CANCON 2024 Interview With Travis Kennedy Firearms Instructor and Former Navy SEAL

Overview:

Rob talks to Travis Kennedy, owner of Kennedy Defense Solutions, former Navy SEAL and LEO. Rob and Travis briefly discus their origin stories and their passion for firearms instruction born out of their prior military service.

Skip To Video Topic:

00:00 - Intro
00:36 - About Travis
01:00 - Why Travis Became An Instructor
01:42 - Why Rob Became An Instructor
02:21 - Why Train With An Instructor?

Transcript:

Hey everybody, Rob Orgel, we're at CanCon 2024. And you know, we're a silencer channel. We talk a lot about silencers, but every once in a while you get to bump shoulders with somebody who's truly passionate about the industry and educating people to make them safer, smarter, and more effective with firearms. And this is Travis Kennedy, which is kind of funny, because like Tim Kennedy and Travis Halley, if they had a baby, it might look like this. Everyone thinks I'm their brother. Here we are, so. But I'm not. Okay, so tell us about you, tell us about your business. Yeah, I'm Travis Kennedy, former SEAL, LEO.

But yeah, I started the company when I got out of the service in 2019.

Started my firearms training business, Kennedy Defensive Solutions, out of just a passion that I grew, you know, growing up basically within the SEAL teams.

Noise, we're obviously at an event, go figure. We're at a gun range. Yeah. So what made you decide to go from operator to instructor? What was that transition? Honestly, I grew the love for instructing when I was a buzz instructor for the SEAL teams. Before that, I really didn't care for it, to be honest with you. When I became an actual instructor, learn how to really kind of see the results as a teacher, kind of play into effect. That's when I really learned the appreciation of being a teacher and instructor. And for me, I always loved firearms. Funny thing is I never grew up shooting at all. I grew up on the beach, Southern California, didn't even touch a gun. So I got in the service. So then I grew to love it throughout my career. And then once I got out, I just tied those two things together, those two passions. And boom, here we go. It's so interesting that you say that. So I was in a future rifleman in the Marine Corps. I did that for seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then the Marine Corps said, "You're gonna be a combat instructor." And I was like, "Please no." And they didn't really give me much say. You know how that goes. So as a combat instructor, day in, day out, working hard, long days. And a buddy of mine said, "Dude, you got a passion and they love what you're doing." And it took my buddy, Adam Luzak, saying that to me, a fellow instructor, for me to realize this is where I belong. Swackin' doing overseas work is not where I belong. Making other people come home safe is my happy place in this world. And that's where I belong. And like you, I think I found it as a calling. And I will always dive deeper and to make a better product for my clients that they're more safe or smart or survivable. The world things that are being thrown at them at the cyclic rate these days in this world. Your feelings are the same, I suppose. 100%. You know, we live in that information age. You know, they can easily find things online, but you know, you can't take away from a good instructor, in my opinion. I mean, that's where the true learning takes place. And it does, it is a good feeling when you teach and you really see the product come to life. Hey, it's working, it's plinking. Student walks away with something from it. That's important. 100%. Real words from real instructors that you can't get the training on YouTube. No, you cannot. It's just not a thing, guys. That's not how it works. You can get the information, but you cannot get the training. You can present a theory and you can take it home and hopefully be safe. But spot corrections and true instructions is really a tricky success. It's not gonna make you good. We're not gonna learn. I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you very much. Great to meet you. Look forward to chat with you again soon. Absolutely. Cool, thanks. As always, stay safe. We'll see you in the comments section. Take care. Yeah.