EAGLE DEFENSE

I started Eagle Defense because I LOVE to learn but I hate spending tons of money doing it so I figured there had to be more people like me who love to get a quality learning experience at a quality price, right?

Not only are all of my other instructors proven armed professionals, but close friends of mine whom I've also had the pleasure of working with in a training environment as well as working security details, military units or law enforcement.

I will never post a wanted ad and hire strangers no matter how impressive their resume may be. It's just not how I roll. Everyone I teach with has been to my house and I've been to their house. My daughter plays with their kids. We hang out and talk about things other then guns and work. They're my family.

To us, marksmanship is an art form. It's a dance between man and machine. It's a zen like concentration where you must devote your physical and mental being and fuse them together to achieve your best performance. We believe that marksmanship is a lost art in today's Close Quarters Combat world. Everyone wants to be the bearded operator. Everyone wants to buy up the latest Magpul gear and do the cool Instructor Zero drills. In a world of IDPA competitions, not a lot of people are shooting the bulls eye and high powered matches which are the origins of shooting and shooting sports.

I chose the name Eagle Defense because, to me, it is one of the most American patriotic symbols we have other than a big titted woman in an American flag bikini punching a terrorist in the face with an apple pie but that would take a long time to write over and over again on paperwork and State forms.

We firmly believe that thru marksmanship, we are all celebrating our American heritage and remembering those who fought and sacrificed for that heritage.

At Eagle Defense, not only are we (the staff) devout shooting enthusiasts but American enthusiasts also.

Every time you take someone to the range, or even if you just go shoot by yourself, you are celebrating and remembering everything that makes our Nation truly remarkable.

FOR ME (James)....

This is my art. This is MY community outreach. I don't really believe in donating money to a cause because a lot of times I see that money goes to the operation of the business more so then the people they want to help. Some veterans groups are like this.

I'm in love with the art of teaching because it's how I express myself. I can't paint, I can't draw, I can't sculpt. My craft is on the target and my art is in the minds of my students. I see a lot of things in this business I don't like so how I choose to operate MY business is another way I express that. Apparently I'm doing a great job because I always have people asking eagerly when my next class is.

I met a high school English teacher once who was an Army Captain in the National Guard. He wasn't a huge gun guy but knew about guns and was a great shot and spent enough time in bad places to understand the importance of the skill. I didn't know jack about how to teach high school kids English. What we did know about and agree upon was that teaching is an art form. It's more then the subjects and exercises on the lesson plan. It's about ensuring the student can preform a new skill , retain that new skill and continue to build upon that skill.

Teaching security courses has allowed me to help a lot of Veterans not only get a job, but I get to share my experience and my journey when I left active duty and how I almost lost myself in my own problems and demons. My business allows me to connect with Veterans on a deeper level then just a guard card class. We help each other. They share their stories, I share mine, and we're both better people for the experience.

One of the things I'm trying to consistently do is free security license training for law enforcement and military peeps as well as allow deploying military peeps to come to ANY of my classes for free (maybe for just the range fee.) This is my out reach program. It involves guns and profanity.

When I was a kid, my late grandfather owned a fabrication shop in Brawley off Main Street called the California Manufacturing Company. I called it "The Shop" as a kid and I remember spending time in his office with him while he did fancy business things. Grandpa smoked Winstons and kept a single barrel 12 guage in his office that he called "His Attorney." My dad worked it as a kid and so did my uncles. My youngest uncle worked the shop into his adult years. When grandpa died years and years ago, the shop eventually went out of business and closed. It broke my heart. It was more then a small business to me. It was part of who I was. It was part of my childhood. Any business I own will always be in tribute to my grand father and the shop.

Eagle Defense is very personal to me. It's why I'm always trying new things and I'm never happy with something that isn't absolutely perfect.