Stephen “Sketchy Steve” Martin served in the US Army for 22 years before retiring as a Sergeant First Class. He served as an Army Combatives Instructor, Special Operations Combatives Program Instructor, and Paratrooper. He has earned a blackbelt in both the Army Combatives Program and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is currently a Lead Instructor for Tim Kennedy's Sheepdog Response where he travels the country training Americans to fight, shoot, and how to be better prepared for the unexpected.
Steve grew up in the deserts outside of Tucson, AZ riding dirt bikes, shooting guns, and fighting with his brothers. After graduating high school in 1997, Steve worked for his dad’s business, Jack’s Government Surplus, where they restored old military vehicles. 1999 he enlisted in the US Army as a track mechanic and attended basic training at FT Leonardwood, MO and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. He soon married and while he was assigned to the 1ST Infantry Division in Katterbach, Germany he had two children; his daughter, Kristina, and son, Malachi. There he fast tracked to the rank of Sergeant.
After the attacks in New York on 9/11, he re-enlist and headed to FT Carson, CO where he could quickly deploy to Iraq during the ground envision in 2003. While deployed it was obvious that the training that the Army was conducting prior to the war was outdated and designed for trench warfare instead of an urban environment.
When Steve heard of MACP (Modern Army Combatives Program), a new training program in the Army teaching Soldiers how to engage and fight the enemy in close quarters, he jumped at the opportunity to be one of the first students to attend. It was much more realistic training to prepared our troops for what they would actually encounter overseas in modern day warfare.
Steve was then stationed at Camp Carroll, Korea for two years where he started the first Army Combatives Program in the Korea peninsula. He was then requested to serve as an Instructor at the center of the Army’s Combatives Program in FT Benning, GA under the “Father of Combatives” Matt Larsen. There he became the chief trainer, helping rewrite training manuals and developing combative programs for Army units to emulate.
After leaving FT Benning, Steve returned to FT Carson, CO to start working for the 10th Special Group as part of the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat (SFAUC) team for the remaining time in the Army. There he trained under Greg Thompson to serve as the SFAUC SOCP Instructor.
Steve still resides in Colorado with his girlfriend, Kari. There he continues to enjoy riding motorcycles mountains, helping coach jiu jitsu students at local gyms, and mentoring young Soldiers on FT Carson to become warriors. The latest one being his son who is now stationed at FT Drum, NY and currently deployed to Iraq where he will continue to fight for our freedoms and the American way of life.
Topics discussed include: responsible gun ownership, self-defense, trauma, situational awareness and the evolution of MMA.
