Sheepdog Ready
Become the Protector Your People Are Counting On
Three days at Strategic Operations in San Diego. Active-shooter response meets urban survival — taught by the strongest cadre we have ever assembled. This is not a fear-based seminar. It’s where capable people become the calm, decisive force their family, team, and community can depend on.
The World Got Less Predictable
Since 2025, interest in Sheepdog has gone through the roof — and the people reaching out aren’t paranoid. They’re paying attention.
They’ve watched how fast an ordinary day can tip. How quickly a person, a crowd, or a situation can come unhinged with no warning and no time to get ready once it starts. The old assumption — that kind of thing happens somewhere else, to someone else — has quietly stopped feeling true.
You don’t have to live braced for the worst to take it seriously. You just have to decide, ahead of time, that if the moment ever comes, you will not be the one standing frozen while the people you love wait on you to act. That decision is what this event is built around.
Protection Is the First Act of Leadership
Strip leadership down to its core and this is what’s left: taking responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of the people in your circle — before anything goes wrong, and especially when it does. That’s the Sheepdog.
The Sheepdog isn’t the wolf. It isn’t ruled by aggression and doesn’t go looking for a fight. It’s the steady one — patient, warm, completely safe to be around. It lies down with the flock. It lets the kids climb on it.
But its capability is real, and everyone can feel it. Most threats never escalate, because a credible protector rarely has to prove anything — presence does the work. And on the rare day presence isn’t enough, the Sheepdog is trained, decisive, and willing to act while others are still processing what’s happening.
You already lead somewhere — a family, a team, a classroom, a congregation, a community. Sheepdog is where you build the one capability most leaders quietly hope they’ll never need and can’t afford to be without.
Active-Shooter Response Meets Urban SERE
We’ve raised the bar for 2027 — a cross between active-shooter response and urban SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape): the realities most likely to put a normal person in an abnormal situation. Everything is delivered through realistic, pressure-tested scenarios, not lecture.
Active-Shooter Response
Reading pre-attack indicators, the move-or-barricade decision under load, moving and protecting others through chaos, and closing distance to stop a threat when there’s no other option.
Urban SERE
Staying oriented when a situation collapses, evading and breaking contact, navigating and sheltering in a dense environment when the systems you count on can’t get to you in time.
Scenario Stress Inoculation
You’re put in the situation, coached through it, and shown exactly where you’d have succeeded or failed. Then you run it again, better. Repetition under pressure is how it sticks.
F.A.S.T. — Fear & Adrenal Stress Training
Skills only matter if you can access them when your heart is slamming and your hands are shaking. Most people can’t — they freeze. That freeze is the real enemy, and it’s beaten in training, not on the day. The FAST Training System runs through every hour of this event.
Stay calm and read clearly in a confrontation, so a predator sizes you up and moves on.
Make sharp decisions under load, instead of locking up and missing the window to escape or act.
Convert adrenaline into power — turning the body’s alarm response into focus, speed, and decisive action.
What You’ll Build Over Three Days
We deliberately don’t publish every scenario. The unknown is part of the training.
The Best Cadre We’ve Ever Put in the Room
The 2026 cadre earned something rare: people asked us, by name, to bring them back. So we did — and we added to them. For 2027 you’ll train under our core Sheepdog cadre plus four special guests we can’t name here — operators whose work doesn’t allow it.
CJ Kirk
Deputy Chief Instructor and first-ever Master Instructor of Krav Maga Worldwide, where he serves as Steward of the system. A 4th-degree black belt with 30+ years in martial arts and two decades teaching Krav Maga — a first-generation Darren Levine and second-generation Imi Lichtenfeld instructor, founder of Krav Maga Houston, Kravology, and the GZTac shooting school. Advanced Force Training and Simunition certified. Mark Divine has called him a kindred spirit.
Through his coaching, teaching, and writing, CJ continues to equip others with the tools to build resilience, lead with purpose, and train for life. Explore these principles further in his book, Conquer Culture.
Rob “Bubbles” Ord
The architect of SEALFIT’s original Sheepdog mindset and skillset as former Director of Tactical Training. A U.S. Navy Special Operations Combat Medic and Diver, Rob served with Naval Special Warfare Group One, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, EOD Mobile Units 3 & 7, and the Deep Submergence Unit. As a Naval Special Warfare mentor he prepared thousands of candidates for the SEAL, SWCC, EOD, and Diver pipelines.
Joining CJ and Rob are four guest instructors we’re not able to name publicly — drawn from the tier-one and specialist communities. You’ll meet them on the mat. Their presence is the single biggest reason this is the strongest cadre we’ve ever fielded.
Why This Costs What It Costs
Think about sushi for a second. At one end, the chef’s counter — a master who spent decades learning to source, cut, and serve, whose standard never bends. At the other, the gas-station cooler: looks like sushi, uses the same word, costs almost nothing. You always walk out holding one of two things.
The Counter
A real event, run by proven people, held to a standard that doesn’t bend. What separates it is the part you can’t inspect from a sales page: who’s really running the room, what they’ve actually done, and what they had to do to earn the right to put you under pressure safely. That’s not prestige — it’s chain of custody.
The Cooler
The lookalike weekend that borrows the same words, the same photos, the same promises — and counts on you not being able to tell the difference until the day you stake everything on it and it doesn’t hold. From the parking lot, the two can look almost identical. They are not.
So yes, this is a premium. That number isn’t a markup — it’s the cost of the standard: a cadre that had to earn the room, scenarios built and rebuilt under real pressure; three days you cannot replicate at the cut-rate weekend down the road. A bad sushi choice ruins your evening. A poor preparedness choice fails you on the one day everything depended on it.
They Trained for the Day They Hoped Would Never Come
We never wish an emergency on anyone. But over the years, graduates have used what they built at Sheepdog to survive a mass-shooting event, control catastrophic bleeding after an accident, get their families out of a sudden home emergency — and in one case, disarm an attacker holding a gun on them. The through-line is always the same: the training was so deeply ingrained that they acted before fear could take over.
I signed up for this course because I was tired of feeling unsure and unprepared if I ever found myself in a situation where I needed to defend myself or respond to a medical emergency. The idea of using a handgun made me nervous, and I knew that fear would only grow if I didn’t address it directly. I wanted to build real, usable skills instead of vague theoretical knowledge.
If someone’s on the fence about taking this course, I would tell them..Get off the effen fence already and do it! If you’re sitting on the fence, that means you’re already thinking about doing it. That means that you WILL come away with a new set of skills and education to add to your training and practice schedule and you WILL be on your way to becoming a Sheepdog (which we could always use more of in the world).
What surprised me the most about myself during this course was how quickly I picked up the information and skills, especially in point shooting. As someone who has only gone to the indoor gun range once, I was nervous and hesitant because I was the newbie/least-experienced of the group. With an open mind, curiosity to learn, and support from everyone there, I was able to make huge strides in my confidence (I felt like an absolute bad*ss) and have a new fire instilled in me to do more.
Full three-day event. Includes all instruction, scenario training, range time, and meals.
Select discounts are available for qualified applicants — your coach will cover options on your screening call. Flexible payment plans available.
Apply TodayThree Days: Recognize, Repeat, Pressure
The February 2027 training framework is our best-ever — skill and mindset are developed together, moving from recognition to repetition to pressure. As before, a few elements are deliberately left unspecified, and pre-work goes out ahead of time to prime your experience.
Indicators & First Minutes
Up to four hours on pre-attack indicators and responses — slowing everything down to study what shows up before a situation escalates. Then into TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) with Rob Ord and the cadre, focused on the first few minutes when someone is hurt and you have to act. The day closes by stepping into Urban SERE.
Four Urban SERE Stations
A full day built around four related Urban SERE stations, rotating so you get real time in each area. This is where volume does its work — enough reps for the skills to begin settling in a way that lasts.
Integration & Stress Testing
Review, a walk-through of what you experienced, then stress testing in smaller groups with the cadre. One deliberate change this year — no sitting around waiting your turn. The day stays active: working, reviewing, and engaging straight through.
- Pre-Work & Pre-EventReturning Sheepdogs and new attendees alike receive pre-work ahead of the event to prime the experience.
- Fly IntoSan Diego International (SAN) — roughly 15–20 minutes from Strategic Operations on Ruffin Rd.
- ArrivalPlan to arrive the day before so you start fresh. Don’t book departure before 5pm on the final day.
- LodgingLodging details and recommendations will be sent upon completion of registration.
The Foundational Force Behind Sheepdog Training
Mark Divine is the founder of SEALFIT and Unbeatable Mind, a former Navy SEAL officer, author, speaker, and the initiating force behind the SEALFIT Sheepdog program.
Widely recognized for bridging elite military principles with everyday life, his work has empowered leaders, entrepreneurs, first responders, and civilians to cultivate resilience, awareness, and purposeful action. His books have become essential resources for those seeking to elevate their mindset and unlock their full potential. Explore Mark’s books.
Questions
No standard fitness test. This is a focused training event, not a crucible.
No. Tell us your background on your application so we can place you well. Returning Sheepdogs and newcomers both receive pre-work to get ready.
Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Escape — in the Navy, these skills are taught at SERE school.
February 5–7, 2027, at Strategic Operations (STOPS), on Ruffin Rd in San Diego.
Breakfast and lunch are included.
There are no refunds on any event. You may reschedule up to 48 hours prior for a fee. See Terms & Conditions for details.
Decide Before the Day Decides for You
You can’t learn this too soon. You can absolutely learn it too late. If protecting your people matters to you, this is the most direct way to build the capability — under the best cadre we’ve ever assembled, in three days that change how you move through the world.
Apply for Feb 5–7, 2027