Wondering where it came from? My Dad circa - dunno...before me anyway.

1960 - they called it "hyperactive" back then...

1975 - I started riding at 7, competing at 10. This was my 250 Ossa MAR (Mick Andrews Replica). The trials that day was in Escoheag, R.I. and I was 17. My old man inherited my Cotton 175 and competed in the over 40 Senior class. We rode all the time and spent a tremendous amount of time together - what a blast. He's still my best friend. I love motorcycles, working on them, riding them, racing them. Hell, I like to sit my ass on a creeper in the garage and just LOOK at them. 

1978 - Rugby in New Hampshire. I played for 12 years, hooker and scrum half. Playing hooker in the middle of this scrum. Scrumbags.

I always worked on hand speed. Being light in the ass, I learned early to combine speed and explosiveness with body weight striking in order to generate as much power as a lightweight guy can.

1982 - Marines. Chokin' a smoke in the field with my squad leaders.

Also 1982 - teaching combatives during a patrolling package. This was for close compromise.

1985 - more racing while on a recruiting tour with the Marines. This was my Husqvarna 400WR - what a great bike. Hit the hare scrambles and enduro circuit hard and ice raced a Falta Replica CZ400 in the wintertime. Wish I still had the CZ - a true collector's item now. 

1985 - 90, lots & lots of this...

1986 at the International Jurists Council on Violence & Terrorism demonstration at Hanscom AFB, MA. I trained and advised the newly formed Metropolitan Boston Special Operations Unit while I was on leave before Amphibious Warfare School. Tony Scotti (well known security driving guru) was on hand to provide tactical motorcade demonstrations. Lowell Sun above and Boston Herald below. Years later the "Met" cops merged with the Massachusetts State Police.

Later the same year, running a full mission profile 24 hour SOUEX for the same police unit. The breaching shotgun was loaded with rounds made with dental paste and other inert materials to attack door hinges without causing injury to objective occupants (these types of rounds became commercially available later). The shotgun was bungee corded onto the breacher(s) for redundancy in the event of a failed primary breach or in case you encountered a mid-objective barricade. Bill Bratton (now Chief of Police LAPD) was Commissioner at the time and was forward leaning even then in developing urban police capabilities. The guy on the left is Doug Hamlin, former Marine and great friend - the guy in the middle was a vendor on hand to watch the exercise. Nice hat.

...and this - I loved climbing. Great strength training. Real clarity of thought.

In July, 1992 the first "Personal Security" column appeared in "Guns & Ammo" magazine by "Jim Grover" - me. I stayed with Petersen Publishing for 6 years writing the monthly column. (All of the columns were later published by Paladin Press in the book seen above.) Writing a monthly column was challenging - it's hard to come up with consistently interesting, relevant yet different material month after month after month...after month. I also contributed to "Handguns" magazine and all the "one-shot" publications that Petersen published. 

Early 90's training a military SMU using the FBI HRT shooting house. I resigned my regular commission in 1990 after a tour assigned to the Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Branch of the MAGTF Warfighting Center in Quantico. As the SO/LIC Counterterrorism Officer I was assigned to a US Army special mission unit as their high risk environment instructor. After I resigned the unit brought me on active duty as a Major for six months as a reservist. Afterwards I left to train the Saudi Royal Guard for O'Gara in combatives, protective details, counter-assault team tactics and firearms during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Thumamah, KSA - yikes.

I returned many times to KSA continuing to teach the Royal Guard. Then got a great gig teaching motorcycle motorcade TTP's with some former motor cops. My responsibility was to teach the students how to use the Honda 750 Nighthawks off-road and unconventionally. We erected several unique obstacles - stairs and ramps, a balance wall and this teeter-totter to increase their abilities more quickly over the month long course. I think I participated in four iterations. Good work being on a motorcycle.

Don't laugh - you think hitting a deer is bad...

Haiti was next. Went down there initially to advance and conduct physical security assessments on all the locations where the International Police Monitors would stay. There were US, Jordanian, Israeli, Bangladeshi, St. Kitts and other police involved in the stabilization efforts. Later I returned to train Haitian protective personnel. I had trained President Aristide's detail while they were in exile in the US and before they returned with "Titi" to Haiti. Haiti's a pretty cool place. There were hotels with signed photos of Mick Jagger, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, etc., from back in the day and, of course, Voodoo (seriously). Totally lawless initially - there weren't any Haitian police or military and the "Attache's" were being routed by crowds bent on revenge. Pretty out of control back then.  

In the early to mid 90's I spent a lot of time in Colombia training expatriates working for a major US oil company in Individual Protective Measures, Escultas (security escorts) for a couple of Colombian security companies who protected US personnel and then drug eradication personnel how to conduct rapid SAR (search & rescue) with Colombian Police support (they had armed Blackhawks) in the event someone was shot down while spraying Coca crops.

Took up kayaking as a hobby to relax when I wasn't deployed. I lived really close to a Class III river so playing in the whitewater was accessible and a real kick in the ass. Great sport. Stayed with it for about 4 years - big fun and year round too.

The Balkan's were next in the mid to late 90's. First established three Ambassadorial protective details in Boz to support US diplomats in Bosnia to oversee elections, enforce the Dayton Accords and work with the Office of Security and Cooperation Europe (OSCE) and the Office of the High Representative (OHR). The people were sturdy stock - have to be having lived through what they did, tough stuff. Place looked like Vermont. Except you could step off the road to take a leak in Vermont. If you tried that initially in Bosnia you were likely to get blown up. The place was littered with mines. Then in Kosovo helping to establish the US CivPol (Civilian Police) presence and creating in-service training programs. And sleeping. Whenever possible.

Lots of interesting side trips for various clients teaching and developing security SOP's then implementing them including Malaysia, Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, Oman, Jordan, Philippines and Mexico to name a few.

My feet. Ground zero. Whoa.

Can't help myself. Sherco 2.9 - fantastic technology, great bike.

Then...sadly, 9/11. I was in New Orleans speaking at the Air Carriers Purchasing Conference. I hadn't gone on the podium yet when I got the call and turned the television on. When the second plane appeared, all I could say was, "Those F*ckers."

Stuck in New Orleans and needing to get back to D.C. quickly I tried to arrange transportation. ALL flights were grounded, trains were booked, rental cars were impossible to find, bus services too slow and irregular. I found a local Kawasaki dealer who had a Concours (GTR-1000) on his showroom floor. Concours owners have completed the Iron Butt endurance ride (1,000 miles per day for over a week) so even though I wouldn't have normally been interested in it, I bought it. The dealer could've gouged me. To his credit,  he didn't - he gave me the bike at cost and realizing I didn't have any gear with me, all the gear at cost also. Americans helping Americans - it was terrific. The ride was just over 1,000 miles. I made it in 1 1/2 days with a brief stop in Knoxville for some sleep. It was a fast ride, okay - very fast - with no radar traps. Got a little weird in the mountains of Tennessee late at night with deer tending to jump out in front of me.  I actually grew to like the bike, made some mods and got the plate "F8RIDE" for it. Sold it to an older gentleman somewhere out in the Chesapeake Bay area about a year and half later.

I did a ton of "hits" on cable news and was contracted for two years to CNN as their Security Analyst and an employee of Turner Broadcasting. I appeared on CNN and CNNi. The network treated me well and I enjoyed keeping the public informed during the tumultuous three to four years following 9/11. Being apolitical, it was easy to stay on the facts and relate what was going on as things developed. I later went on with the Fox News Channel, primarily on Fox and Friends. Brian, Gretchen and Steve are great people and the whole morning crew is a riot.