About SHAT-TeCH and the ID Sash

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Our small business, SHAT-TECH has always believed in protecting this nation and our communities. My father, a former US Naval Aviator, saw the need to better protect sensitive credentials and access cards from bad actors in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and created the ID PAK. Wanting to protect others as my father did, I became a US Marine and was sent to Garmser District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2012. During this time, my Marines and I worked alongside the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army in order to help stabilize the region and protect the civilians there. In late 2014, I decided to leave the Marine Corps in order to reconnect with the most important thing in life, family. Still seeking to protect people though, I became an FBI Special Agent in 2018.

While serving as an FBI Agent, I routinely conducted surveillance operations and would normally alter my appearance in order to better blend with the environment I was in. In the event I needed to respond to an unexpected violent threat during these operations, there was a high possibility I would've been mistaken as the threat by responding law enforcement. A scenario such as this occurred in my home state of Colorado in 2021, where an Armed Citizen, named Johnny Hurley, used deadly force to stop an active shooter threat to the community. Unfortunately, Hurley was mistaken to be the active shooter by responding law enforcement, resulting in his death. Examples such as this serve as a key reminder that identifying as a 'friendly' to other responders and having readily accessible medical equipment are absolutely critical in chaotic situations. Johnny Hurley's story however is but one of many that I came across over the years involving both law enforcement officers and armed citizens. It is my belief that our communities and even our nation as a whole, cannot afford to lose such individuals to something as preventable as 'friendly fire'.

During my time in the military and in law enforcement, I witnessed numerous communities decimated by violence and that sometimes friendly units were unable to quickly respond to every call, either due to a lack of available personnel or other factors. With this and many other lessons in mind, I decided to resign from the FBI in March 2023, move back to Colorado to help my father, start a family with my wife, and support the community where I was raised. It was here the ID Sash began. My experiences in the Afghan War and in the violent scenes in US cities over the past several years, instilled in me that a duty to protect a community is not solely reserved for law enforcement or the uniformed services. The individual citizen, if prepared to do so, can also defend their community against those who seek to harm innocent lives. Though, I may not hold rank as a US Marine or carry an FBI badge anymore, protecting and defending others is still central to who I am. I created the ID Sash as a tool to help those willing to answer the call to defend others, as I have done in the past and will continue to do.