Instructors

Hannes Stueckler: lead instructor, and has the following qualifications:

  • Certified NRA Pistol Instructor.

  • Certified NRA Range Safety Officer.

  • Certified A.L.I.C.E. Instructor (Active shooter response).

  • Certified Impact Personal Safety Suited Instructor (Scenario "Bad Guy"). Actively working with Empower Wyoming women's unarmed self defense.

  • 5th Degree black belt and certified instructor (shidoshi) in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu.

  • Trained by combat experienced Marine Force Recon veteran ~ 7 years.

  • Trained by law enforcement academy instructor ~ 4 years.

  • Studied under Jack Hoban ~ 25 years (Resolution Group International, 15th Dan Bujinkan, Ethical curriculum development Marine Corps Martial Arts Program).

  • Trained by Rory Miller (Author: Meditations on Violence, Facing Violence, Conflict Communications).

  • Trained by George Thompson (Author: Verbal Judo).

  • 15 years of experience teaching martial arts and self defense techniques to adults and children.

  • 29 years of various martial arts experience.

"After the Aurora Colorado Theater shooting, it became obvious that the gunman could have been easily stopped if only a very few people in the crowd had a real fighting mindset. Not just having a gun, but having a deep understanding formed from physical experience about what would work and what wouldn’t. Knowing what to do in a situation like that doesn’t happen on your first time through, but there simply wasn’t any way available to train for it ahead of time, and that needed to change. There needed to be a real fighting school for civilians, so I built the Lander Defense Team and started running classes."

Tara Stueckler: Scenario and verbal coach

  • Empower Wyoming Assistant Instructor (Scenario Coach). Worked with Empower Wyoming women's unarmed self defense ~2 years . Tara coaches students through stressful verbal and physical scenarios to ensure confidence and a correct response to a threat.

  • Tara assists with the Mama Bear women's only classes.


"Steve": Curriculum and Quality control.

"Steve" has extensive military, law enforcement, bodyguard and criminal youth rehab experience. Although he wishes to remain mostly anonymous, he is a key member of the team, and all material taught is reviewed by him to assure that it is effective and realistic.

He wanted pass along a vast body of unusual experience in surviving many gunfights and violent encounters. Far more, in fact, than most other people even in his very violent professions. Lander Defense feels that the world needs to know what he knows. Our instructors train with him regularly and trust his knowledge of violence and how to end it. He likes to say that "Gun fighting is 98% fight and 2% gun". This is at the very heart of everything that we do.

Highly qualified guest instructors are frequently invited to teach on a class by class basis.

We realize that most people cannot afford the best and latest equipment or the big name training facilities. Most people have lives and obligations, but they also have a need for self defense. So we created Lander Defense, not only to be the most effective firearms based self defense training available anywhere, but also to be affordable and accessible to regular people.