr. Cade Alvarez.

Thanks man. Thank you. Geez. I, I came in with this group of all military guys being the only civilian and you guys all make me feel really welcome and really comfortable and I felt like just as much part of everything that all of you guys are. So thank you all for your service too, by the way. I respect and appreciate all of you guys. Benji, Matt, Frank, Steve, I don’t think all of them are here, but all of our instructors, Dave, if the list goes on, everybody was amazing. The curriculum was overwhelming, but thorough and I feel like I got so much out of this. So thank you everybody. Thank you.

All right. This next student was really great to instruct, very intelligent, well-read individual with massive potential. I really like the well-read part, like we talked about, your overall intelligence is something that really, really plays when you’re out there in the field, especially when you’re in close protection role and you’re dealing with highly intelligent, highly successful people. Those people like to be around intelligent people. So the intelligence thing really does play. It was also great to have a real boxing fan in the group. He’s a real student of the game. It’s not often I run into someone who puts Harry Grab at the top of the goat list. That kind of came out there. Luckily I also had the acumen to have this conversation, which I think I won. However, what was really impressive about him was his performance and commitment to excellence.

He was a tough customer for his fellow students on the mats, showed great tactical knowledge on the range and was also a tough customer in the classroom as well. Brought some interesting perspectives to the classroom discussions. Matt did have to give him a Mai Thai lesson yesterday after the final. I think he really learned a lot during that one. That was a very good teachable moment for all of us, but that’s neither here nor there. He has the physical and mental skills to succeed in any security position or posture. He can do what he wants in this industry. He’s in the exact line of work that he should be in. And we and I, we all look forward to seeing him in the field. We all called him CJ, but his name is Coy Smith.

I just want to say, I really appreciate everybody here. It’s not easy to come into a group where you don’t really know anybody and get along living together. It can be very difficult, but everybody made it work. I’m very grateful to our instructors. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. The instruction here was world class. All of our instructors are, there’s a reason they’re in the position that they’re in. When you come here, you feel that you’re getting the sacrifice that you make for me. I came from the East Coast and I felt that it was well worth it. I would highly recommend it to anybody else. And thank you very much for everything.

All right. Next student really has the gray man thing down to it. Very serious individual and isn’t much for talking, so at least we don’t have to worry about him talking the client’s head off. You know, one thing about the gray man, there are people who try to be gray men, and then there’s people who just are gray men by personality, by demeanor, so on and so forth. I think the student is definitely that. Definitely has the presence and demeanor to be close protection agent. However, he’d also make a great advanced man, covered security man, both of which are my own personal preferences. He demonstrated the necessary mental toughness to succeed in the industry and the tactical aptitude to be effective in an emergency. The mental toughness aspect, when we’re talking about that, what happens is that in our industry and in life, sometimes things are not going to go our way.

Sometimes we’re going to apply it to the great job and we’re not going to get it. We’re trying to get in with a certain company and it’s not going to happen. The mental toughness comes into fact, into play when, what are you going to do now? Are you going to go back to what you used to do? Are you going to try another industry? Or are you going to stay true to yourself, your skill set, your mentality, your own life’s philosophies, so on and so forth because we could all be great car salesmen, I’m sure. Okay? But like we said, that’s not really going to do for us what we needed to do. This particular student also demonstrated great tactical aptitude to being effective in an emergency, strong range, combative scores. He’s exactly where he needs to be, and best of all, he’s quite assertive and in control. I’m talking about Mr. Damian Knight.

I’d like to thank the instructors, my teammates. I had a great experience and I’m excited for what’s next. Thank you guys.

I don’t know what the order is. I’m just going to continue. So this next student, definitely one of my mijos, I will say. The student on top of demonstrating excellent proficiency throughout the course was also good at providing plenty of comic relief on some of these longer dates. Those guys are always great to have around the security people. People are known to occasionally need some comic relief, especially on these ridiculously long shifts we get caught up on. Had a tough final yesterday, but we knew he’d make it through. Also made huge improvements on the range, really increased his physical prowess while here at the academy. He’s another student who is ready to hit the ground running and start his career.

If he keeps training, stays dedicated, gets to work early, leaves late and provides the type of service that clients expect from agents with his level of training, then he’s going to be able to write his own ticket in this industry. I’m talking about Mr. Damien Andrade.

I just want to thank my wife and my family and all the instructors here. All you guys were awesome as well. It was just awesome to be, you know, surrounded by like comrades again. The military was just a great experience that we’re on. Thank you guys for the experience.

All right. This next student, definitely the class match art, that’s for sure. We’re not worried about this student continuing his training or being dedicated to his profession. It’s always nice to meet a nice young man who knows what he wants to do and feels good about where he is and what he’s doing and have no doubts. He brought a lot of combative knowledge into the course and it showed all throughout the combatives proportion. I think we all got to feel this proficiency at some point or another, made big improvements on the range and demonstrated excellent tactical training while in the shoot house and during force on force training where he was definitely a high performer.

And that’s another thing about the combatives thing guys is that once you’re good at combatives and you can really dedicate yourself to that thing, a lot of other physical endeavors just become a whole lot easier because this is an extremely difficult thing that we do out here on these mats. And I do often mention it. I do like that we graduate right where the mats are, right? This is where we actually get to know each other and I get to see and meet the real you. Who you are on the first day when you come in here and you’re all dressed like Jehovah’s Witnesses and you’re trying to impress us with your professionalism, so on and so forth, and the air conditioning’s on and everything is fine. That’s not really who you are. Who you are is when you got nothing. When you’re done, the gas tank is empty. How do you behave in those moments? That’s the real you. You are not you when everything is perfect.

You are you, the real you comes out during these more difficult times, and that’s what the public and that’s what our clients are banking on, that you are more, even more than what you appear to be. A very brave individual with tremendous mental toughness, which may or may not be able to be taught. I’m still not sure is the question that I’ve been asking myself a long time. Can you teach someone to be mentally tough? I don’t know. I mean, I’ve seen kids go from, you know, punk kids to good adults, this type of thing, but when someone is already an adult, can you really teach them to be mentally tough? I don’t know. If you get a good answer, let me know. I’ve been wondering, pondering it for a long time. Has the exact correct demeanor and disposition to be successful in this industry. Very decisive individual. He’ll do great things in the field and he’s also quite assertive and in control. I’m talking about Mr. Edwin Guzman.

I’m not much of a talker, so I’ll just keep it short. Thank you to everybody that invested not just their time, put the energy in me, and I’ll let my actions speak for themselves starting now and in the future. Thank you.

All right. Next student, another good student. He did face some injuries and some medical issues. However, he would still show up to combatives and observe and be part of the class. When this student quiets his mind and focuses on what’s in front of him, he’s a very effective individual with massive potential. I’m hoping he realizes the security is where he needs to be. And if he focuses and continues his training and really gets out into the field, there’s really no stopping him. Plus, he’s somewhat of a local guy. I mean, are you really a local if you’re from Lancaster? I mean, that’s also up for debate, you know? But I’ll call him a local guy for graduation. And I do like to see my SoCal people get ahead, which I really do believe that he will. I’m talking about Mr. Isaac Schmitt.

Thank you everybody for just being you and having your role to play. It was a great experience. Reminded me a lot of my infantry time and I really appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. So it’s not often that we have a match shark and a honey badger in the same class, but we got both of them in this class and this individual was definitely the class honey badger. Honey badger title doesn’t go to the most skilled. It goes to the most tenacious. Every time I watch the student before sparring, especially on the first day, I was a little concerned for him and I expected him to be taking lots of breaks and I expected him to be spending a lot of time either on his back or in another precarious position. It only took me about 10 seconds to be completely unconcerned. Yesterday during the final, I told him to slow down. I though he’d run out of gas. The hand badger doesn’t run out of gas. They stay tenacious. That’s the mental toughness that we’re talking about. This student was also excellent on the range, medical in the classroom.

He demonstrated that tenacity at every phase and made especially big strides on the range where he received excellent scores. As soon as we get his voice projection up to where his tenacity is, there really is no stopping him. But I think his nights are going to be fine with whatever voice he brings into the equation. Tremendous potential, another local guy. So I’m really hoping to see the honey badger out in the field one of these nights. I’m talking about Jorge Raygoza.

Thank you everybody. It was a great time being here with you guys. I chose this instead of another opportunity. I though that I would get a much better career out of this than what I was previously doing. Thank you.

And he’s quiet too. That’s another good thing about him. The next student is Kevin Jeffery. He’s not here today. I do want to talk about this individual’s professionalism. He really put in a lot of working hours while he was coming through the academy and he’s really making big strides out there and getting his career started. So we’re really happy for Kevin. He was definitely a high performer while he was here at the academy and I know he’s going to be sticking around LA, so I’m looking forward to seeing him in the field as well. Mr. Kevin Jeffery. All right, this next student, this next student, another truly excellent student. All the physical and mental attributes that we look for in a good student. Excellent demeanor, excellent personality, never gets too hot or too cold unless he randomly tries to grapple me during a demonstration. Then he does get a little bit too hot, just had to sun him a little bit, that’s all.

I’ll bring him back to the center line. However, I think if you talk to his classmates and his instructors, I think you’ll find that there isn’t a person who doesn’t think this individual will be a tremendous success. He’s definitely someone who could go the law enforcement route or even the lawyer route if he wanted to. However, this student could possibly go the president route. I mean, he’s even got that presidential thing about him, definitely. So however, I think we all know that this individual was almost engineered to be a close protection agent. Strong across the board, high scores across the board. The sky’s the limit for the student. I think we all look forward to seeing this student again, especially out in the field and doing what he was meant to do. Mr. Marcus Davis. Almost had me coming out of retirement for the final.

Thank you, Mr. B. First And foremost, I just want to say thank you to my wife and my kids. Big sacrifice me for coming out here. Thank you all to you gentlemen. All of you guys. Thank you guys so much. Coach C, I can’t say enough. Mr. B, I can’t say enough. Thank you guys. To the PWA team, I appreciate you guys. Thank you all. Thank y’all and God bless.

Thank you Mr. President. I’m telling you, get some lobbyists, you know? We’ll be all right. All right. So the next student, another high performer demonstrated excellent intelligence all throughout the course, high level social intelligence, which is something that is highly coveted by clients. All the fighting and shooting skills in the world don’t matter if you cannot keep a good professional demeanor around the client’s friends and family. And that’s the big one that sometimes we get lost about. Okay, the client likes you. Does the wife like you? Do the kids like you? Do the grandparents like you? Do the friends like you? So on and so forth. And when everyone likes you, that is usually a sign of very good social intelligence, which the student definitely has. The student definitely combines the physical skills along with the social intelligence that his instructors are very confident, will make him a huge success.

That reach he has also gave his classmates a lot of problems on the mats. I think we all heard about that reach. You just got to move your head guys and use your jab. That’s all you got to do, but it’s all right. We’ll figure him out later. I’m talking about the excellent Mr. Ronderick Johnson. A hell of a dresser.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks to everybody, instructors, staff, all my classmates. Everybody was great and fine. Like he said, sometimes in the army, we have people come from different states and across the country and it was great to meet you guys. It’s going to be sad when you guys leave and go back to your home states. So I just want to say thank you to everybody and for everything and like Matt on a range when he helped me through my, because I was not good at firearms. He helped me he was too assertive, too aggressive, calm down. So man with the grapples, he helped me learn my weakness. I guess I’ve got special body with the. But other than that, yeah, that’s it. Thank you guys.

All right. This next student, another local guy that’s going to go far. Physically very, very deceptive. One of those guys that if you sleep on him for even one second could put you in a real bad spot. I experienced that myself over here. I was trying to demo on him and he decided I wasn’t going to demo on him and I was like, “Wow, this is taking longer than I thought it would take.” Very experienced individual, carries himself in a very professional fashion that will take him far in this industry. He’s definitely got the how to carry himself in a professional environment down very, very well. Excellent academic and social intelligence, substantial physical and tactical skills. Another student who’s been on quite the life journey, but I think he’s finally found himself a home in the security industry. Since he’s a local guy, I’m really looking forward to seeing him in the field and this guy is definitely quite assertive and in control.

I’m talking about Mr. Traveon Pratt. And a good handshake.

Thank you to the staff, the instructors, my classmates. Definitely had a good experience here. What I honestly want to say what I like the most is how much the instructors put emphasis on after we leave here. It’s not just about passing the class, of course, while we’re here, but what we’re going to do when we leave here, putting all those tools in our toolbox together and becoming that agent that they trained us to be. So thank you. Thank you everybody.

All right. This next student, truly excellent experience in catastrophic leg industry while here in the course. I though he dropped the course and rejoined with another class. That’s probably what I would have done, honestly, with another class. So I was surprised to find out that he was going to stay enrolled despite the industry, which should tell you everything you need to know about this individual. Before the injury, his physical abilities were clearly very high, so he definitely has that down. However, his temperament and demeanor are going to be what stands out about the student. Very funny individual. He does get a little sleepy during PowerPoints, but that’s okay. And he’s not quite as licky as he thinks he is, but that’s all right. We’re going to forgive him. Once he gets that leg healed up, he’s going to do great things in the field and be a real asset to his clients and the public at large.

I’m talking about Mr. Trinton Combest.

Thank you, Mr. Billy. Sir? I just wanted to say thank you for everybody that’s supported me throughout my surgery, throughout my injury. I know he’s not here, but especially thankful for Roz. He texted me a lot and he helped me through and I’m really grateful for you guys, like Damien said, like being back in the army. And thank you for everything, especially on PWA staff. And I’m really appreciateful for everything y’all done. Thank you.

All right. This next student, last but not least. So this student is another student that would be easy to sleep on, but when he gets going, he’s a very impressive individual. So I did have a little more joke time with this student than most. I will say that. Thanks for being strong during some of those back and forths that we had. That humor is really something that can help you out because guys, 12, 16, 24 hour shift, you’re working with a guy that maybe you know kind of well, maybe you don’t know so well, but it does help when everything’s secure and things are okay to crack a joke once in a while. So these types of guys are valuable out in the field as well. Really showed that mental toughness yesterday on the final.

I am sometimes surprised to see the difference between someone’s demeanor like when they’re just walking around and then their demeanor, how it just switches when we start doing real stuff, going through a shoot house, being on the mat, so on and so forth. There’s always a guy in the back of my head I was kind of concerned for, but I don’t really know why. As soon as he starts moving, he really is another formidable person. Good in the classroom, medical, driving on the mats. If he stays dedicated and keeps improving, he’s unstoppable and there’s an excellent career waiting for him in our industry. And he’s another guy who’s quiet, assertive and in control. I’m talking about Mr. Xavier Raines. We call him X. So we save the best for last. That’s right.

Right? I’d like to thank the Pacific West Academy staff. I’d like to thank specifically Matt, Benji. You guys put a lot of time and effort into our class and I’d like to thank our class for just being here, being a part of the solution later on. Benji, yesterday you said something that stuck out to me. It was follow your efforts. We all put effort into coming here. So now just keep following our efforts, keep putting the training in and keep sharpening your tool belt because the tool belt is useless if it doesn’t work. Thank you to Frank, all your inspiration at the Van Nuys Airport you gave to me and Antonio. So thank you.

Well, I always get a little nervous when a student tells me you told me something or you said something to me. I’m like, oh man, you couldn’t wait after graduation, but no, it’s fine what you said. All right, that concludes, this will be the last time that I’ll be speaking to you guys as the class. You guys were really, really excellent class. I’m really looking forward to seeing how you guys do. Before we do that, I do want to thank all the families and friends who showed up today to support their men. I also want to thank all of my colleagues. I’m going to apologize in advance if I forget anyone, but I want to thank Mr. Matt Cheun. I got the right this time. Mr. Matt Cheun. Christina, who makes sure that you guys don’t, that you guys have a direction when you get here and make sure that your paperwork is correct. It’s a highly licensed, highly administrative business.

So it’s great that we have someone like her who’s on top of all of that stuff and also making sure I’m not going too crazy. Our director, Mr. Ethan White, who does a great job organizing the whole thing. My other colleague, Mr. Frank, who is a newer guy, he’s the new guy still, but he’s doing a great job and the feedback from the students about him is also really excellent. And all my other colleagues, Mr. Omer Cohen, Mr. Oded, Krishnsky, who owns this operation and puts up the money to make sure the guys like us have some place to go and get better and enter a good career field. Jason Bloom and Jake, Steve, Roz, Mark Eckenbach who’s always bringing the best stuff. You have some really, really world class instructors here all around, but especially on the range between Matt and Mark, that’s a pretty difficult team to to beat and pretty difficult team to, to one up. So I want to thank all of my colleagues who make this possible.

They also make it possible for a misfit like me to come here and and do something that I’m more inclined to do with my time and with my life. And I want to thank you guys. I want to wish you guys good luck. You’re not going to need the luck, okay? You’re trained. There’s lucky people and there’s trained people. And as someone who’s still out in the field and is running into Pacific West Academy graduates and working with people who have not attended this academy, there really is no comparison between someone who has attended this academy and paid attention and who’s out there working and someone who has not attended this academy. It’s not just noted by me, it’s also noted by the clients. I’m starting to hear, “Hey, could you send me some people who graduated from a security academy?” I was like, yes, as a matter of fact, we got plenty of them. So you guys stay grinding. It’s not always going to go your way.

There’s going to be disappointments. There’s going to be roadblocks. Commit time to this thing. If you’re very serious, give it five years. If five years is not going the way you want it to go, then maybe it is time to get into something else. But all of you really do have tremendous potential and you will not regret the time that you spent in the security industry, whether it was for a little bit of money or a lot of money, you know that you were out there keeping people safe, which is your ultimate calling. When you’re doing something else, it just doesn’t feel right. It just doesn’t. You can ask all the guys, myself included, a little bit older guys who’ve had their hiatuses from security and stuff like that. We all did fine. We had plenty of money. All that stuff was fine, but you get home and you just kind of feel empty. Like what did I really do today with my life? Did I use my skill sets?

Did I trade, did I stay true to myself and my outlook in life? And if the answer is no, then you need to go find what’s going to make that thing BS. Stay sharp, stay training, head on a swivel out there. It’s, it’s a little bit of a sticky time and you’re not the first responders. You’re not first responders. You are the first responders. Thank you very much.

What’s up, Alex? How are you doing? I’m a little less formal than Benji is. All right, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. For those that don’t know me, my name is Matt Cheun. I had the privilege of being one of the instructors for your students for the past 10 weeks. It’s absolutely been a blessing. With that being said, the next section that we’re going to go ahead and get into is our, essentially our, our top three placements here. We take huge amounts of pride in the fact that we are a true academy. And although a lot of this comes down to the hard skills, how do we perform on demand? It also comes down to the focus that we invest into the academy itself, meaning grades, homework, all the PowerPoints, all the studying, which none of us like, but it is something that has to get done.

I, I found appreciation for this because I remember going through and looking for different types of jobs and things like that before I came here and I was fresh out of military, fresh out of contracting, things like that and was looking at different jobs and I noticed that for things like these different three letter agencies, they always wanted somebody with a degree. And I was always sitting there like, “Does the degree have anything to do with my skillset?” And I’m sure we all have thought about that at one point in time. And what I realized was they were looking for people who were able to start something and complete it to the best of their abilities, i.e. The degree. And so we take huge amounts of pride in us being a true academy with a GPA and all those different things. So we have three different awards.

Starting with our Gray Man Award, it’s not necessarily the third overall best in the academy, but it is somebody that we felt performed at a high level, but can also blend into that Gray Man mentality. Doesn’t stick out too far and also doesn’t fall short, but fits right in the center where he seeks refuge in the crowd and it’s very hard to spot if he performs at the high level. So for this class, the Gray Man Award is going to go to Mr. Marcus Davis. Yeah. Inside these bags, we have a couple different things in there. There’s a lot of different things things that’ll just kickstart your career just a little bit to help you in case you are missing out on some gear. Now I’ve, I’ve already told you guys before, yes, it’s cool to have certain pieces of gear invest in your own stuff. What you invest in is going to invest back into you. So keep that in mind. All right? Congratulations, sir.

Next, our actual second overall when it comes to GPA our second overall performed at a very high level, very, very quiet, but had a huge immense amount of focus when it came to performing here at the academy. And it showed through his grades here at the academy. So our second overall is going to be Mr. Edwin Guzman. Yeah.

All right. So for our Top Gun Award our Top Gun Award is somebody who not only had the personalities to be likable in this industry there’s a huge, huge benefit to being likable in this industry. You can be a top performer, but if you aren’t liked by the client, as my colleague Benji said, if you are not liked by the client, the family or anybody else, it’s very quick to lose that job. So this person not only had the personality of an EP agent professional he also performs at a high level. And we feel that this person performed at a high level that showed through his grades, but also embodies our motto of quiet assertive and in control. And I think the in control part is a huge, huge aspect of being a true professional. So our Top Gun Award is going to receive a Sunto core watch. I’ve used these in the military. I’ve jumped with them. I’ve drove with them. I’ve used them on different operations.

This, I actually still have my watch from years ago in the military that still works to this day. So he’s going to receive a Sunto core watch as well as a plaque that has his name on it and states that he’s the top of the award so that he can send it in about five years in the group chat and tell you guys how he beat you out of out of the academy. All right? But with that being said, this student had the highest GPA highest percentage in their grades, also was a high level performer and really embodied our motto of quiet assertive and in control. The student is going to be Mr. Brandon Duplanty. Feel free to say anything if you want, make sure you don’t forget that.

On behalf of the class, I accept the award. All I can say is, you know, without y’all, I probably wouldn’t made it. That’s honesty. And just remember this is 10 weeks and then we’ve got the rest of our life. So don’t let that 10 weeks be the last highlight that you have. Thank you. Congratulations.

Gentlemen, it’s been a, it’s been a long ride. 10 weeks sometimes feels like a lot, especially being away from the families and things like that. So before we wrap this up, I do want to give a round of applause for the family. I want to give a huge thank you to you guys for those that are online and that are here. I know it is very difficult to be away from your loved ones. And without your support, they wouldn’t be able to stay focused. Before every single deployment, we used to do a big get together with me and my team and we used to say, “Make sure you have everything right back home because if you don’t have the ride back home, it’s not going to be right when you leave.” So without your guys’ support, they would not be able to stay focused here and perform at the level that they did. So families, thank you so much. And again, gentlemen, congratulations to you. I’ve said it in the beginning when I first met you guys.

I do not care about your backgrounds, care about who you are today, because today is going to shape the person that you are tomorrow. Don’t sit on a pedestal. Don’t leave here and go, “Oh, I went to Pacific West Academy, so I’m all good to go.” Let’s look at what the name of this course is, Certified Executive Security Specialist. Let’s kind of highlight the specialist word here. I view myself as a specialist in certain things, shooting and fighting and things like that. Me viewing myself as a specialist does not mean I’m a specialist. I don’t have to, I don’t have to learn anymore. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Me, in order for me to continue viewing myself as a specialist, it’s about how much more do I have to learn to maintain viewing myself as much. So live with that. You are now a certified executive security specialist. Don’t sit on a pedestal. Continue to train. Continue to learn.

Some of the best instructors in the world are some of the best students in the world as well. Continue to learn, continue to train. Go to the gym, lift things up, put them down, right? Get stronger. It’s important, but that’s only one aspect of this. Continue to learn skills. Go to the range. Go to a fighting gym, an MMA gym. Learn more about the industry. Learn more about how you can create yourself as the largest asset that you can, not the liability. You’re either getting better or you are getting worse, gentlemen. Continue to train. There’s a saying that stuck with me for a long time, and I heard it in the military and it’s… I now bring it into me as an instructor, but also me as a student. He said, “Never let a dead man’s ghost say he wasn’t ready.” And what that means is if, if somebody gives the ultimate sacrifice, whether it be ourselves or somebody that we were teaching, never let that man’s ghost say he wasn’t ready.

If he gave the ultimate sacrifice because he was untrained, that’s a problem. Let it be because of standards that we couldn’t control. Let it be because of things we couldn’t control, that every single bit of training he received was to the standard that we’ve talked about, but unfortunately we just couldn’t control the outcome. So continue to train, continue to be an asset, not a liability. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Congratulations.

All right, we’re almost done. So as we come to the conclusion of this momentous ceremony, I want to take a moment to reflect on the significance of today and do a couple more thank yous to the people who have made it possible. Again, first and foremost, to the family and friends of our graduates, thank you. Your support, encouragement, and sacrifices have been invaluable. Find every one of these graduates as a network of loved ones who provided strength and motivation through every challenge. Today we celebrate them, but we also celebrate you, so thank you. And of course our exceptional instructors, Benji, Matt, Frank, your knowledge, dedication and leadership have transformed these students and the professionals that are ready to take on the world. You’ve done more than teach skills, you’ve instilled the principles of quiet confidence, assertiveness and control that define the PWA motto and the foundation of our training. So thank you.

And then of course our administrative team who are always tirelessly working behind the scenes. We have Christina, our student services coordinator. We have Andrea, our director of administration. We have Omar who does just a little bit of everything. Your leadership and attention to detail keep everything running seamlessly, so thank you for that as well. All right. Graduates class 74. You now joined the ranks of an elite group of certified executive security specialists. You represent Pacific West Academy in everything you do from this day forward. The values you’ve embraced, quiet, assertive, and in control are not just words. They’re principles that will guide you in your careers and in life. They’re qualities that will set you apart and prepare you to excel in this vital and challenging field. Let me remind you this is not the end of your relationship with Pacific West Academy, okay?

You’re now part of this family and we’re here to support you and to help you continue to grow and succeed. Whether you need some guidance, some additional training, or if you just want to reach out to say, “Hey, I did this cool thing,” please stay in touch with us. As we leave here today, I urge you to carry the lessons you’ve learned and the principles you’ve cultivated into everything you do. This world needs protectors, those who bring safety, stability, and integrity to every situation. So be proud of what you’ve achieved and know that we are proud of you. So go forward with confidence, knowing that you’re equipped not only with the skills, but also with the character to make a lasting impact. You are quiet, assertive, and in control of what you do next. Congratulations, Class 74. The future is yours, so go make your mark.