Hi, I am Leon Ives. Your Subject Matter Expert (SME) and hopefully your new friend. We can also connect through my Author Website and/or email. By the way, my friends call me Lee. My ultimate goal is to save YOUR life. Or, the life of someone you love or simply care about. Secondly, this same goal includes sparing you and others grievous pain and suffering—both physical and emotional. You are about to learn so much valuable advice and proven tips that will not only protect you, but help you to protect your entire family. And you can help to defend them even if they do not feel they need that help. I tried to make this real-life survival guide easy to read and understand—for everyone’s use. Not just the good people here in the United States of America (US), but from around the world. Personally, I am particularly concerned about all our precious children and women. But we are all vulnerable—even me. In particular, my personalized tools (forms) will help protect both individuals and families. They are also necessary for deployed military members and government employees who must travel to potentially dangerous areas, especially for long periods of time. Including students and private businesses.
I will start with a little background information about myself. (And you can join me on LinkedIn if you want to learn more.) As a certified trainer and instructor, I realize the importance of an audience knowing something about their presenters. In early 1973, I enlisted in the US Army at that wildly transitional age of 18 years-old. What is a transitional age? You know, that age when we think we know everything, but we really know very little. My first assignment was with the famed 82ND Airborne Division as a paratrooper and Military Policeman. I later switched my Military Occupational Specialty (career field) and became a Counterintelligence Agent, where I completed assignments with distinction at The Pentagon and with the Defense Nuclear Agency. Throughout my entire career, I worked alongside various military Major Commands and Special Operations Forces (SOF) in all the military branches. On a different note, I was fortunate in that I served in Europe for three years, where I was able to travel throughout most of those beautiful countries. It was an incredible time in my life! I was growing up and seeing the world from a whole new and unique perspective. And truthfully, I grew a little fatter and happier by the day. Ha!
After ten enjoyable years of active duty service, I switched over to the Army Reserve where I served an additional 13 plus years. While in the Reserves, I served in a specialized Military Intelligence unit for five years. But years later, I once again changed my military specialty. This time from Counterintelligence to Civil Affairs (CA). My new Reserve unit was the 478th CA Battalion (FID/UW) in southern Florida. The acronym FID/UW is a taste of the military’s delicious alphabet soup. It stands for Foreign Internal Defense/Unconventional Warfare. During my entire military career, I deployed to many different foreign countries around the world, to include joining the peace keeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996. What I witnessed there was mind blowing. I had no idea such horrific atrocities occurred in such civilized countries. I was naïve. I saw so much violence and destruction, along with pure hate and anger, it was almost beyond comprehension. And sadly, so many of the brutal crimes I witnessed were directed against innocent women and children. To this day, I still cannot understand such intense moral depravity. While in the beautiful but ruined capitol city of Sarajevo, I was the senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO). I later moved further north to the Republic of Srpska as the acting First Sergeant. I have an extensive background working with SOF, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and finally the United Nations (UN). (How is that soup tasting? Well, keep your bib on because there will be plenty more.)
Upon leaving active duty in early 1983, I not only switched to the Reserves but I also signed-on as a civilian federal employee with the US Customs Service, Office of Investigations. (What a fantastic agency that was.) My new job title was Special Agent (Criminal Investigator). In March 2003, we were integrated into the newly formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). My postings as a federal Special Agent included our field offices in Washington, D.C. (3 years); Miami, Florida (15 years); as an Instructor with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia (3 years); and ultimately I closed out this second career as the Resident Agent-in-Charge for northern Maine (3 years). Yes, Maine too was absolutely beautiful, but a little too cold for me and even for polar bears. But at least I was still very happy. That is important in life—to be safe, secure, and happy. And as a husband and father of three, I wanted to keep my family safe and secure as well. I wanted to keep everyone safe! My federal investigative specialties included; International Drug Smuggling/Trafficking, Money Laundering/Financial Crimes, Major Undercover Operations, Human Trafficking, and last but not least National Security. During my final three years with HSI, I worked extensively with the Canadian police and Customs. However, I have also worked very closely with US Customs Border Protection and US Border Patrol, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and several other federal and state investigative agencies. Upon retiring, once again I picked up and moved. This time to Raleigh, North Carolina. And I love it here as well. I am just a few hours east of historical and pristine beaches. And if I venture a few hours west, I reach stunning mountain ranges, to include the Great Smokey and Appalachian Mountains. Wow!
Upon my retirement from the Feds, I became a private civilian contractor for the Department of Defense in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as SME in law enforcement and investigations. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to serve in both countries at the same time with my two sons, who were deployed with the US Army as soldiers. Eventually, I returned home from that enormous sand box and started my own company as a Private Investigator and Security Consultant, which lasted for many more good years. During this same period, I continued in my capacity as a private contractor teaching anti-terrorism for the Diplomatic Security Service, which is part of our Department of State. This enabled me to continue my travels to dozens of other unique countries all around this amazing world, where I eagerly worked with many of my foreign brethren. And at the same time I continued to meet even more wonderful people and their beautiful families. Yes, even where life is treacherous and a high-risk to the max, you can still find plenty of good, decent people. You just have to be more aware and a lot more careful.
During all my many, many travels and adventures, I always marveled at the good side of life. But of course I could not ignore that dark side—a very real and sinister world. I will call it that “Other World” we live in. Both world’s exist side-by-side and all of us travel back and forth between them. However, even when I was surrounded by hardened criminals and sadistic terrorists, I knew how to remain both safe and secure. And it was in those dark and violent places I was inspired to write the first version of this book—this safety and security guide you are now reading. And I also realized, if “I” could stay safe and secure, so could you and your loved ones. So I wrote this book for people just like you. So you and your entire family can also live and survive through a safer and more secure environment. Together, we will build you a fortress—a safe place no matter where you are, where you go, and no matter what you are doing.
This is my 3rd Revision and not only has it been updated, but I really think it is a much better read. But here is my main point within this amazing instructional guide. What I will often call the Bottom line: What with over “five million” critical victims each and every year, right here in the US alone, I know how we can drastically lower that massive number. We can slash that number by at least half. And if you are willing to go further with me, together we can again slash that second number by even more. But for now, let’s just focus on you and your loved ones. Yes, we can do this together, through this book. But stop a moment and really think about this. Five million critical victims each and every year. That averages to 13,700 major victims each and every day. This is absolutely outrageous for such a sophisticated and advanced country as ours. But more importantly, most of the crimes and accidents I will describe are easily preventable by you. I will identify the problems and give you the solutions. And the solutions I propose are not difficult or expensive to integrate into your life. But this part is up to you. I am seriously asking, “Exactly how much do you really want to protect yourself and those you love or care about?” “What is your life worth?” “What are their lives worth to you?”
Okay, this award winning book is my final contribution to our country and the rest of the world. Roughly 400 pages of expert advice, contingency plans, and life-saving tools that will in fact enable you to better protect yourself and those you love or care about. Yes, with almost 13,700 victims each and every day, you honestly DO need to read this entire survival guide. Think about it this way as well, that is roughly 274 critical victims a day per State. Or, one or two lives a day per county. So read this book very carefully from the beginning until the end. If any of my case stories or advice seriously bothers you, just skim past them. And please, study this instructional guide like you would any school book. Take it to heart. Change your life-style for the better. Safety and security must be included in the very fabric of your life.
And please know now, I am not a professional writer. So simply ignore any trivial mistakes I make. Focus on the content and tools. This book is not about exact numbers, demographics or politics. Again, ignore the foolish arguments you will come to hear from the naysayers and pessimists. I assure you, during your further research, you will hear from the deniers. They are everywhere in life. This book is literally about saving lives and sparing enormous physical pain and emotional suffering. I am talking about death and grievous bodily harm. Please, do not think of this material as being dark or something you do not want to read or think about. I actually believe you will find this instructional guide to be very stimulating and challenging. It is certainly a very smart endeavor! As I mentioned, I tried to make this book easy for everyone to read, to include both teenagers and adults. And people from all walks of life. And again, not only here in the US but from around the world. No, you will find anything scary, difficult or expensive inside. Bottom line: “Enjoy life, but stay safe and secure at the same time.” Everything in this book so simple to understand and accomplish. I promise you. Enjoy life, but stay safe.
