This week in the studio Craig “Sawman” Sawyer to talk about his career with the Corps, SEALS, and DEVGRU. Craig is also here to talk about his new mission to stop child trafficking with the organization Vets 4 Child Rescue. This episode has some tough and graphic topics, but they definitely need to be talked about.
Craig Sawyer, AKA "Sawman," grew up near Houston, TX and got his tactical start in the U.S. Marine Corps. He quickly transitioned to the U.S. Navy to pursue high-level Special Operations as a U.S. Navy SEAL. As an Operator at SEAL Team One, Craig gained critical combat experience in Desert Shield and Desert Storm resulting in decoration for "Heroic Service".
Those operations included:
The capturing of the very first prisoners of the war
CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue) Operations
Sniper Operations
Reconnaissance Operations
Counter-Mine Operations
FAV (Fast Attack Vehicle) Operations
After returning from Desert Storm, Craig served as a SEAL Sniper Instructor until being promoted to DEVGRU. While serving at SEAL Team One, Craig fought in various Martial Arts tournaments in South-East Asia, as well as SCARS (Special Combat Aggressive Reaction System) hand-to-hand training under Jerry Peterson and Lew Hicks. These experiences built upon his Martial Arts history of fighting various tournaments, such as the Karate Olympics tournaments in Houston, TX and one year of formal boxing under Henry & Jim Harris.
All operations and activity while assigned to DEVGRU remain classified and are not represented here.
After serving in the Navy, Craig signed on as one of the "Original 33" Federal Air Marshals, who were in place prior to the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. Craig remained there for 5 years reaching the management rank of J-Payband ATSAC (GS-14). At that point, Craig began contracting in the various combat zones, running tactical teams and protecting high-level U.S. Dignitaries.
in 2004-2005, Craig was selected to serve as Agent In Charge (AIC) of High-Threat Mobile Security operations in war zones for the U.S. Department of State, responsible for the mobile teams covering all stationed and visiting U.S. Chief of Mission personnel in the region. Some of those dignitaries included:
U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte
Other U.S. Ambassadors and various, key U.S. leaders.
*Note: War zone security responsibility does not equate to personal, or political endorsement. Other specialized training and international experience in high-threat mobile security from 2006-2014 (and other periods) remains classified
Craig still remains operationally active in multiple roles. In addition, he often instructs various advanced training courses under his Tactical Insider banner.
