Publisher's Synopsis
As a boy Jim Wagner was the target of schoolyard bullies, but that all changed in high school when a new friend, Alfonso Uceda, on the football team introduced him to the martial arts. Jim not only learned how to fight, but he purposely chose a path in life where he'd have no choice but to use his skills. This is the true story of Jim Wagner that embarks on an incredible journey of a career in the military, law enforcement, and counterterrorism that hop scotches all around the world: from the jungles of Argentina training Special Operations units to combat a secret war with radical Islam before 9/11, to the remote dusty desert town of Wadi Musa in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan where he was poisoned by the police for being a "spy," to teaching the Israeli police and military his unique fighting system that they needed to complete their own Krav Maga. Just as if you were going through it right alongside him, this story has you experience the pain and exuberance of a turbulent U.S. Army in the 1980s, the stress and excitement of getting through the police academy, patrolling the streets south of Los Angeles as a cop, having to deal with a bunch of "knuckle draggers" of an unappreciative S.W.A.T. team, the dazzle and boredom of being a bodyguard for the movie stars, diplomats, and a corrupt Sheriff who was once affectionately called "America's Sheriff" by the media. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 you'll discover what it was like first hand to go through counterterrorism school with the Feds, and end up on a fully loaded passenger airplane facing a suspected Pakistani terrorist who is transporting the unexpected in his briefcase to the nation's capital. Black Belt magazine in the USA, Budo magazine in Europe, and Blitz magazine in Australia named Jim Wagner as one of the most influential martial arts and tactics instructors in the world, and he finds himself once again in uniform; this time preparing soldiers for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and right at home against the new threat posed by ISIS. The by-product of rejoining the fight against the bad guys, and his international success, was once again jealousy & envy. All these stories, and more, are contained in the pages of all three books of the trilogy. It's a true story about faith and perseverance. With very descriptive writing the 578 pages in this first book will make you feel as if you are alongside Jim in his many adventures, trials, and tribulations, and the dozens of photographs will let you know who the players are and give you a real sense of what it was like to be there.
