work in progress...

Sandman is a former United States Marine, and Iraq War Veteran. He started picking locks in 2007 while serving in Iraq as an Artilleryman. After his two deployments to Iraq were over, he was selected to represent the Marines on the All-Varsity Marine Corps Submission Wrestling Team, aka The Marine Corps MMA Team full time. There he competed in 6 Amateur MMA Fights as the Marine Corps 204lb Light Heavyweight Fighter (fight record 3-3-0). After receiving an Honorable Discharge from the US Marines, Sandman went on to become an Apprentice Locksmith in 2010 in Denver, Colorado. After finishing his apprenticeship with over 500 hours of training, he took up Law Enforcement Academy training, graduating from the S.P.A.G. Law Enforcement Academy in 2011 in Lubbock, Tx. However after receiving his TCLEOS certification, he elected to work for the Department of Defense as a Private Security Contractor in Afghanistan in 2012 as a Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortar-Operator (C-RAM). There he worked in support of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division at Combat Outpost Honaker-Miracle in Kunar Province for 2 months. After Afghanistan, he moved to Austin, Texas to become a Defensive Tactics instructor for Central Texas Gun Works for 18 months. From 2014-2018, Sandman was a writer, and contributor for the website Art of Lockpicking. There he published the very first interviews of several influential lockpickers such as LockPickingLawyer, Deviant Ollam, Jgor, Chris Dangerfield, Chris Ahrens, Larry Newberry (owner of SouthOrd) and custom pick maker Ratyoke. During this time, he also worked for Central Texas Pop-A-Lock in 2015, and received over 50 hours of Vehicle Entry Techniques and worked as a Technician for Pop-A-Lock for 3 months allowing him to open hundreds of different vehicles. For 10 years Sandman worked as a Bouncer and Night Club Security across 3 different states and 4 different cities, and 18 different bars. Sandman was a Licensed Bodyguard and a Licensed Armed Guard for the State of Texas, and is a Certified Martial Arts Instructor with a 2nd Degree Black Belt in American Freestyle Karate. Sandman has trained in over 30 different styles of martial arts spanning over 20 years. His favorite styles are Dutch Style Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Russian Sambo, Catch Wrestling and Pekiti Tirsia Kali. When Sandman is not on the mats or in a dojo, he is actively engaged in the Locksport Community and has been since 2009. Sandman is also a second generation trained Luthier, receiving over 850 hours of training and certifications in 2021 from the prestigious Galloup School of Guitar Building & Repair under Master Luthier Bryan Galloup. He is currently attending school for Cabinet Making and Traditional Woodworking, and in 2022, he was a recipient of the Rob Cosman Purple Heart Project Scholarship that connects disabled veterans with woodworking. There he trained under Rob Cosman for 90 hours in his shop in Canada learning the lost secrets of hand tool woodworking and joinery.