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JIM WAGNER
Jim Wagner has 40+ years of tactical training and experience that will benefit you and your child, or children, as the violence increases everywhere.
Yes, it’s possible to learn some self-defense and survival techniques by watching a bunch of YouTube videos, and then teach them to your child, or children; provided you know the difference between the real instructors and illegitimate ones, or the difference between authentic techniques and ones that would never work in a real situation, and have the background to know what's missing and what's not. But there’s a big problem with the YouTube training approach when it comes to your safety, and the safety of your child, or children. For example, it’s possible to learn how to skydive or SCUBA dive by watching YouTube videos, but would you dare jump out of an airplane at 15,000 feet, or descend 20 feet under the water, based on what you learned from videos or from books? No! Absolutely not! You wouldn’t do it because it’s literally at matter of life-or-death. You’d want an experienced instructor, preferably a highly trained military one, who has jumped out of airplanes countless times, or an instructor who has been on lots of dives in lakes and oceans, because you know that if one critical detail is missed, or if one mistake is made that you may not even be aware of, it could cost you your life. Therefore, you’d want an instructor to teach you want to do for all the “what ifs?” What if something goes wrong? or, What if this happens, or if that happens? Likewise, you don’t want your life, or the life of your child, or children, to depend on videos, books, articles, or instructors with little or no real-world experience when it comes to today’s threats of violence. To be adequately trained for all likely threats you’d need to hire a few expert instructors, but that would be timely, costly, and lack a training cohesiveness. Not to worry, because with Jim Wagner, an instructor with 40+ years of training and experience, you and your child, or children, can be trained for all likely threats. When deciding about any investment of your time and money you need to be well informed about the service or product you’re considering, and compare them to what is currently available on the market. To help you make the decision about what self-defense and survival system you need, and who is best qualified to train you and your child, or children, listed here in alphabetical order are Jim Wagner’s qualifications:
BODYGUARD
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a bodyguard beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, must know how to both physically and tactically protect your child, or children, against harm. Or, perhaps, an older child may have to protect a younger sibling when no other supervision is around. Therefore, training from an expert contributes to everyone’s safety. Jim Began his training as a bodyguard (the profession is also known as Executive Protection or Close Protection) in 1993 when he was a police officer, and he had successfully completed his first bodyguard course. His very first principal (also known in the business as a VIP, Very Important Person, or protectee) was the late rapper Tupac Shakur (who had sold more than 75 million records) as he and his entourage were shopping at the posh South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa (the fourth largest shopping mall in the United States). Jim’s sergeant assigned him alone to “shadow” the famous rapper. In 1999 Jim resigned from the Costa Mesa Police Department and taught tactical courses, including Executive Protection courses, exclusively to law enforcement agencies and military units for eleven months. Then in February of 2000 Jim was sworn in as a Reserve deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (America’s fifth largest sheriff’s department), promoted to the rank of sergeant, and assigned as the Team Leader of the Dignitary Protection Unit (DPU). He, and his team, protected Sheriff Mike Carona (television host Larry King labeled him as “America’s Sheriff) at public events, as well as protecting visiting dignitaries and celebrities. Sergeant Jim Wagner’s highest ranking government principal he was assigned to protect, as the Team Leader, was Rosario Marin, the 41st Treasurer of the United States. On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by Al Qaeda terrorists, and as a result the amount of protection details increased. As a bodyguard instructor, from 2000 to 2002, Jim had the opportunity to teach his skills to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) San Diego Office, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. Marine Corps Provost Marshal Office Camp Pendleton, Spanish Special Operations operators from Bilbao, and he flew down to South America a couple of times to train units of the Argentinean GOE (Grupo de Operaciones Especiales – Special Operations Group) and Brazilian GATE (Grupo de Ações Táticas Especiais – Special Tactical Actions Group). In 2006 Jim was sworn in as a Reserve Soldier with the 4th Military Police, 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California. As a noncommissioned officer, one of his responsibilities was to train select Soldiers for bodyguard missions. Sergeant Wagner was assigned to train and deploy a military team to protect Governor Jerry Brown, as well as being the Team Leader to protect the Adjutant General for the California National Guard, Brigadier General David S. Baldwin. For this mission Staff Sergeant Wagner received the Commanding General’s Certificate of Excellence from his commanding general, Brigadier General Keith D. Jones. Throughout Jim’s law enforcement, military, and training careers, he has worked for a few Executive Protection companies who have hired him to protect celebrities, politicians, musicians, and other prominent people, and he is still called upon regularly to provide his services.
Here’s a partial list of principals Jim Wagner has protected. Only the most prominent (tier one principals) are listed: ACTORSTom Arnold (actor)Scott Bakula (actor)Mel Gibson (director/actor)Kelsey Grammer (actor)Angelina Jolie (director/actress)Matthew Perry (actor)Brad Pitt (actor)Jonathan Roumie (actor) POLITICIANSOfir Akunis (Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science & Technology)Israel Bachar (Israeli Consul General, Los Angeles Consulate)Michele Bachmann (former U.S. Congresswoman)Hecor Barreto (Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration)Sebastian Gorka (former Deputy Assistant to the President) Jody Hice (former U.S. Congressman)Rosario Marin, (41st Treasurer of the United States)Mike Pompeo (former Director of the CIA and U.S. Secretary of State)Roger Stone (political consultant and lobbyist) CORPORATEMike Lindell (CEO of My Pillow, Inc. and author)Dr. Sol Lizerbram (President of the Jewish National Fund USA)Russell F. Robinson (CEO of the Jewish National Fund USA) MILITARYBrigadier General Baldwin (Adjutant General for the California Army National Guard)Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin (RET.) (former Delta Force Commander)Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (RET.) JUSTICERobert F. Kennedy Jr. (lawyer, author, and 2024 presidential candidate) LAW ENFORCEMENTSheriff Michael Carona (Orange County Sheriff’s Department)Sheriff Lee Baca (Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department) MEDIABen Shapiro (radio commentator) John Tesh (TV host) MEDICALDoctor Simone Gold (founder of America’s Frontline Doctors)Doctor Stella Immanuel (physician and speaker)Doctor Sherri Tenpenny (osteopathic physician and author) MUSICSteven Curtis Chapman (singer and song writer)Andy Mineo (hip hop artist, producer, and music executive)Chris Tomlin (singer and songwriter)Crowder (singer songwriter)Danny Goeke (singer and songwriter)Dennis Agajanian (singer and musician)For King & Country (band)Graham Saber (singer and songwriter)Hollyn (Christian singer and songwriter)Izzy Ray (singer and songwriter)Jeremy Camp (singer and songwriter)Jordin Sparks (singer, songwriter and actress)John Tesh (pianist)KB (hip hop artist and music executive)Lecrae (hip hop artist, songwriter, and music executive)Lincoln Brewster (musician, singer, and songwriter)Marty Goetz (singer and composer)MercyMe (band)Newsboys (band)Phil Wickham (singer and song writer)Randy Travis (country singer and song writer)Skillet (rock band)TobyMac (hip hop artist, songwriter, and producer)Tupac Shakur (rapper) RELIGIOUS LEADERSKen Blackwell (Family Research Council Senior Fellow)Ben Courson (founder of Hope Generation & author)Franklin Graham (President of Samaritan’s Purse)Jack Hibbs (Calvary Chapel Chino Hills)Dr. David Hocking (Christian radio preacher)Rabbi Joshua Hoffman (CEO of the Academy for Jewish Religion California, author)Greg Laurie (evangelist/author/movie producer)Jan Markell (Director of Olive Tree Ministries)Naghmeh Panahi (Executive Director TAF Foundation and speaker)Tony Perkins (U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)Chuck Smith (Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa)Amir Tsarfati (Director of Behold Israel, author and speaker) SPORTSJoe Cortez (boxing referee) Darryl Strawberry (Major League Baseball)
Here’s a partial list of principals Jim Wagner has protected. Only the most prominent (tier one principals) are listed: ACTORSTom Arnold (actor)Scott Bakula (actor)Mel Gibson (director/actor)Kelsey Grammer (actor)Angelina Jolie (director/actress)Matthew Perry (actor)Brad Pitt (actor)Jonathan Roumie (actor) POLITICIANSOfir Akunis (Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science & Technology)Israel Bachar (Israeli Consul General, Los Angeles Consulate)Michele Bachmann (former U.S. Congresswoman)Hecor Barreto (Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration)Sebastian Gorka (former Deputy Assistant to the President) Jody Hice (former U.S. Congressman)Rosario Marin, (41st Treasurer of the United States)Mike Pompeo (former Director of the CIA and U.S. Secretary of State)Roger Stone (political consultant and lobbyist) CORPORATEMike Lindell (CEO of My Pillow, Inc. and author)Dr. Sol Lizerbram (President of the Jewish National Fund USA)Russell F. Robinson (CEO of the Jewish National Fund USA) MILITARYBrigadier General Baldwin (Adjutant General for the California Army National Guard)Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin (RET.) (former Delta Force Commander)Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (RET.) JUSTICERobert F. Kennedy Jr. (lawyer, author, and 2024 presidential candidate) LAW ENFORCEMENTSheriff Michael Carona (Orange County Sheriff’s Department)Sheriff Lee Baca (Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department) MEDIABen Shapiro (radio commentator) John Tesh (TV host) MEDICALDoctor Simone Gold (founder of America’s Frontline Doctors)Doctor Stella Immanuel (physician and speaker)Doctor Sherri Tenpenny (osteopathic physician and author) MUSICSteven Curtis Chapman (singer and song writer)Andy Mineo (hip hop artist, producer, and music executive)Chris Tomlin (singer and songwriter)Crowder (singer songwriter)Danny Goeke (singer and songwriter)Dennis Agajanian (singer and musician)For King & Country (band)Graham Saber (singer and songwriter)Hollyn (Christian singer and songwriter)Izzy Ray (singer and songwriter)Jeremy Camp (singer and songwriter)Jordin Sparks (singer, songwriter and actress)John Tesh (pianist)KB (hip hop artist and music executive)Lecrae (hip hop artist, songwriter, and music executive)Lincoln Brewster (musician, singer, and songwriter)Marty Goetz (singer and composer)MercyMe (band)Newsboys (band)Phil Wickham (singer and song writer)Randy Travis (country singer and song writer)Skillet (rock band)TobyMac (hip hop artist, songwriter, and producer)Tupac Shakur (rapper) RELIGIOUS LEADERSKen Blackwell (Family Research Council Senior Fellow)Ben Courson (founder of Hope Generation & author)Franklin Graham (President of Samaritan’s Purse)Jack Hibbs (Calvary Chapel Chino Hills)Dr. David Hocking (Christian radio preacher)Rabbi Joshua Hoffman (CEO of the Academy for Jewish Religion California, author)Greg Laurie (evangelist/author/movie producer)Jan Markell (Director of Olive Tree Ministries)Naghmeh Panahi (Executive Director TAF Foundation and speaker)Tony Perkins (U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)Chuck Smith (Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa)Amir Tsarfati (Director of Behold Israel, author and speaker) SPORTSJoe Cortez (boxing referee) Darryl Strawberry (Major League Baseball)
COMBAT FIRST AID
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience in combat first aid (also known as Tactical Combat Casualty Care), for trauma life support in prehospital combat medicine, beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, must know how to stop the bleeding your child if injured in your presence in a car accident or an accident at home or during travel. You must also properly teach your child, or children, how to stop the bleeding if they are injured at school (the latest “combat zone” for the past few years) from a bullet, a knife, or shrapnel from a bomb. Jim Wagner’s combat first aid training began in 1980 when he was 18 years old as a private in the U.S. Army, Regular (full time) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. In 1989 Jim had extensive first aid training at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Training Academy when he attended the Corrections Officer Core Course.
In 1990 Jim was the first civilian self-defense instructor to include combat first aid as part of his training program, and ten years later Black Belt Magazine (the world’s oldest and most popular martial arts magazine) and Budo Magazine (of Europe in several languages) published his training methods in articles, books, and videos. For the two years that Jim Wagner was a jailer booking and supervising prisoners, he had to respond to and treat a variety of medical injuries: seizures, blunt trauma from fist fights, and even giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to an inmate, who unfortunately, died. In 1991, as a police recruit for the Costa Mesa Police Department (south of Los Angeles), Jim, once again was given extensive first aid training. As a patrol officer he had to use this training numerous times on the streets: knife wounds, blunt trauma, shock, and he again gave CPR to a victim in 1996. Fortunately, the man lived, and completely recovered. Senior Officer Wagner received his department’s Life Saving Award for this act. From 1994 to 2002 Jim was a tactical instructor, and one of the courses he taught to SWAT officers from many law enforcement agencies was a course titled Tactical Medic. He was tasked with teaching the tactical portion and not the medical procedures, yet he learned a great deal about treating injuries from the medics who taught their half of the courses. In July of 2000 Jim completed a CPR/FIRST AID UPDATE course through the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Then in June of 2000 Jim completed a 16-hour Tactical Medic Course at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) San Diego Field Office which covered: medical assessment in the tactic environment, advanced airway techniques, care under fire, and medical support during sensory overload conditions. In 2002 Jim attended the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLTC) in Artesia, New Mexico for counterterrorism training, and received training in first aid, CPR, and AED (Automated External Defibrillator). In 2006 Jim once again became a soldier, and that same year he attended a course titled MILITARY AND CIVILIAN INTERPHASE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT AND TRIAGE OF EXPLOSIVE INJURIES; in other words, injuries caused by bombs. It was taught by Millicent Wilson, MD, Disaster Training Specialist. Then in 2010 and again in 2013 Sergeant First Class Wagner successfully completed the U.S. Army 40-hour Combat Lifesaving Course. In 2019, as a private security guard with Allied Universal (the largest security company in the United States), Jim attended the Heat Illness Prevention Program, and then the same course again a few months later working for Disneyland Security & Emergency Management. Additional training courses that same year included: Respiratory Protection, Safety In Motion, CPR/AED Certification and Recertification, First Aid Essentials, and Protection from Wildfire Smoke. In 2020 Jim was presented with a challenge coin by the Irvine Police Department with the words IN RECOGNITION OF OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY upon it for saving the life of an accident victim who had a severed right leg in which Jim placed a tourniquet on it to stop arterial bleeding. In 2022 Jim treated a gunshot wound to a man’s right leg by stuffing the wound channel with a hemostatic dressing after a tourniquet had been placed above the wound. Every year Jim teaches many Security Operations courses, and combat first aid is included in many of the courses. Of course, every two years Jim recertifies in first aid/CPR/AED to stay current.
COUNTERTERRORIST
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience in anti-terrorism (preventing and detecting terrorism) and counterterrorism (engaging terrorists directly to neutralize the threat) beneficial to you and your child, or children? Two notorious incidents, out of many, are an example why – the Columbine High School Massacre on April 20, 1999 (when two gunmen murdered 13 people and injured 21 by gunfire, and they had 99 bombs with them) and the Beslan School Siege September 1-3, 2004 (when 32 terrorists murdered 334 people, 186 of them children, with assault rifles and suicide bombings). Not since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, has the United States been at such a high level of warning for terrorism as in this year. Jim began his anti-terrorism and counterterrorism training in the mid 1990s with the FBI, U.S. Army 19th Special Forces, U.S. Navy Provost Marshal Office (PMO), U.S. Marines Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST), U.S. Marshal Service Special Operation Group (SOG), and other agencies and units he was training with, or training, at the time. In 1999, while teaching a seminar for the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET) in Los Angeles, a member of Germany’s national counterterrorist team, Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (more commonly known as GSG 9) asked Jim after the course had ended if he would be willing to fly to their headquarters in Sankt Augustin, Germany and train instructors and operators of the unit, since Jim had created the most realistic and effective way for patrol and SWAT officers to survive knife attacks. Jim not only taught his SURVIVING EDGED WEAPONS (now called KNIFE SURVIVAL) course in November 1999, but also American Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and a tactical pistol training course when he was there. In return, GSG 9 instructors, of the 1st Operational Unit (sniping) and the 3rd Operational Unit (airborne operations) taught Jim their CQB methods in their new 10 million euro shoot house and put him behind the Heckler & Koch PSG1 sniper rife on a live-fire range for sniper training. The commander of GSG 9, Friedrich Eichele, was so pleased with Jim’s training that he had given that the following year they flew him out to Germany again to teach more courses. This connection to GSG 9 led to Jim training their Federal Police Academy instructors in Lübeck, their Military Police instructors (Feldjäger Bundeswehr), and three of the 16 Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK) units, which are the state “SWAT/counterterrorism” teams of the German State Police forces. In March of 2001, a few months before 9-11, Jim was invited by a member of YAMAM ( יחידה מרכזית מיוחדת -Special Central Unit), Israel’s national counterterrorism unit, to provide the Israel Police Operational Fitness Academy in Havatselet Hasharon with his SURVIVING EDGED WEAPONS course. Like German GSG 9, the Israelis reciprocated by teaching Jim their CQB methods, and an Israel Border Police sergeant took him on a gun range for familiarization training with Israeli firearms systems. He also received a private lesson from a member of the Bomb Squad. On September 12, 2001, the day after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on American soil, Sergeant Wagner, of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Dignitary Protection Unit (DPU), was ordered to report to the Orange County Airport, in uniform, and help secure the airport against any further terrorist attacks. Since Jim had been in Israel receiving training on Islamic terrorism only six months prior to the attack on the United States, he was asked to give a briefing on counterterrorism to the FBI agents, deputies, and airport management personnel assigned to the airport that day. After the briefing he was in charge of the check point for all vehicles coming into the airport. At the start of the Global War on Terrorism the Israelis invited Jim back in December 2002 to train new army recruits of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), only this time it was to teach parts of his Ground Survival and Conflict Conditioning courses. After Jim provided the training at the Bahad 8 military base, his host fulfilled his request by having him participate in a tactical pistol course on a live-fire gun range. In February 2002 Sergeant Wagner resigned from the sheriff’s department as he was applying as a U.S. Federal Air Marshal with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and a month later he was hired and sent for a week to the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey for his initial training and then five weeks of counterterrorism training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia, New Mexico. Upon graduation Jim was assigned to the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service Los Angeles Field office and completed a total of 125 missions (undercover doing surveillance on airports and flying aboard U.S. air carriers). Once the aviation sector was secure, Jim went back to full time training, but this time he started teaching civilians again; something he had not done since 1990 (13 years earlier), and that’s because he believed that the martial arts community was not preparing students for modern crime and terrorism. Therefore, he created his own system to meet this need, and he named his new system Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection with the tag line BE A HARD TARGET. One of the civilian courses Jim created and taught for the system was Terrorism Survival, the first of its kind for civilian self-defense. For the two decades (2003 to 2023) Jim taught his Reality-Based Personal Protection system, thousands of people have successfully completed it: martial arts instructors from every fighting system imaginable, students, beginners, bouncers, bodyguards, and private security guards. In 2006 Jim Wagner was sworn in again (a formal ceremony giving allegiance to the United States Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic), only this time as a Reserve soldier at Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB), assigned to the 4th Military Police, 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade. Soon after his Basic Orientation Course (BOC) at Camp Parks Reserve Forces Training Area in Dublin, California he was promoted to the rank of sergeant (E-5). Soon afterwards Jim received training from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) and became the unit’s Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO). In 2013 Sergeant First Class Wagner was reassigned to Security Forces (SECFOR) where he became the Battalion’s TLO and the Team Leader of the Special Reaction Team (SRT), which is the equivalent of a civilian SWAT team. With the help of his First Sergeant and his officers all up the chain of command, and with the approval of the Adjunct General of the Army National Guard in Sacramento, SFC Wagner was the first in the base’s history to form, train, and deploy an SRT. For the last year of SFC Wagner’s military career he was assigned as the NCOIC SECFOR (Installation Support Command), which is the acronym for Noncommissioned Officer In Charge of Security Forces. This position gave him the authority of base security when his full-time counterpart was off duty, unavailable, or ordered to command missions. It was during this time that he was promoted to Master Sergeant (E-8). As a civilian Jim was vetted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and was certified as an Infrastructure Liaison Officer (ILO) on July 8, 2017. The training included terrorism recognition, awareness, and prevention. From 2017 to 2024 Jim continued to attend Department of Homeland Security and FBI courses, all related to security. Also in 2024, Jim, for the first time in his teaching career, offered age-appropriate Terrorism Survival techniques and tactics to children due to the elevated threat of terrorism in the United States.
D.A.R.E. OFFICER
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a police D.A.R.E. Officer (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guarding, will receive training from a professional instructor who was trained by the Los Angeles Police Department (80 hours) in D.A.R.E., which is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure, stay away from drugs, and avoid gangs and violence. Jim taught D.A.R.E. lessons in private and public classrooms, and so he knows the attention span and maturity level of each age group. Having worked with children for a year and a half, Jim knows how to motivate children to want to learn, and he took that classroom experience and developed his own survival lessons that will contribute to your success in teaching your child, or children, how to be safe in an increasingly violent world.
FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a firearms instructor for the military, law enforcement, bodyguards, and private security, plus being a Range Safety Officer (RSO), beneficial to you, and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guarding, need to use inexpensive age-appropriate training tools for those lessons that make your child’s, or children’s, conditioned survival learning better with firing non-lethal projectiles, be it with foam darts (from toy guns made for children) or plastic 6 mm balls (Airsoft guns perfect for middle school and high school children), before they face the real thing from a gunman. What better opportunity to learn the right way than with a firearms expert. In addition, you'll learn gun safety, because even handling toy training guns requires the same safety procedures as the real ones. Jim’s formal firearms training began in 1980 when he enlisted in the United States Army. In Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina he qualified as EXPERT with the M-16 rifle. In 1991 Jim attended the Orange County Sheriff’s Training Academy (the police academy) and received five months of pistol and shotgun training. As a police officer with the Costa Mesa Police Department, he was required to qualify once a month with his duty pistol and once a year with the shotgun. That same year, in October, Jim was invited to be on a United States Marine Opposition Force (OPFOR) to train police and military snipers in the desert outside of Victorville, California. His participation opened up opportunities for Jim to be invited to train more units, and it wasn’t long until Jim was a regular guest instructor at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, a relationship with the Marines that lasted nine years. In exchange for teaching various Marines units civilian SWAT tactics and Jim’s original hand-to-hand combat system, Division Schools allowed Jim to participate in many Marine training courses, many of which were firearms courses: Scout Sniper School, M-16 rifle, M-9 pistol, Military Operations Urban Terrain Assault Course, Close Quarters Battle in the Shoot House of Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), and a three-day Range Safety Officer (RSO) course through CRCF Longrifle, which allowed Jim to be in charge of running “hot” ranges for military units (Marines and U.S. Army Special Forces) as well as local and federal law enforcement agencies he taught there. When Jim was on his department’s Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team for three years (1994 to 1997) he was cross trained in all disciplines: logistics, command post operations, entry team, and sniper team. With the sniper team he was trained on the Remington Model 700 police sniper rifle. On August 14, 1995, during the 12th Annual “Group Therapy” SWAT Sniper Competition (for civilian SWAT snipers and military snipers), with the Model 700, Jim placed as one of the TOP TWENTY SHOOTERS in the State of California. It was the one and only firearms competition he ever attended. From 2000 to 2002, when Jim was a deputy sheriff, he had to qualify with his duty pistol once a month, and attend a Patrol Shotgun Update Training once a year. During those two years with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Jim taught many firearms courses to law enforcement agencies and military units in North America, South America, and Europe. Of course, Jim took full advantage of those agencies and military units that hired him, by always trying to get some reciprocal training from their instructors if time and range availability allowed. Here's a few examples: Jim received training on Israeli firearm systems from the Israel Border Police in March of 2001, a police pistol training course on the P6 (SIG Sauer P225) from the Grenzschutzschule (Federal Border Police Academy) in Lübeck, Germany on April 6, 2001, M-14 and M-16 rifle training from the Naval Air Security Police at Whidbey Island, Washington, and many more. Of course, the advantage of teaching, and training with, so many domestic and foreign agencies and units is learning and comparing a wide variety of firearms techniques, tactics, and training methods, which means not ever falling into the “group think” mentality. During the Global War on Terrorism, for five weeks in 2022, Jim was on the pistol range every other day at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) for counterterrorism training, and qualified as EXPERT on the Practical Pistol Course, and awarded a certificate for it. At FLETC he received even more pistol training in the Federal Air Marshal Basic Training Course. This training was all about shooting inside passenger aircraft, and with over 150 passengers aboard a tubular environment, one cannot miss a shot. From January 2006 to March 2016 Jim was a Reserve soldier (Military Police for 8 years and Security Forces for 2 years) at Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, California. On duty he carried the M9 pistol (the Beretta 92FS), which was the standard sidearm used by the United States Armed Forces up until 2017. Sergeant Wagner had to qualify with this firearm once a year, but trained on it regularly, along with the M-16 rifle. In 2020 Jim started training with the civilian National Rifle Association (NRA) earning his way up to Pistol Instructor and then Chief Range Safety Officer (RSO) on September 30, 2022. Jim teaches firearms courses to various security organizations, and works armed security details, a minimum of twice a month. Obviously, many criminals and terrorists use firearms to intimidate or harm people, which unfortunately sometimes includes young victims. Jim, being someone who has used firearms throughout his entire career is also qualified to teach you and your child, or children, how to avoid being shot by them, or if shot, how to tend to the gunshot wound.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a law enforcement officer with a few agencies, and a Military Police Soldier, beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, will be receiving training from an instructor and who has arrested hundreds of criminals responding to crimes in progress and who has investigated thousands of crimes, from misdemeanors to violent felonies (robberies, theft, assault, domestic violence, drugs and drunks, vandalism, burglary, etc.). Many crimes include crimes against children. In addition, Jim has received formal training in human trafficking of children. As such, Jim knows exactly what your child, or children, need in the way of survival training to avoid becoming a victim. Jim Wagner served as a municipal (city) senior police officer with the Costa Mesa Police Department, and then as a sergeant deputy sheriff (county) with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (the fifth largest sheriff’s department in the United States). As a Military Police sergeant (state) Jim had to patrol, and supervise others, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos in Southern, California. A military base, which is essentially a mini city, is patrolled much like a civilian city, and subject to many of the crimes that a municipality experiences. JFTB also included the Sunburst Youth Challenge Academy (a residential leadership academy for teens) and the STARBASE (a Department of Defense Youth Program for fifth graders to learn science, engineering, and math). Jim also served as a federal law enforcement agent, a U.S. Federal Air Marshal (FAM), in counterterrorism throughout the country’s airports and aboard American passenger aircraft. This training and experience play an important role in training children how to survive a terrorist school at school or other potential targets. Jim is an Honorary Police Officer Instructor of the Amsterdam Police Training Center (Politie, Regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland), Holland.
MARTIAL ARTIST
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience in the martial arts (arts of combat, self-defense, and sport), beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because, depending on age, a couple of the courses available to you provide some self-defense techniques and tactics that are necessary for survival. When Jim Wagner was 14 years old, he began studying Korean Tae Kwon Do from Alfonso Uceda for the sole purpose of being able to defend himself against big bullies in school. This life-changing endeavor became a life-long study of many fighting systems from around the world, which, because of the “warrior spirit” the martial arts instilled in him, led to a military and law enforcement (a paramilitary organization) career. The martial arts systems that Jim Wagner studied throughout his life, in chronological order, are listed here:
• Tae Kwon Do (Korean)• Greco-Roman wrestling (Greek-Roman)• Karate Roybu-Kai (Japanese)• Judo (Japanese)• Kenpo (Hawaiian)• Kung-fu Po-Keck Yin Yang (Chinese)• Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s system)• Wing Chun (Chinese)• Kali, Escrima, Arnis (Filipino)• Fencing, foil (European)• Archery (European)• Basic Combat Training (U.S. Army)• Boxing (American)• Defensive Tactics (law enforcement)• LINE (Linear Involuntary Neural-override Engagement – U.S. Marines)• HISARDUT (Israeli)• Krav Maga (Israeli)• KAPAP (Israeli)• Combatives (U.S. Army) • Wagner's Modern Fighting Methods • Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection • Children Survival
Martial Arts awards and honors that he received during his 20 years of teaching his own system Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection:
• Defensive Tactical Instructor of the Year 2015 presented by Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame (UMAHoF)
• Excellence in the Martial Arts 2013 presented by Martial Arts History Museum • Silver Life Achievement Award 2011 presented by Masters Hall of Fame
• Self-Defense Instructor of the Year 2006 presented by Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame
• Outstanding Achievement 2006 presented by Budo International Hall of Fame
If you combine Jim’s 40+ years of teaching law enforcement Defensive Tactics, military Combatives, the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system, and Children Survival, he has taught in 20 countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Czech Republic, Israel, Ireland, and South Africa.
• Tae Kwon Do (Korean)• Greco-Roman wrestling (Greek-Roman)• Karate Roybu-Kai (Japanese)• Judo (Japanese)• Kenpo (Hawaiian)• Kung-fu Po-Keck Yin Yang (Chinese)• Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s system)• Wing Chun (Chinese)• Kali, Escrima, Arnis (Filipino)• Fencing, foil (European)• Archery (European)• Basic Combat Training (U.S. Army)• Boxing (American)• Defensive Tactics (law enforcement)• LINE (Linear Involuntary Neural-override Engagement – U.S. Marines)• HISARDUT (Israeli)• Krav Maga (Israeli)• KAPAP (Israeli)• Combatives (U.S. Army) • Wagner's Modern Fighting Methods • Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection • Children Survival
Martial Arts awards and honors that he received during his 20 years of teaching his own system Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection:
• Defensive Tactical Instructor of the Year 2015 presented by Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame (UMAHoF)
• Excellence in the Martial Arts 2013 presented by Martial Arts History Museum • Silver Life Achievement Award 2011 presented by Masters Hall of Fame
• Self-Defense Instructor of the Year 2006 presented by Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame
• Outstanding Achievement 2006 presented by Budo International Hall of Fame
If you combine Jim’s 40+ years of teaching law enforcement Defensive Tactics, military Combatives, the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system, and Children Survival, he has taught in 20 countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Czech Republic, Israel, Ireland, and South Africa.
PRIVATE SECURITY
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a private security guard and security supervisor beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because Jim knows the strengths and weaknesses of the security provided by private and public schools, places of worship, and shopping malls that your child, or children, will be at. During Jim’s law enforcement career, and before going back into the military, he received 40 hours of training from the State of California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services and was certified as a private security guard. While Jim was a Reserve deputy his first part time private security job was for a private investigator conducting surveillance on people who were believed to have committed Workmans Comp insurance fraud (people who claim they were injured at work to receive insurance money, but who had no injuries to prevent them from working). From a hidden location Jim would get video footage of the claimants doing physical activity, contrary to their claim, to prove in a court of law that they were not injured. After retirement from the military on March 13, 2016, Jim worked for a few fortune 500 companies, sometimes on a part time basis and sometimes full time, for short periods of time (anywhere from a few months and up to a year), and that’s because he had the luxury of doing so while running his own training company Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection. Jim wanted to get more training and experience in private security since more and more security companies were coming to him for training, and Jim’s philosophy has always been that if you’re going to teach people in a tactical profession you should know as much as you can about it since people’s safety depends on what he teaches. When Jim worked for the Costa Mesa Police Department, and then later for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, he had always heard from fellow officers about how professional the security team was at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, but openings were very rare. Then on December 2, 2015, two radical Islamic terrorists murdered 14 people and injured 24 with assault rifles in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. This tragic event prompted The Walt Disney Company to increase their security forces in California and Florida, and they hired hundreds of people to fill the new positions. On October 19, 2016, Jim was hired as a full time “cast member” and assigned to the Disneyland Resort Security & Emergency Services. His training included the training that every cast member receives during the onboarding process, which starts at “Disney U” (Disney University) with the program titled Traditions (Disney history and values). The training continues with Step Into The Magic (park operations and public relations with guests). Next was the 24 hours of the Disneyland Resort Security Training Academy, and upon graduation he received his Proprietary Private Security Officer certificate from BSIS. The final phase of training was On the Job Training, which required working the various security posts while under observation by instructors. When Jim was rehired in September of 2019, this time for a part time position in security, he had to go through the entire process again, and twice he had to “earn his ears” (the famous Mikey Mouse ears hat given to graduates upon graduation of Disney University). Once trained, Jim’s duties were Security Guest Screening (searching literally thousands of guest’s bags and strollers, including their persons going through magnetometers just like TSA does at airports), foot patrols, bomb and dangerous items searches of the property, and official French translator. Jim’s time at Disneyland Resort provided him with valuable experience working with children, parents, and guardians (the most concentration of them in the world). All the while Jim was a cast member at The Happiest Place on Earth, he was still required to take continuing education, which included: Child Protection Awareness, Human Trafficking Prevention Training, Jim worked briefly for SECURITAS (the world’s largest private security company in the world) in 2018, and then in October of that same year went to work for Allied Universal (the largest private security company in the United States). The management saw an opportunity with Jim’s training and experience and imbedded him into Blizzard Entertainment Global Security (the largest video gaming company in the world) at the corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. The security team in place there was dysfunctional to the point that Allied Universal was given one last chance at fixing the problem or lose the contract with Blizzard. As Jim’s supervisor worked on the administrative end, Jim was in charge of all training and supervision of the approximately 20 private security guards. Only three months after Jim taking charge of the team the management of Blizzard Entertainment saw the improvements with the security team that protected a campus of over 20 corporate buildings, and the contract was renewed. Both Allied Universal and Blizzard Entertainment presented Jim with the PHENOMENAL PERFORMANCE AWARD on January 24, 2019, and he was promoted to Post Commander. While working for Allied Universal and Blizzard Entertainment Jim was still required to attend mandatory yearly State of California private security training, which included INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN TRAFFICING that was completed on February 25, 2019, and MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: WHAT SECURITY NEEDS TO KNOW completed on April 10, 2019. After leaving Allied Universal and Blizzard Entertainment Jim did some part time security work for Contemporary Services Corporation, more commonly known by its acronym CSC (the largest crowd management and event security company in the United States). Through CSC Jim did screening of fans and foot patrol at Anaheim Stadium for the Los Angeles Angels (a professional baseball team of the American League), he was assigned to monitor students at the prom at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, provided security for the graduation ceremony at Huntington Beach High School and at a football game at University High School located in Irvine, California. Both his security job at Disneyland Resort and CSC ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. Although he was kept on the books as an employee, and asked to return when the pandemic was declared over, Jim turned down both offers. Instead, Jim worked with a few smaller organizations providing armed security and Executive Protection, and he is still called upon today for assignments; that is if he is not teaching Children Survival. For six months (from October 2, 2023 to April 3, 2024) Jim was a full time undercover armed Campus Supervisor at Crean Lutheran High School (a private Christian school with 1,100 students and 100 teachers and staff members located in Irvine, California) with the primary responsibility of responding to an active shooter event or terrorist attack.
In the course of his duties as a Campus Safety Supervisor Jim conducted bomb searches, visual and physical sweeps for potential snipers of the three hills that surround the campus, questioning of people without visitor badges, and monitoring the behavior of students. In the past Jim trained administrators, staff, and teachers at other high schools, along with dozens of law enforcement agencies and military units on how to tactically respond to school shootings. However, it was his time at Crean Lutheran High School that gave him in the in depth knowledge of the day-to-day operations of a high school, exposure to the various categories of attitudes toward campus safety (from the “It will never happen here” types to those who wanted to be prepared for the worst-case scenario), and insights to the weaknesses of most schools that hostiles can take advantage of to harm the children that could have only come by working on the inside. During Jim’s time with CLHS he attended the Campus Safety Symposium, hosted by Cerritos College, on February 16, 2024. The symposium was for personnel providing safety or security to private and public schools. One of the presenters, a Chief of Campus Safety for a Southern California college, was one of Jim’s soldiers under his command when they were in the same Military Police unit together. It’s a small world.
Currently as a Infrastructure Liaison Officer (ILO) through the FBI, Jim has attended many security training courses that are also related to school safety and security, such as: the COUNTERINTELLIGENCE & COMBATING NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS, OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH, ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE INSIDER THREAT PROGRAM, ADVANCED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, TRAPP (TERRORISM RECOGNITION, AWARENESS, AND PREVENTION PARTNERSHIP), BTRAP (BEHAVIORAL THREAT RECOGNITION AND PREVENTION, and more.
SEARCH & RESCUE
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience in Search & Rescue (SAR) beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, may want additional lessons (not currently listed on this website) to teach you, your child, or children, how to prepare for, and how to survive during and after, a man-made or natural disaster. In 1987 Jim was a member of the civilian Saddleback Search & Rescue team. At this time in history there were many more square miles of wilderness than there are today in Orange County, California. His training with the team included rope rappelling, victim rescue, land navigation, and a S.E.R.E. (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) course taught by U.S. Navy instructors from San Diego, California. The S.E.R.E. training was all about how to live off the land, and the “classroom” was in the wilderness: temporary shelter made from natural materials, water procurement, identification of edible plants and insects, trapping mammals, skinning animals, and fire making. While on Saddleback Search & Rescue team Jim received additional rope training from the Riverside Sheriff’s Department during a joint training exercise. From 1988 to 2016 Jim would occasionally teach a wilderness survival course to his self-defense students in the San Bernardino mountains, and he taught the same course in northern Italy. In Solingen, Germany Jim created and taught the Urban Survival course to his students on how to survive in an urban environment after a major disaster without utilities and the cessation of the supply chain. From 2007 to 2014 Staff Sergeant Wagner was ordered a few times by his command to teach State Guard and California National Guard troops military land navigation courses. In 2009 Jim was a student at the Staufer Kaserne military base (International Special Training Center) in Pfullendorf, Germany combined with practical application in the nearby forest, taught by German Army S.E.R.E. instructors. Most people in society do not know how to survive in the wilderness, nor how to obtain food and water in an urban area weeks after a natural disaster or war. Even if you, your child, or children, may never need these unique skills, they are a life saver if the worst were to occur.
SOLDIER
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as an American Soldier beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, need to start training now for the “mini wars” that may come: an active shooter at school, crossfire from a gang shooting while walking or driving down the street, an armed robbery gone bad in a shopping mall, or even a terrorist attack. The hostile(s) will be using “warfare” methods, and so you too must know some few military evasion and defensive techniques and tactics as well, the things the schools and martial arts schools just won’t teach. Jim began his military career with the United States Army Regular (meaning a full time Soldier) straight out of high school at 18 years old. He received his Basic Combat Training (also known by some by its old nickname “Boot Camp”) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. It was there that he was trained on the M-16 rife (receiving the EXPERT medal during qualification), M-60 machine gun, M72 LAW (portable unguided anti-tank missile), and fragmentation hand grenades. In conjunction with weapons training was intensive training in combat techniques and tactics for a battlefield environment. As a Soldier, Jim realized that much of his former martial arts training lacked the realistic training that the U.S. provided, and thus began a long road of Jim discovering and creating a new way of learning and teaching self-defense, which eventually became known as Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection that he taught in 20 countries for 20 years, and then the offshoot system - Children Survival. So revolutionary were Jim’s ideas and methods in the civilian martial arts community that Black Belt Magazine (the world’s oldest and most popular martial arts magazine) gave him his own monthly column (as well as producing many of his books and videos), and his articles appeared regularly in Budo Magazine (in several languages in Europe), as well as feature articles in Blitz Magazine (Australia) and other publications. After the Army Jim went to college majoring in graphic arts, and then enjoyed a seven-year career in advertising and marketing, but when a recession hit the United States, and advertising was the first thing being cut from the budget of many companies, Jim became a corrections officer (working in a men’s jail facility), then a police officer, a Reserve deputy, and then a U.S. federal agent to fight in the Global War on Terrorism. This amounted to thirteen years of law enforcement training and experience up to that time. In January of 2006 Jim was sworn in, once again, as a Reserve Soldier assigned to the 4th Military Police, 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California. This military base also serves as the Southern California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Master Sergeant (E-8) Wagner served the California State Guard and the California Army National Guard for 10 years and was presented with a certificate of retirement from both organizations under the California Military Department on March 5, 2016. His assignment for the last year of service was as the NCOIC ISC SECFOR (Noncommissioned Officer In Charge of Installation Support Command Security Forces). He was in command of 25 permanent Security Forces soldiers for dispatch, patrol, special events, and the Special Reaction Team (SRT). During Jim’s decade in the military as a Reserve soldier, other than his Military Police and Security Forces duties, he had the additional duties of:
• Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO) for the Installation Support Command Battalion
• Initial Entry Force Training instructor (combat training for a highly capable force to react to a full range of security challenges) for deployment of Army Reserve and Army National Guard troops to the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and for stateside missions
• Combatives Instructor (hand-to-hand combat)
• Close Protection Instructor (protection of high-ranking military officers from assassination, kidnapping, injury, or embarrassment)
• Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) instructor
• Military Map Reading & Land Navigation instructor Jim was awarded twice the California Commendation Medal. Once in 2006 for “meritorious achievement” for training the Soldiers of the 40th Military Police Company, and the second 2014 for “exceptional meritorious service while assigned to the ISC SECFOR as the Senior Training NCO.” He also received in 2010 the Department of the Army Certificate of Achievement for his “expertise, enthusiasm, and dedication” training the 693rd Quartermaster Company in a variety of combat skills. Jim is also an Honorary Member of the Brazilian Air Force (Membro Honorário da Força Aérea Brasileira) Canoas, Brazil. If warriors have been happy with Jim’s training, to the point of giving him medals, certificates, and letters of appreciation, then you can be certain that you’ll be happy with the training he can provide you and your child, or your children.
• Initial Entry Force Training instructor (combat training for a highly capable force to react to a full range of security challenges) for deployment of Army Reserve and Army National Guard troops to the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and for stateside missions
• Combatives Instructor (hand-to-hand combat)
• Close Protection Instructor (protection of high-ranking military officers from assassination, kidnapping, injury, or embarrassment)
• Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) instructor
• Military Map Reading & Land Navigation instructor Jim was awarded twice the California Commendation Medal. Once in 2006 for “meritorious achievement” for training the Soldiers of the 40th Military Police Company, and the second 2014 for “exceptional meritorious service while assigned to the ISC SECFOR as the Senior Training NCO.” He also received in 2010 the Department of the Army Certificate of Achievement for his “expertise, enthusiasm, and dedication” training the 693rd Quartermaster Company in a variety of combat skills. Jim is also an Honorary Member of the Brazilian Air Force (Membro Honorário da Força Aérea Brasileira) Canoas, Brazil. If warriors have been happy with Jim’s training, to the point of giving him medals, certificates, and letters of appreciation, then you can be certain that you’ll be happy with the training he can provide you and your child, or your children.
SWAT OFFICER & SRT SOLDIER
Why is Jim Wagner’s training and experience as a police Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) officer, Special Reaction Team (SRT) Soldier, and Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO) beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because you, the parent or guardian, need an expert who knows the mentality, techniques, and tactics of active shooters and terrorists, and the knowledge needed to survive their deadly attacks. In the early 1980s, after Jim’s service in the U.S. Army, he began studying about international terrorism because of the increasing terrorist attacks worldwide. In 1990, when Jim was a corrections officer at the Costa Mesa Police Department Men’s Jail Facility, the SWAT team had concerns that one of the most prestigious shopping malls in the country, South Coast Plaza, located right in the middle of Costa Mesa, was a potential terrorist target. Therefore, the team took Jim up on his offer to provide them with an OPFOR (Opposing Force) that they could go up against for realistic counterterrorism training; eleven years before 9-11. Jim recruited several of his martial arts students, formed a “terrorist cell,” and trained them for three months based on his prior military combat training and the research he had done on terrorism. The team was called the Baleric Liberation Army (BLA), named after the city facility where the weekly training took place – the Baleric Community Center. The SWAT team was so impressed with the training that Jim had provided them, he was asked to create and run two additional scenario training sessions later that same year: one was a robbery gone bad by six gang members who had barricaded themselves in a store with a few employees and shoppers as hostages, and the second scenario was a mentally disturbed male suspect who had taken his girlfriend hostage. By providing the SWAT team with scenario training, Jim received his beginning education in the techniques and tactics of the Crisis Negotiation Team, Logistics, Command & Control, Intelligence, Entry Team, and Sniper Team. In 1991 the scenario training stopped because Jim’s department hired him as a police recruit and sent him to the police academy (the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Training Academy Class 104). Upon graduation on June 21, 1991, he was sworn in as a police officer. However, it wasn’t long until he was back working with the SWAT team, only this time as a SWAT officer on the team beginning March 11, 1994. SWAT officers new to the team were required to start in the Logistics unit to learn all the equipment in the SWAT van, and how to set up and tear down a mobile Command Post (CP). After a year’s time the officers were sufficiently trained in logistics and were then assigned to a specialty, and they generally stayed in that specialty until leaving the team. Jim’s situation was different. The SWAT commander understood Jim’s unique organizational skills, along with his networking with outside law enforcement agencies and military units, and therefore assigned him to the newly created position of Command Post Operations Officer. This role required Jim to be crossed trained in all SWAT disciplines to know intimately how to collect and disseminate tactical information coming in from the field to the SWAT commander, and how to take the information and orders generated at the CP and get them out to the operators. As such Jim trained with, and worked closely with, the Crisis Negotiation Team, Logistics, Command & Control, Intelligence, Entry Team, and Sniper Team. One of Jim’s responsibilities was to be a scout (snipercraft skills) to get as close to the target as possible, collect vital information (by means of photographs, notes, and sketches), return to the CP, and produce the tactical diagrams that operators would rely upon. Jim served on the SWAT team for three years. In 2021, when Jim was in the planning stages of creating a Counter Assault Team (CAT) for the Dignitary Protection Unit (DPU) that he was the Team Leader of, until Al Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States, which changed Jim’s career trajectory. He joined the Global War on Terrorism as a U.S. Federal Air Marshal (FAM) working with small counterterrorist teams at airports and aboard American passenger aircraft. It wasn’t until 2015 that Jim was back on a tactical team. This time it was as the Team Leader of the Special Reaction Team (SRT), which is a military SWAT team. Originally the name for the team was Quick Reaction Force (QRF), but later the command out of Sacramento ordered the name of the team to be changed to SRT because QRF was associated with overseas combat zones, and it gave the wrong impression stateside. Sergeant First Class Wagner’s team was always deployed for major events and elevated threats at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California. Some of the events included the Wings Wheels Rotors Expo held in the fall, July 4th Independence Day held in the summer, and Race on the Base held in the winter, with more than 30,000 guests on the base at each event. Sergeant First Class Wagner received a few letters of appreciations during the ten years he served the California State Guard and the California Army National Guard, and one letter from his Officer in Charge (OIC) was for supervising the Security Forces soldiers to protect Marine One, President Barak Obama’s helicopter, and supporting U.S. Marine CH-53 helicopters and support gear, working with HMX-1 (the Presidential Helicopter Squadron) when the President was giving a speech in Los Angeles. Although Jim was not in charge of the ISC Security Forces at the time he was the Team Leader of the SRT, his First Sergeant placed him in charge of training and commanding the team at a tactical level, and that was because of his former SWAT and counterterrorism training and experience. Eventually Jim was both the Noncommission Officer in Charge of Installation Support Command Security Forces and the Team Leader for the Special Reaction Team. On March 13, 2016, Master Sergeant James Wagner retired from the military after 10 years “of devoted and honorable service” according to Colonel Michael L. Herman who signed his retirement certificate (CAL NG FORM 672-7).
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES and MILITARY UNITS JIM TRAINED AT THEIR FACILITIES
Why are these agencies and units that Jim Wagner has trained at their facilities as an official instructor, and those individuals or teams in the second list that attended Jim’s for training courses in other venues, beneficial to you and your child, or children? The answer is because if the world’s elite received his training to keep them safe, then you and your child, or children, will receive no less. As Jim always says, “Every life is important, whether it’s a Special Forces soldier or a child. That’s why I train them all with equal passion.”
4th Military Police Battalion, California State Military Reserve, Los Alamitos 1/18 Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army Reserve, Los Alamitos California 1/185 AR Support Detachment, California State Military Reserve 21st Security Forces Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado 30th Security Forces Squadron, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California 40th Military Police Company, JFTB, Los Alamitos, California 693rd Quartermaster Company, JFTB, Los Alamitos, California 759th Military Police Battalion, Azusa, CaliforniaAkademie Aegis, Prague, Czech Republic (private security academy) Amtrak Railroad Police, Phoenix, Arizona Ausbildungszentrum Spezielle Operationen, Pfullendorf, Germany (Special Operations Training Center) Brigada Militar do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Batalhão de Operações Especias, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Special Operations Battalion of the Military Police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul)British Columbia Sheriff’s Department, Vancouver, Canada Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of the Interior Специално оперативно милиционерско поделение (СОМП), Special Unit for Combating Terrorism, Sofia, BulgariaНационална Служба за Охрана, National Service for Protection, Sofia, Bulgaria Calackamas County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon California Department of Corrections, California Clark County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Jefferson, Indiana Communauté Urbaine de Montréal Police, Montréal, Canada Dallas Police Department, S.W.A.T., Dallas, Texas Dignitary Protection Unit, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, California Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), San Diego Office, California Escambia County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Pensacola, FloridaGrupo de Operaciones Especiales (GOE), Polícia de Misiones, Misiones, Argentina (Special Operations Group) Grupo de Ações Táticas Especiais (GATE), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Special Actions and Tactics Group) Grupo Especial de Polícia da Aeronáutica, Batalhão de Infantaria, Comando da Aeronáutica, Quinto Comando Aéreo Regional, Canoas, Brazil (Special Air Police Group, Infantry Battalion, Air Command of the 5th Regional Air Command) Grenzschutzgruppe 9, Sankt Augustin, Germany (GSG9 national counterterrorist team) Grenzschutzschule, Lübeck, Germany (Federal Border Police Academy) Grossmont/Cuyamaca District Police, Community College District, Grossmont, CaliforniaHarbor Police, Unified Port District, Port of San Diego, California Helsinki Police Department, Helsinki, Finland Israel Police Operational Fitness Academy, Havatselet Hasharon, Israel Lakeport Police Department, Lakeport, California Los Angeles Airport Police, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles Housing Authority, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLondon Metropolitan Police, London, United Kingdom Marine Security Guard Detachment, American Consulate General, Frankfurt, Germany Matsqui Institution, Abbotsford, Canada (prison guards and Emergency Response Team) McCook Police Department, McCook, Nebraska North Miami Beach Police Department, S.W.A.T., North Miami Beach, Florida Oakland Police Department, Oakland, California OE Investigation Services, Zürich, Switzerland (private security) Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Dignitary Protection Unit, California Pensacola Police Department, Pensacola, Florida Polícia Local, Almería, Spain Poliisikoulu,Tampere, Finland (National Finnish Police Academy) Placentia Police Department, Placentia, California Playas de Rosarito Seguridad y Carcel Publica Municipal, Baja California, Mexico (Security and Public Municipal Jail) Politie, Korps landelijke Politiediensten, Leusden, Holland (National Police Force) Politie, Regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland, Holland (Police Training Center) Prime Minister Protection Detail, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottawa, Canada Quinault Nation Police, Quinault, WashingtonRoyal Dutch Marechaussee, Holland (Schiphol Airport Counterterrorism Police and S.W.A.T. team)Royal Westminster Regiment, Canadian Army Reserve, New Westminster, Canada Security Forces, Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, CaliforniaSecurity Police, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Los Angeles, California Security Police, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington Scout Sniper School, Division Schools, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton Skagit County Sheriff’s Department, Mt. Vernon, Washington Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago Special Response Team, Housing Authority Police Department, Los Angeles Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK-Einsatz), Polizei Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (Special Deployment Commando) Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Boston, Massachussettes Tel-Aviv University Sports Club, Tel-Aviv, Israel United States Air Force Auxiliary / Civil Air Patrol, Los Alamitos, California United States Coast Guard, Sector Los Angeles and USCG Cutter Sherman United States Marine Corps, Division Schools, Camp PendletonUnited States Marine Corps, Provost Marshal Office Special Enforcement Branch, Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma) United States Marine Corps Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), Camp Pendleton, CaliforniaUniversité Paris X, Nonterre, France (University Security)Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver, WashingtonUniversity of Washington Police, WSU, Washington
4th Military Police Battalion, California State Military Reserve, Los Alamitos 1/18 Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army Reserve, Los Alamitos California 1/185 AR Support Detachment, California State Military Reserve 21st Security Forces Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado 30th Security Forces Squadron, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California 40th Military Police Company, JFTB, Los Alamitos, California 693rd Quartermaster Company, JFTB, Los Alamitos, California 759th Military Police Battalion, Azusa, CaliforniaAkademie Aegis, Prague, Czech Republic (private security academy) Amtrak Railroad Police, Phoenix, Arizona Ausbildungszentrum Spezielle Operationen, Pfullendorf, Germany (Special Operations Training Center) Brigada Militar do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Batalhão de Operações Especias, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Special Operations Battalion of the Military Police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul)British Columbia Sheriff’s Department, Vancouver, Canada Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of the Interior Специално оперативно милиционерско поделение (СОМП), Special Unit for Combating Terrorism, Sofia, BulgariaНационална Служба за Охрана, National Service for Protection, Sofia, Bulgaria Calackamas County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon California Department of Corrections, California Clark County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Jefferson, Indiana Communauté Urbaine de Montréal Police, Montréal, Canada Dallas Police Department, S.W.A.T., Dallas, Texas Dignitary Protection Unit, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, California Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), San Diego Office, California Escambia County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Pensacola, FloridaGrupo de Operaciones Especiales (GOE), Polícia de Misiones, Misiones, Argentina (Special Operations Group) Grupo de Ações Táticas Especiais (GATE), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Special Actions and Tactics Group) Grupo Especial de Polícia da Aeronáutica, Batalhão de Infantaria, Comando da Aeronáutica, Quinto Comando Aéreo Regional, Canoas, Brazil (Special Air Police Group, Infantry Battalion, Air Command of the 5th Regional Air Command) Grenzschutzgruppe 9, Sankt Augustin, Germany (GSG9 national counterterrorist team) Grenzschutzschule, Lübeck, Germany (Federal Border Police Academy) Grossmont/Cuyamaca District Police, Community College District, Grossmont, CaliforniaHarbor Police, Unified Port District, Port of San Diego, California Helsinki Police Department, Helsinki, Finland Israel Police Operational Fitness Academy, Havatselet Hasharon, Israel Lakeport Police Department, Lakeport, California Los Angeles Airport Police, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles Housing Authority, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLondon Metropolitan Police, London, United Kingdom Marine Security Guard Detachment, American Consulate General, Frankfurt, Germany Matsqui Institution, Abbotsford, Canada (prison guards and Emergency Response Team) McCook Police Department, McCook, Nebraska North Miami Beach Police Department, S.W.A.T., North Miami Beach, Florida Oakland Police Department, Oakland, California OE Investigation Services, Zürich, Switzerland (private security) Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Dignitary Protection Unit, California Pensacola Police Department, Pensacola, Florida Polícia Local, Almería, Spain Poliisikoulu,Tampere, Finland (National Finnish Police Academy) Placentia Police Department, Placentia, California Playas de Rosarito Seguridad y Carcel Publica Municipal, Baja California, Mexico (Security and Public Municipal Jail) Politie, Korps landelijke Politiediensten, Leusden, Holland (National Police Force) Politie, Regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland, Holland (Police Training Center) Prime Minister Protection Detail, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottawa, Canada Quinault Nation Police, Quinault, WashingtonRoyal Dutch Marechaussee, Holland (Schiphol Airport Counterterrorism Police and S.W.A.T. team)Royal Westminster Regiment, Canadian Army Reserve, New Westminster, Canada Security Forces, Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, CaliforniaSecurity Police, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Los Angeles, California Security Police, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington Scout Sniper School, Division Schools, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton Skagit County Sheriff’s Department, Mt. Vernon, Washington Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago Special Response Team, Housing Authority Police Department, Los Angeles Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK-Einsatz), Polizei Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (Special Deployment Commando) Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., Boston, Massachussettes Tel-Aviv University Sports Club, Tel-Aviv, Israel United States Air Force Auxiliary / Civil Air Patrol, Los Alamitos, California United States Coast Guard, Sector Los Angeles and USCG Cutter Sherman United States Marine Corps, Division Schools, Camp PendletonUnited States Marine Corps, Provost Marshal Office Special Enforcement Branch, Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma) United States Marine Corps Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), Camp Pendleton, CaliforniaUniversité Paris X, Nonterre, France (University Security)Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver, WashingtonUniversity of Washington Police, WSU, Washington
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES and MILITARY UNITS THAT OFFICIALLY SENT THEIR PERSONNEL TO JIM'S TRAINING COURSES
19th Special Forces Group, Military Intelligence Detachment, Camp Pendleton 184th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, California National Guard 759th Military Police Battalion, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Baldwin Park Police Department, Baldwin Park, California Beverly Hills Police Department, Beverly Hills, California Boston Police Department, Special Operations, Boston, Massachusetts Brea Police Department, S.W.A.T., Brea, California Brinks, Berlin, Germany (Security) Calexico Police Department, Calexico, California California Highway Patrol, Yuma, Arizona Cambridge Health Alliance Police, Boston, Massachusetts Canadian Forces Military Police, British Columbia, CanadaCanadian Pacific Railway Police, British Columbia, Canada Capitol Police Department, Washington, D.C. Carlsbad Police Department, Carlsbad, CaliforniaCentro de Instrução de Guerra na Selva (CIGS), Comando Militar da Amazônia, Amazonas, Brazil (Jungle Warfare School for Military Leaders) Clovis Police Department, Clovis, California Clark County Sheriff’s Department, Washington Coalinga Police Department, Coalinga, California Concord Police Department, Concord, CaliforniaCorrectional Services, Ontario, Canada Crown Point Fire-Rescue, Indiana Delta Police Department, Surrey, CanadaDetention Services, North Las Vegas, Nevada Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (Police), Exeter, United Kingdom Diplomatic Security Service, Department of State, San Diego, California El Centro Police Department, El Centro, Californa Esquimalt City Police Department, British Columbia, Canada Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI), S.W.A.T., Phoenix Office, ArizonaFederal Protection Service, Washington, D.C. Feldjäger (German Military Police) Fire Service, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada Fisheries and Oceans, British Columbia, Canada Flagstaff Police Department, Emergency Special Response Team (E.S.R.T.) Flagstaff, Arizona Fort Worth Police Department, S.W.A.T., Forth Worth, Texas Gabinete Militar Do Governador, Roraima, Brazil (Government Cabinet Office) Golden West College Criminal Justice Training Center, Huntington Beach, California Grupo de Operaciones Especiales II, Sante Fe, Granada, Spain (Spanish Army Special Forces) Grupo de Ações Táticas Especiais (GATE), São Paulo, Brazil (Special Actions and Tactics Group) Grupo de Operações Especiais (GOE), Polícia Civil, São Paulo, Brazil (Special Operations Group) Hawthorne Police Department, Hawthorne, California Hemet Police Department, S.W.A.T., Hemet, California Honolulu Police Department, Special Response Team, GOPLAT & live-fire range, California Huntington Beach Police Department, S.W.A.T., Huntington Beach, California Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), San Diego, California Infanteriebataillon 13 KP III, Swiss Army, Switzerland (13th Infantry Battalion) Infranterie-Ausbildungszentrum, Walenstadt/St. Luzisteig, Swiss Army, (Infantry Training Center) Justice Institute of British Columbia, Police Academy, Canada Kantonspolizei, Zürich, Switzerland Kern County Sheriff’s Department, Kern County, California Kreispolizeibehöde Siegen – Wittgenstein (District Police), Siegen, Germany La Habra Police Department, S.W.A.T., La Habra, California Lewisville Police Department, Lewisville, Texas Los Angeles County Probation, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, California Madera County Corrections, Madera, California Milpitas Police Department, Milpitas, California Navajo Nation Police, S.W.A.T., Arizona Nebraska State Game & Parks Commission, Nebraska Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska New Jersey Department of Correction, New Jersey New York State Unified Court System, New York City, New York North Bay Village Police Department, North Bay Village, Florida North Bergen Police Department, North Bergen, New Jersey North Las Vegas Police Department, Nevada Norton Police Department, Kansas Oberlin Police Department, Kansas Offenbach Stadtpolizei (City Police), Offenbach, Germany Oklahoma City Police Department, Oklahoma Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Lexington, Oklahoma Placer County Sheriff’s Department, Placer, California Polismyndigheten i Skåne Länspolismästarens stab Kompetens & utvecklingscentrum, Malmö, Sweden (Skåne County Police Instructor Staff) Polícia Civil, Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil Polícia Civil Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil Polícia Local, Adra, Spain Polícia Local, Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Polícia Militar, Minas Gerais, Brazil Polícia Rodoviária Estadual, Espirito Santo, Brazil (Federal Highway Police) Polizia di Stato, Squadra Volante, Ravenna, Italy (State Police Emergency Squad) Polícia Militar Santa Catarina, Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil Pretrial Services Office, United States District Court, Southern District of California Rancho Mission Viejo, Ranch Deputy, Orange County, California Redwillow County Sheriff’s Department, NebraskaReggimento “Nizza Cavalleria” (1st), Italian Army Riverside County Sheriff Department, Riverside, California San Bernardino Fire Department & Fire Prevention, San Bernardino San Diego Police Department, Special Response Team, Prisoner Transportation Unit, and custody officers San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute (police academy), San Diego, CaliforniaSan Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, S.W.A.T., San Francisco, California San Jose Police Department, San Jose, California Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Cruz, California Seattle Police Department, Seattle, Washington Sheriff Coroner Marshal Placer County, Placer, California Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department, Washington Southlake Police Department, Southlake, TexasSouthwestern Community College Police, San Diego, California Spanish Foreign Legion, Viator, Spain Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK-Einsatz), Polizei Berlin, Germany (Special Deployment Commando) Tustin Police Department, Tustin, California United Nations Security, New York City, New York United States Border Patrol, San Diego United States Army Reserve Center, El Monte, California United States Attorney’s Office Anti-Terrorism Task Force, Oklahoma City,OklahomaUnited States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), CaliforniaUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs Police, Los Angeles Field Office United States Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Germany United States Marshals Service Special Operations Group, San Diego and Washington, D.C. Field Offices United States National Park Service, California United States Secret Service, Los Angeles and San Francisco Field Offices University of British Columbia, Campus Security, Vancouver, Canada Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver, Canada Ventura Police Department, Ventura, California Washington State Patrol, King County, WashingtonYorba Linda Police Department, S.W.A.T., Yorba Linda, California