Instructor Bio: Rick Swain

Rick Swain is a retired Army combat veteran with more than 20 years of service as a Special Operations Combat Medic and Paramedic/HAZMAT Technician, assigned to both technical and tactical units across deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, and Ecuador. His operational career spans desert, mountain, and jungle environments and includes multiple tours with the 75th Ranger Regiment. In 2003 he served on the review committee for the Tactical Ranger Medic Handbook, contributing directly to the medical doctrine relied on by Ranger medics in combat.

Following his military retirement, Rick continued in federal service for ten years as a government contractor and consultant, mentoring, training, and evaluating units within the National Guard’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Response Enterprise. That work placed him squarely in the high-stakes intersection of tactical medicine and large-scale hazardous-environment response — a perspective few wilderness medicine instructors bring to the classroom.

After leaving government service, Rick set out to deepen his civilian outdoor skill set, studying at Gray Bearded Green Beret, Jack Mountain Bushcraft School, SOLO Schools, and the New Hampshire and Maine Outdoor Learning Centers. He is now a registered Maine Recreational Guide and a certified Wilderness Medicine Instructor through SOLO — the credential under which he leads the Wilderness Medical curriculum for GB2.