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M
IGHTY
W
ARRIORS
A
fter her son’s death, Marc Lee’s mom, Debbie, became almost a
surrogate mother to the other members of our platoon. A very
courageous woman, she has dedicated herself to helping other
warriors as they have made the transition from the battlefield. She’s
now
president
of America’s
Mighty
Warriors
(www.AmericasMightyWarriors.org) and has done a lot personally
for veterans through what she calls “random acts of kindness”
inspired by Marc’s life and a letter he wrote to her before he
passed away.
There’s nothing random about Debbie; she’s a dedicated and
hardworking woman, as devoted to her cause as Marc was to his.
Before he died, Marc wrote an incredible letter home. Available
at the site, it told a moving story about some of the things he saw in
Iraq—a terrible hospital, ignorant and despicable people. But it was
also an extremely positive letter, full of hope and encouraging all of
us to do some small part for others.
To my mind, though, whatever he wrote home doesn’t
adequately describe the Marc we all knew. There was a lot more to
him. He was a real tough guy with a great sense of humor. He was a
gung-ho warrior and a great friend. He had unshakable faith in God
and loved his wife with might. Heaven is surely a better place
because he’s there, but earth has lost one of its best.
C
RAFT
D
eciding to leave the Navy was hard enough. But now I was going
to be out of a job. It was time to figure out what to do with the rest
of my life.
I had a number of options and possibilities. I’d been talking with
a friend of mine named Mark Spicer about starting a sniper school
in the States. After twenty-five years in the British Army, Mark
retired as a sergeant major. He was one of the foremost snipers in
their army, and had served over twenty years as a sniper and sniper
platoon commander. Mark has written three books on sniping and
is one of the world’s leading experts on the subject.
We both realized there was and is a need for certain types of
very specific training for military and police units. No one was
providing the sort of hands-on instruction that would help prepare
their personnel for the different situations they might find. With our
experience, we knew we could tailor courses and provide enough
range time to make a difference.
The problem was getting everything together to do it.
Money, of course, was a pretty big consideration. Then, partly
by chance, I happened to meet someone who realized the company
could be a good investment, and who also had faith in me: J. Kyle
Bass.
Kyle had made a lot of money investing, and when we met, he
was looking for a bodyguard. I guess he figured, “Who better than
a SEAL?” But when we got talking and he asked where I saw
myself in a few years, I told him about the school. He was intrigued,
and rather than hiring me as his bodyguard, he helped provide the
financing for our company. And just like that, Craft International
was born.
A
ctually, it wasn’t “just like that”—we busted butt to get it going,
working long hours and sweating out all the details the way any
entrepreneurs do. Two other guys joined Mark and me to form the
ownership team: Bo French and Steven Young. Their areas of
expertise have more to do with the business side of things, but
they’re both knowledgeable about weapons and the tactics that we
teach.
Today, Craft International’s corporate offices are in Texas. We
have training sites in Texas and Arizona and work internationally on
security measures and other special projects. Mark can
occasionally be seen on the History channel. He’s pretty
comfortable in front of the cameras, so at times he’ll relax into a real
thick British accent. The History channel is kind enough to translate
his thick accent into good ’ol boy English with subtitles. We have
yet to need subtitles for any Craft courses, but we haven’t ruled out
the possibility.
We’ve assembled a team we believe is the best of the best in
their given areas for all the areas of training we provide. (You can
find more information at www.craftintl.com.)
Building a company involves a lot of different skills I didn’t think
I had. It also includes a ton of admin work.
Damn.
I don’t mind hard work, even if it is at a desk. One of the
pullbacks on this job is that it’s given me “Dell hand”—I spend a lot
of time pounding a computer keyboard. And every blue moon I
have to wear a suit and tie. But otherwise, it’s a perfect job for me.
I may not be rich, but I enjoy what I do.
T
he logo for Craft came from the Punisher symbol, with a crusader
crosshair in the right eye in honor of Ryan Job. He also inspired our
company slogan.
In April 2009, after Somali pirates had taken over a ship and
were threatening the captain with death, SEAL snipers killed them
from a nearby destroyer. Someone from the local media asked
Ryan what he thought.
“Despite what your mama told you,” he quipped, “violence does
solve problems.”
That seemed a pretty appropriate slogan for snipers, so it
became ours.
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