Tom served in the US Army for over 10 years, after leaving the service Tom pursued a career as a paramedic eventually becoming a Tactical Medic for the local police department SWAT team. Shortly after 9/11 Tom found himself in Afghanistan back in uniform. In 2005 Tom was wounded and again found himself a civilian, after recovering from his wounds Tom went to work as a civilian contractor first as a medic and eventually as a Team Leader on convoy escort missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa. In 2007 Tom returned to the states and moved to Key West where he managed the largest bar on the island. In 2009 Tom married his wife Tiffany and in 2011 Tom and his family moved back to Colorado where, with the encouragement of his wife and friends Tom started Vanguard Survival, LLC so he could provide real world based survival and weapons training. This is Tom's third book on survival related topics for Vanguard Survival Press. Tom lives with his wife, Tiffany, 5 kids, 3 dogs, 3 spastic cats, 2 ferrets, a handful of mice, and a ball python