NATURAL AWARENESS TRACKING SCHOOL, LLC
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About the Instructors
Rob Speiden Mike Hull Gene Parker Al Cire
Whether it's specific applications of tracking, such as aging or tactics to follow tracks of a missing person, or just enjoying tracking for the sake of tracking and an increased awareness of the surroundings, Rob, Mike, Gene, and Al enjoy sharing what they have experienced and assisting others with their learning process. Their main objective is to contribute the benefits of tracking skills to the community through education, search and rescue for missing persons, or any other venue.
ROB SPEIDEN
is an active member of the Search and Rescue (SAR) community, and has been
since 1993. After completing
basic search and rescue training he went on to study human tracking from
instructors in a variety of tracking-related disciplines including:
Greg Fuller,
Field Team Signcutter
Virginia Department of Emergency Services 1996
Kent Hicks,
Track
&
Sign Aging
Universal Tracking Services, Track Aware
Joel Hardin Professional Tracking Services Basic Tracker
William Bodziak,
Footwear Impression Evidence: Detection and Recovery
David Scott-Donelan, Tactical
Tracking Operations School
Tactical Tracking Operations Level I
Tactical Tracking Operations Level II
Charles Worsham, Nature and Vision School
Camouflage
Basic Human Tracking
Advanced Human Tracking
Awareness, Intuition and Aesthetics
Shadow Wolves Native Tracker Training
Inaugural Tracker Training event 7/05
Please feel free to contact any of these instructors for references.
Rob continues to receive the most valuable lessons from countless hours of
dedicated tracking “dirt time” (and leaf time and snow time and…) on his own as
well as in search and rescue training.
He is an active member of the following groups:
Southwest Virginia Mountain Rescue Group,
Commonwealth Search and Rescue,
Black Diamond Search and Rescue Council, and the
International Society of Professional Trackers
Rob is also an active member of the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute (SARTI), and currently holds positions as Operational Tracker, Instructor, and Treasurer in SARTI. As the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Field Team Signcutter Course Coordinator and through the tracking school, he currently instructs search and rescue volunteers and law enforcement officers in tracking and awareness skills that enhance search efforts for missing persons. He has logged over 145 tasks on more than 85 documented search missions to date.
Recent recognitions have included being presented the Lisa J Hannon Award by the Virginia Search and Rescue Council in 2007 and being cast as a tracking team member in the Red Brick Entertainment TV show, “The Chase: Trackdown” aired on Court TV in 2005.
Animal Tracking
Rob Speiden began his tracking experiences while growing up on a farm in Orange County, Virginia. He completed college with a bachelors degree in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. Tracking humans was a start for Rob to get interested in tracking all animals, and he has attended many animal tracking classes around the country taught by Paul Rezendes' Nature Programs, Charles Worsham's Nature and Vision School, Jon Young's Wilderness Awareness School (WAS), Jim Bruchac, James Halfpenny and others. Rob has been sharing and facilitating animal tracking experiences in classes held in Blacksburg, Virginia, and other venues such as 4-H and Boy Scout events, and National Wild Turkey Federation Jakes days. Decades of outdoor familiarity, professional seminars and a strong desire to share with others are just a few of the qualities that come together to give you a worthwhile presentation.
Rob was recently tested on animal tracks/sign in Massachusetts and trailing in California by the cybertracker evaluation process and is certified according to Cybertracker standards as a Level II Tracker and as a Level III Track and Sign Interpreter.
MIKE HULL
Special Agent Mike Hull of the Virginia
Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries
has been in Law Enforcement for 33 years. He started his career at age 19 with
the National Guard Military Police, three years with Virginia Department of
Corrections, two years as a Security Officer for Virginia Power and twenty-seven
years with VDGIF. The last four years Special Agent Hull has worked full time in
special operations with the overt unit. Special Agent Hull first implemented a
program that detailed the benefits of Visual Tracking to Law Enforcement
(VITALE) in
April of 1996. He has since instructed on Visual Tracking at various criminal
justice centers and in-service trainings for Local, State and Federal Officers.
Special Agent Hull has been distinguished as a Subject Matter Expert in Visual
Tracking and Woodland Operations and is an adjunct Lead Instructor for Tactical
Tracking Operations School.
GENE PARKER
Gene recently retired from his position as a National Park Service Ranger
with
34 years of government service. His experience includes two years in the
U.S. Army with a one-year tour in Vietnam. Over thirty years of his law
enforcement experience were spent protecting our nation's natural, historical
and cultural resources, including twenty years as a law enforcement operations
supervisor on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Throughout Gene's life he has been an avid hunter which developed his skills as an animal tracker. Many of his tracking and survival skills were self-taught. Hunting, along with his military experience, enhanced his survival skills. By combining these skills with man-tracking training, he developed evidence collection and case-solving techniques which were very effective in his career and continue to be an interest in his retirement. He also currently instructs for the Tactical Tracking Operations School. Life experiences have led Gene in directions which he never thought were possible and he enjoys learning and growing with each new endeavor.
AL CIRE
Al has been a Conservation Officer with the VA Dept. of Conservation & Recreation since 1989. Currently serving as Operations Coordinator for the Division of Natural Heritage he manages Natural Area Preserves across western VA where he is able to apply tracking skills frequently.
Al received a BS in Wildlife Conservation in 1984 from the University of MD. His life long interest in tracking developed while growing up and hunting on Maryland’s eastern shore. Al’s formal tracking education began in 1999 with VA Field Team Signcutter and has since included classes from:
Joel Hardin (Joel Hardin Professional Tracking Service),
David Scott-Donelan (Tactical Tracking Operations School),
William Bodziak (FBI, retired), and
Charles Worsham (Nature & Vision Tracking School).
Al has instructed numerous law enforcement officers in Firearms, Defensive Tactics and Tracking. He has also served as a Field Team Signcutter assistant instructor and a volunteer instructor with VA Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries teaching Animal Tracking and Hunter Education.
Al is currently an active member of the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute and Training Officer for Commonwealth Search & Rescue. He trains with both groups regularly and participates in missing person searches. Al was also cast as a tracking team member in the Red Brick Entertainment TV show, “The Chase: Trackdown” aired on Court TV in 2005.
CONTACT US BY: PHONE (866) 678-7225 EMAIL: trackingschool@yahoo.com
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