The ITS Tactical Crew

Bryan founded ITS Tactical in 2009 with the help of brothers in the Naval Special Warfare Community. While never completing BUD/s and becoming a SEAL, he made it through the large hurdles of Hell Week and Pool Comp with Class 251. After being rolled post Pool Comp in 251 from a torn hip flexor, he sustained a service ending Draeger Dive Injury in 2nd Phase with Class 254. Throughout his time in the Navy and his love of gear and the outdoors, the idea for ITS Tactical was born.

After leaving the service in ’06 and with the help of the GI Bill, Bryan picked up where he left off with his Associates degree in Computer Science and finished his Bachelor’s at the University of Texas in Communication Technology with a Journalism minor. Using these skills coupled with his Military Service, a Web design background and work at a commercial photography studio; he pooled his resources with the advisors below and started ITS.

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“I consider myself part social media consultant, part gadget geek, part idea starter and part professional Internet surfer. I remember having to wait till my Mom was off the phone so I could surf the Net and I’ve never looked back. Oh, I also have a thing for space pens.”

Wanting to utilize the skills learned during his time at Oral Roberts University in the Multi Media Institute, Mike offered to help Bryan in any way possible.

Mike has always been aligned with everything that ITS Tactical stands for, even signing on as the first paying Plank Owner. Despite not having any formal military or law enforcement training (aside from Army JROTC in High School), Mike has a passion for assisting those who serve this great country.

Mike’s hobbies and interests are pretty varied. While not a big fan of organized sports, he is a certified SCUBA diver, mountain bike racer, skydiver and a runner. You can often find him in one of two places; in a survival shelter he built with his knife or in front of his computer.

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Eric grew up in Hawaii and enjoyed the laid back island lifestyle.  A couple of years after high school he wondered what to do in life.  He decided to join the Army Military Police Corps in 1995.

He was first stationed on Johnston Atoll (which is ironically a small island in the Pacific) where he provided physical security for chemical weapons with the USACAP MP Company.

Eric was then assigned to the 545th Military Police Company, First Cavalry Division. After spending time with the 545th in garrison and the field, Eric was selected as the driver for the Assistant Division Commander. This lead to a nine month deployment to Bosnia as a member of the Generals’ PSD Team.

Eric re-enlisted and was assigned to the PSD Team for the CINC, CENTCOM. The PSD Team fell under the leadership of Major General (R) Gary Harrell. There Eric traveled throughout the Middle East, Asia and Europe conducting PSD missions.

Eric left the Army in 2003 and now works as a Deputy Sheriff on a tactical Street Crimes Unit with a large agency in Florida.

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Peter’s two passions (which are sometimes at odds with each other) are human-powered travel in wilderness places and technology. Through the course of the former, he has developed a keen interest in gear, primitive living and survival skills. Wilderness travel also led Peter to gain experience in emergency medicine in remote settings, running the gamut in related certifications and eventually becoming a Wilderness EMT.

His interest in computers — which tends to pay the bills — circles around web development and open source software.

Peter’s relationship with ITS Tactical started as a writer. Later, he took to regularly emailing Bryan notices of typos and other errors in posted articles, which eventually led to an offer of a position as an editor. He is proud to support the open source spread of tactical knowledge that ITS represents.

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Jason has an exceptional background in software engineering, cryptology and computer security, dating back to his service in the US Navy as a Cryptologist during the first Gulf War.

He is the author of “Java Cryptography Extensions,” published by Morgan-Kaufmann, the inventor of the patented Volume Mount Authentication computer security technology, and was recognized in 2000 by the NSA as a talented security designer of critical infrastructure protection.

Jason earned his MA in Intelligence (Information Warfare) from American Military University and is also a Plank Owner here at ITS Tactical.

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All things graphics and Illustration, Matt has worked in the design industry for more than 20 years. “While attending OBU I was told that I would never get anywhere in life drawing ‘that way,’ I quickly departed Shawnee and the OBU program much like Gale and Evelle Snoats in Raising Arizona as I too felt that the institution no longer had anything to offer me.”

Starting with a simple patch job for ITS, Matt offered to help Bryan and ITS with any graphics and designing that would be needed. Fluent in the creative suite of Adobe products, Matt’s work is all digitally rendered from start to finish using a WACOM Cintiq, Painter11, Sketchbook Pro, and Manga Studio Debut4 for his illustrations, and Adobe products for graphic design and layout. “I get to draw pictures all day.”

When not basking in the soft warm glow of monitor illumination, Matt tends to his hobbies and interests of Zombies, UFOs, Sasquatch, technophilia and all things handed down to man from Cupertino California. In general a geek who can be found outdoors when the internet is broken.

Kelly met Bryan in a backpacking class in college and had him convinced she was an outdoorsy kind of gal. He soon realized it would take some additional coaching to get her to enjoy the outdoors on a regular basis and embrace preparedness as a way of life.

Since marrying Bryan in 2004 Kelly’s been challenging herself to learn basic skill-sets and help support Bryan’s vision for ITS Tactical. “Learning how to take care of yourself from a physical and mental perspective is empowering. I can honestly say adopting a more tactical perspective has helped me become a stronger person.” Kelly is excited about her involvement with ITS and manages purchasing, accounting, human resources, inventory, helps with articles and with anything in between as needed.

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Rob is the most recent member to join ITS and is an integral part of many of the inner-workings around the HQ. He manages the processing and shipping of online store orders, oversees inventory, processes membership updates, assists with audio and video production and is always ready to tackle whatever task may come his way.

His background consisting of Information Technology, Network Security and Audio/Video Production is utilized daily with all the different projects he’s a part of.

While Rob’s interests are varied and include a trifecta of G’s – Gear, Guns and Guitars, we won’t hold it against him that he folds the toilet paper when he puts on a new roll!

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