That's what Rory did in the intake area of Rusafa prison in Iraq. In an enclosed area with over 80 armed Iraqis from different factions and tribes and everyone armed with pistols and automatic weapons, a fight is the last thing you want to happen. That's why Rory was so concerned when  two armed individuals got into a screaming argument. When their hands went to their weapons, Rory knew the situation was about to go bad. Real bad and real quick.

Using only body language and positioning, Rory separated the two combatants and got them out of the area before anyone -- and that included the other people in the room -- opened fire. Rory had to do it by himself because the other American trainers were stuck between the immediate danger, the rules of engagement and being wildly out numbered.

Rory's explanation?

"I was more afraid of what would happen if I didn't act than what would happen if I did."

Rory Miller is a veteran of a metropolitan correctional system. He spent seventeen years, including ten as a sergeant, with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland Oregon. His assignments included Booking, Maximum Security, Disciplinary and Administrative Segregation, and Mental Health Units. He was a CERT (Corrections Emergency Response Team) member for over eleven years and Team Leader for six.

His training has included over eight hundred hours of tactical training; witness protection and close-quarters handgun training with the local US Marshals; Incident Command System; Instructor Development Courses; AELE Discipline and Internal Investigations; Hostage Negotiations and Hostage Survival; Integrated Use of Force and Confrontational Simulation Instructor; Mental Health; Defensive Tactics, including the GRAPLE instructors program; Diversity; and Supervision.

Rory has designed and taught courses including Confrontational Simulations; Uncontrolled Environments; Crisis Communications with the Mentally Ill; CERT Operations and Planning; Defensive Tactics; and Use of Force for Multnomah County and other local agencies.

In 2008 Rory Miller left his agency to spend over a year in Iraq with the Department of Justice ICITAP program as a civilian advisor to the Iraqi Corrections System.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a blackbelt in jujutsu and college varsities in judo and fencing. He also likes long walks on the beach.

Marc MacYoung
 No Nonsense Self-Defense While in Germany to teach de-escalation to the Rhineland Police, someone noticed Marc MacYoung's habit of looking both ways when passing through a doorway. He was asked why.

"Because of the time a burglar tried to put an ax in my skull,"  Marc calmly answered.

"You're joking?" his host asked incredulously.

"No. I'd come home for lunch. The burglar was still upstairs in the house. I walked through a door, he swung the ax, I jumped away and pulled my weapon. So there we were, both armed and looking at each other trying to figure out what to do next."

"What happened?"

"I talked him out of the house and let him go." Marc answered. "Nobody died. It was a win/win situation."

That incident happened before Marc started working in professions where he regularly had to talk violent people down.

He's worked as a bodyguard, bouncer, event security and director of a correctional institute. Although proficient with use of force, he quickly realized that de-escalation saved him from having to do paperwork.

In 1989, prompted by, he says, 'being tired of repeating myself,' he started writing a booklet to give to people wanting to learn self-defense. That became his first book on street survival. He's since had 21 books and videos published on surviving in high risk situations, crime avoidance, pre-attack indicators, street knife use, street culture and a wide variety subjects related to conflict. (Some of the titles to the right)

He is also a court recognized expert witness on cases involving violence.

Marc currently resides in Colorado with his wife and is celebrating his 14th year of not having been shot at.