Instructors

Instructors have experience in the following: Army Special Missions Unit Operators, Navy SEALs, Special Forces, Rangers, State and local Law Enforcement, Federal Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, etc.

Detailed resumes and biographies available.

B. Hadley Hawkins

B. Hadley Hawkins recently retired as a Special Agent with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Department of Agriculture. Prior to being a special agent, he was a uniformed patrol officer for the U.S. Forest Service and a wildland firefighter. Hadley was a Firearms Instructor for 10 years certified by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia and traveled around Oregon and Washington conducting training for the USFS and Bureau of Land Management. He is a current NRA Chief Range Safety Officer and NRA Pistol and Rifle instructor. He served as an instructor at the Law Enforcement Mountain Operations School (LEMOS) in northern Idaho which trains law enforcement agencies on winter survival and tactics. He became the Team Leader and established the Regional Reconnaissance Team for the USFS and conducted missions throughout Oregon and Washington. As a uniformed patrol officer he conducted backcountry winter patrol operation on a weekly basis on snowmobile that included search and rescue operations and medical calls with evacuation by helicopter or ground in the winter environment. As a wildland firefighter he served on Interagency Hotshot Crews, fire engines and helicopter crews.

Currently he operates Six Six Solutions and has trained federal, state, city and county law enforcement agencies in Oregon and North Carolina, trained the Marines in combat tracking, and federal police in Colombia, South American.

T.S.

Master Sergeant (Ret.) T. S. possesses 21 years of military service, starting in an Infantry unit, progressing to a Special Forces Group (Green Berets), ultimately serving as an operator in a Tier 1 Special Operations Unit. During his longstanding duty as an operator, T. S. spent over four years duration deployed in combat to the Philippines, Iraq, and Afghanistan, targeting those who wished to harm Americans and our way of life. As a leader, he was responsible for ensuring his team was always 100% ready for combat mentally, physically and tactically. After honorable retirement, T. S. started True North Elite, Inc. and spends his time around the globe training law enforcement, military and civilians. He and Hadley have trained multiple law enforcement agencies together and have partnered for this training.

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Eddy Cartaya

Eddy Cartaya is an expert in rope rigging, rescue, tree work, and military-tactical operations. He's an experienced mountain rescue leader, cave rescue instructor, and an arborist who is fluid on rope. After graduating from West Point, he's had careers in the military and law enforcement, and led and taught tactical teams in backcountry ops and tactical tracking. In 1991, he ran his first multi-day cave mapping expedition in South Korea, and now coordinates and leads science-oriented glacier cave expeditions. Eddy is uniquely qualified and has an uncanny ability to develop and deliver cutting edge training.

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Jon Matye

Jon has over 25 years of extensive professional and personal experience operating in mountainous, desert, and wooded environments. Jon offers years of professional experience as a military and civilian instructor in navigation, survival, climbing and dozens of other outdoor skills.

During his nine years in the United States Marine Corps, Jon attended NCO and Staff NCO academy, is a Summer Mountain Warfare Graduate, and had collateral duties that included Marine Corps Instructor of Water Safety, and Combat Water Safety Swimmer.

In his 16 year Federal law enforcement career, Jon has served in a variety of roles.

Jon has planned, organized, and executed missions in outdoor counter drug operations to investigate and apprehend members of organized crime. He served as the founding Assistant Team Leader of the Regional Reconnaissance Team from 2005 to 2011 helping develop successful tactics and techniques, and still advises and occasionally is asked to fill in when needed.

As a uniformed officer, Jon provided assistance to local agencies in search and rescues and other situations. He trained employees in snowmobile operations, as well as help develop, train and advise the county's Medical Mountain Response Team in snowmobile operations and winter survival.

Jon professional and personally has over 25 years of experience in the training and use of motorcycles, ATVs, and over snow vehicles. He has certifications in Snowmobile Police Patrol Operations, snowmobile instructor, GLOCK Armorer, RADAR/LIDAR instruction, and Field Training Evaluation Program. Jon meets Federal regulations as the only snow bike instructor in his current agency, and drafted policy and techniques for their use within the agency. He is state qualified to use ATV’s, motorcycles, watercraft, and over the snow vehicles. Some of his certifications or qualifications include:

Field Training Officer
Fire Investigation, Arson
Fire Investigator, Origin and Cause
Snowmobile Police Patrol Operations
Professional trainer’s course
Sedan, Truck 4 X 2 & 4 X 4 (10,000 GW)
Boats up to 26’
Snowmobile Operations Instructor
Winch
Professional technical writing and editing
10 years in Supervisory roles
Development and implementation of training manuals and seminars

Jon is very passionate about sharing his experience with others to ensure their safety while enjoying their work and improving their skills.

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Craig McClure

Craig is a 14+ year Search and Rescue veteran in the Pacific Northwest and is the founder of The Crackerjack Group. Craig is a founding member and instructor with the International Technical Rescue Association. He’s currently a SAR volunteer for Deschutes County Oregon, rescue member of the MRA accredited mountain rescue team, an EMT, and specializes in technical and backcountry winter disciplines. He holds an AIARE Avalanche level 2 certification and is an expert backcountry skier. Equally comfortable in the field or command, he’s served as the coordinator for the Incident Management team and has participated in approximately 400 missions in his career reaching back to 2004 as a wilderness K9 handler. Craig is a frequent instructor for technical disciplines at SAR conferences, has served as an evaluator for MRA team accreditation, and was the a safety officer and rigger for the first descents into the glacial caves of Mt St Helens. He has led and participated in high alpine glacial rescues, big wall vertical rescues, and complex extraction missions. He enjoys teaching and believes his greatest offering is the ability to guide teams as a whole to improve communication, efficiency, and understanding of well-reasoned default operating guidelines. . Craig serves on the Curriculum Committee of the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association Search and Rescue Advisory Council and is a co-author and instructor of the state SAR Incident Management program. In 2013 he was recognized as the state SAR Volunteer of the Year. He has also served as a sworn Reserve Deputy and in addition to uniformed patrol, worked seasonally as a snowmobile patrol deputy and as a sworn municipal Police Officer and is a graduate of the Oregon Department of Public Safety and Standards Police Academy. He is certified NRA Range Safety Officer. Craig brings a solid perspective on leadership, objective-based management, and great personal experience as a field operator.

Matt Trager

Working in public safety for 10+ years, Matt got his start in upstate New York working as an EMT and then a firefighter. Learning to climb in the Shawangunk Mountains of NY, he grew interested in the rope rescue work that accompanied high angle environments and climbing. Graduating with a degree in IT, and working in the financial industry in New York City, he was never satisfied working in an office environment. In 2009 he moved to Bend Oregon to be closer to the mountains that he now lives and plays in almost every day. Matt is currently the Mountain Rescue Team leader and Rescue level member for the MRA accredited Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Mountain Rescue Team. He is an active EMT, specializing in remote environments and technical rescue. He is an accomplished rock climber and backcountry skier and seamlessly integrates rescue techniques into these different disciplines.