Behind The Shield

Zar Horton is a retired Albuquerque Battalion Chief and a StrongFirst Master Kettlebell trainer. We discuss his transition out of the fire service, BMX racing, glycolytic training, exercise and the nervous system, fostering longevity, the importance of sleep and so much more.
Zar has been training others in the use of kettlebells since 2004. For the last 16 years he has devoted himself to bringing safe, functional, strength training and fitness, along with greater quality of life and longevity, to fire service, law enforcement, and our military members. He currently holds position of Master Kettlebell Instructor with StrongFirst. He has instructed across the United States and internationally.

Dany Cotton spent over three decades serving with the London Fire Brigade, retiring as Commissioner. We discuss her journey into the fire service, forging diversity through mentoring, the impact of budget cuts on service and health, violence on first responders, heroism at the Grenfell Tower fire, dirty politics and much more.
Dany retired as the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade following a service that spanned 33 years. Dany had responded to a host of disasters in her career including the Clapham Junction rail crash and the Grenfell Tower fire.

Emily Ireland is the founder of Hardcore Healing, Inc. and the creator of Light Touch®. Her background includes more than two decades of study and work across craniosacral therapy, functional anatomy, integrative movement, and wellness research.
Her work explores how subtle interventions may support focus, recovery, sleep, emotional balance, and overall wellbeing. Through Light Touch®, Emily’s goal is to make this kind of support more accessible in everyday life through a simple, consumer-facing wearable.
Emily studied at Sarah Lawrence College, the Kane School of Core Integration, and the Upledger Institute, and continues to engage with researchers and wellness professionals interested in the intersection of physiology, consciousness, and the human system.
She also leads the Hero Resilience Initiative, which works to expand access to Light Touch® for first responders, veterans, and others in high-stress service communities.
https://www.mylighttouch.com/

Kris Copeland is a dedicated Sport and Performance Psychology Consultant with a passion for helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential. With a diverse background in working with military populations, corporations, school districts, hospitals, and athletes of all ages, he has honed his skills in elevating performance across a broad spectrum.
Currently, Kris works as a Cognitive Performance Specialist for the US Army where he is developing curriculum to enhance warfighter readiness, physical performance, mental fortitude and improve overall performance metrics. He is a firm believer in data-driven interventions that will show lasting results in real-life settings. Enhancing physical performance with cognitive training is something Kris has a passion for and he believes (if implemented correctly) is the future of military readiness, corporate performance, athletic victory and human sciences.

Joel Salatin is a world renowned holistic farmer, author and speaker. We discuss COVID and a fragile population, factory farming, abattoir monopolies, the obesity epidemic, resilience through nutrition, school food, lowering the carbon footprint and much more.
Joel Salatin, 62, calls himself a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson. Those who don’t like him call him a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, charlatan, and starvation advocate.
With a room full of debate trophies from high school and college days, 12 published books, and a thriving multi-generational family farm, he draws on a lifetime of food, farming and fantasy to entertain and inspire audiences around the world. He’s as comfortable moving cows in a pasture as addressing CEOs in a Wall Street business conference.
His wide-ranging topics include nitty-gritty how-to for profitable regenerative farming as well as cultural philosophy like orthodoxy vs. heresy. A wordsmith and master communicator, he moves audiences from laughs one minute to tears the next, from frustration to hopefulness. Often receiving standing ovations, he prefers the word performance rather than presentation to describe his lectures. His favorite activity?–Q&A. “I love the interaction,” he says.
He co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Featured in the New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma and award-winning documentary Food Inc., the farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers’ market with salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, and forestry products. When he’s not on the road speaking, he’s at home on the farm, keeping the callouses on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, mentoring young people, inspiring visitors, and promoting local, regenerative food and farming systems.
Salatin is the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, granddaddy catalyst for the grass farming movement. He writes the Pitchfork Pulpit column for Mother Earth News, as well as numerous guest articles for ACRES USA and other publications. A frequent guest on radio programs and podcasts targeting preppers, homesteaders, and foodies, Salatin’s practical, can-do solutions tied to passionate soliloquies for sustainability offer everyone food for thought and plans for action.
Mixing mischievous humor with hard-hitting information, Salatin both entertains and moves people. Seldom using a power-point and often speaking from an outline scribbled in a yellow legal pad, he depends on theatrics, style, and compelling content to hold attention and defend innovative positions. The rare combination of prophet and practitioner makes him both a must-read and must-hear in a time desperate for integrity leadership and example.
https://polyfacefarm.com/