John D. Hurth
PMCI: What led you to write your book?
John: “In the beginning, I was very displeased with what had been
written on Combat and Tactical Tracking and wanted to educate
others on a skill that not only has helped me operationally
during my 23-year military career but was a subject that I was
very passionate about. When I was in the service, I never could
understand why visual tracking and (more importantly) Combat
Tracking, wasn’t taken more seriously. Doctrinally, our military
had always made references in manuals to the benefit of tracking
and historically, visual tracking had been used to great extent
and very successfully, from the inception of our country, followed
by our expansion westward, up to the Viet Nam war.
“At the time when I was an instructor at the Combat Tracker
course, it was managed by the Army’s Intelligence branch and
they really didn’t understand or sell the capability to the Combat
Arms side. Later, I came to understand that the U.S. Military really
didn’t understand the capability and the company that I worked
for didn’t understand conceptually how the U.S Military could,
or would employ this capability. Really, both sides had their
blinders on. After the Combat Tracker course was closed down
and I had established my own company, I thought the best way
to really educate the military community was by writing a book
on combat tracking. I wanted to educate the actual war fighters
by writing a book that resembled a field manual that could teach
them the individual and collective tasks that support the conduct
of these operations on the ground. I also wanted this “manual”
to be able to educate their leaders who were decision makers.
I wanted them to understand how Combat Tracking would be
employed operationally in support of larger operations.
“These missions in support those operations would facilitate
the hunting down of elusive enemy forces, develop enemy
patterns of life that would provide critical information for leaders
and staff for future operations and facilitate personnel recovery
operations. Hopefully, I did that.”
PMCI: Do you offer your own services in your market area?
John: “Yes, we most certainly do. Over the course of a year the
majority of our clients come from within the state of Louisiana.”
PMCI: Without going into specifics, who do you, and your
successful trainees, work with?
John: “Our clients come from all walks of life, i.e. Government
Agencies, Military, LE, SAR and civilians who are hunters,
survivalists, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.”
PMCI: Where do you see TYR Group e ٽ