Joel Holdford began his career with the US Army serving for 5 years as an Infantry Soldier and deploying to Operation Desert Storm. Shortly after returning he began his career as a DA Civilian and has been a member of a US ARMY Special Reaction Team (SWAT) for 19 years. Mr. Holdford has commanded the Special Reaction Team for Aberdeen proving Ground, MD for the Past 7 years.
During the last 19 years, Mr. Holdford has attended numerous SWAT schools and training sessions. Mr. Holdford is a certified Active Shooter Instructor thru A.L.E.R.T University of Texas and has taught over one hundred police officers in Active Shooter response. After the FT Hood tragedy Mr. Holdford realized the need to educate the public on how to react to an active shooter. As a result, he developed a dynamic Active Shooter program and began teaching classes. Mr. Holdford has trained over 6000 students over the last several years and received the Governors Certificate for Crime Prevention in 2010 for his efforts.
Mr. Holdford is considered the Subject Matter Expert for all active shooter training on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland and is a highly sought after speaker, receiving numerous request for his training per year.
