Instructor Bio: Joel Graves

Joel Graves brings an extremely extensive military and tactical background. Completing 355 missions as Naval Special Warfare EOD on Seal Team 2 & 4, which is arguably one of the most elite and highly trained bomb squads in the world. He has served tours in Iraq, Bahrain and Afghanistan, personally disarmed improvised explosive devices with minimal tools in some of the most austere environments in the world. He has provided secret service protection in multiple countries for President Bush, President Obama and then VP Biden. Today, Joel leverages his tactical and combat experience to prepare civilians, military personnel and organizations for international and domestic threats. Training and consulting opportunities with Joel include: international traveler, SERE, active shooter preparedness, self defense and organizational security.

Joel’s bushcraft and survival skill set is as equally impressive. Following his retirement from special operations, Joel spent six months in a long-term survival program where he slept in the field living off the land and honing his craft.. Since a very young age, Joel has been hunting and fishing all over the country. He currently lives in Jacksonville, Florida and spends much of his time fishing on the coastal waters, gator hunting, building bows, and keeping his self reliance skills sharp. He also put up fierce competition in Discovery Channel’s Bushcraft Build-off and was a host on the Netflix Series Snowflake Mountain. He truly has a great love for teaching people of all ages the skills they need to survive.

He is also the primary videographer and editor for Gray Beard Media films.