Most people train for the moment the fight becomes obvious.

That is already too late.

In real-world violence, especially at close range, the person initiating the attack usually controls the first move. He chooses the time, the distance, and the deception. By the time the threat becomes undeniable, the defender is often already reacting from behind.

That is why I believe awareness beats speed.

This does not mean speed is irrelevant. Speed matters. Reaction time matters. Technical proficiency matters. But none of those things replace the value of recognizing danger before it fully presents itself.

A fast draw is useful. A fast response is useful. But if the first moment you truly register the threat is when the weapon appears, you are already playing catch-up.

The more valuable skill is recognizing what happens before the obvious action.

Violence often gives signals before it fully unfolds. Sometimes they are subtle. Sometimes they are easy to dismiss. But they are often there.

Changes in hand movement.
Unnatural facial tension.
Repeated glances.
Shifts in speech or tone.
Checking or guarding a concealed area.
Changes in posture, breathing, or distance.

That early recognition buys time. In a violent encounter, time is everything.

This is exactly why I built the Cross Failure Drill.

The Cross Failure Drill is meant to reflect the kind of short-range, compressed timeline that defines many real confrontations. It pushes the shooter to work from concealment, engage immediately, begin from an imperfect position, stabilize the gun under pressure, and transition between threats without wasting movement.

It is not a vanity drill. It is not there to make people feel fast on a square range. It is there to force execution under pressure while reinforcing a more important truth. By the time you are shooting, the problem already started.

That is why the drill is only the physical layer of the concept.

The deeper lesson is this.

The fight begins before the first shot.
Before the draw.
Before the overt act.
Before most people mentally give themselves permission to act.

That is why good training should not only develop mechanics. It should develop perception.

Situational awareness is not fear. It is not living in a constant state of anxiety. It is disciplined observation. It is being present enough to notice when something no longer fits the environment.

The goal is not to be paranoid.
The goal is not to be late.

Too many people train only for the visible problem. But the visible problem is often the last stage of the threat, not the first. By then, the attacker has already made key decisions and seized initiative.

The person who is aware earlier has more options.
More time.
More control.
A better chance of survival.

Speed matters.

But awareness gets there first.

And the Cross Failure Drill is one way I train that reality into performance.

Originally published on Mayer Security:
https://www.mayersecurity.com/awareness-beats-speed-security-drill-training/

On paper, a lot of people in major cities should sleep like babies.

Their apartments and houses blink red with cameras. Their offices brag about access control systems that look like sci-fi. Their kids go to schools with more surveillance than the war zones I have seen. The brochures are beautiful. The login screens are slick. Somewhere, a sales team is high-fiving over “end to end coverage”.

I walk through these places at night with a ballistic vest on my chest and a Glock on my hip, and what I mostly see is this: nobody is actually watching.

The cameras stare. The servers hum. The cloud absorbs every second of human life in 4K, compresses it, and stacks it on top of yesterday’s misery in a data center all the way on the other side of the world. But for the nurse walking alone in the parking garage after an angry family promised to “catch her outside,” for the woman who has told her supervisor three times that her ex keeps coming around the building, for the kid who already knows somebody is going to jump him after school, all that blinky gear will not move a single muscle in real time.

On paper, they are safer than they feel.
In reality, they are in more danger than they think.

I grew up in Afghanistan, worked as an interpreter with the Americans, then joined the Marine Corps, then started a security company in Texas. I have been around violence in places with no cameras at all, and in places where you cannot scratch your nose without a lens on you.

What I have learned is this:

More recording does not mean more protection.
What we built is not a safety net. It is an evidence archive.

That is the current state of security, if you strip off the marketing: we film the world and quietly retire the people who used to watching and protecting it.

The Cult Of The Camera

Security used to be simple and human.

There was the doorman who knew every face on the block.
The hotel security guy who actually watched the lobby instead of the screen saver.
The neighbor who smoked on the balcony more than any doctor would recommend, and noticed every unfamiliar van on the street.

Now when I meet a property manager, or a business owner the proud tour starts like this: “We have 120 cameras on site. Everything is covered.”

Yes, and I am still here in a vest and a sidearm, on their dime, which means even they know something in this place smells worse than they are willing to say out loud.

Everything is covered. That is the mantra. Coverage is the idol.

Nobody says “We have three people whose job is to pay attention and intervene before something happens.” That would be unfashionable and expensive. Humans are trouble. They have to be trained. They get tired. They sue you. Cameras just sit there and quietly suck in reality.

The hope is that because there is recording it will be enough of a deterrent.

Here is the ugly secret: most modern security systems are not built to protect you while you are still alive and screaming. They are built to show who was at fault once you are already on the ground.

What the sales people do not tell you is that this kind of faith is innocently foolish. The impulsive, antisocial criminal who is out looking for targets of opportunity does not have the same sense of long-term self preservation as the average normie shuffling between a cubicle, a Starbucks line, and their annual HR training video. They are not thinking about policy, paperwork, or what the video will look like in court.

Most businesses and employers prefer cameras over people because cameras help with compliance and CYA, not because they lose sleep over their employees. They are in the business of reducing cost and increasing profit, and the camera fits that story much better than a human being who might actually step in.

In a lot of places there is literally nobody watching the feed in real time. The system records to the cloud. If something bad happens, someone like me gets a call to pull footage. I download a perfect movie of the worst ten minutes of your life and email it to management, to HR, to lawyers, to police. Everyone shakes their head and says the same line:

“At least we have it on camera.”

They say it like a victory. It sounds to me like a confession.

The Phone Comes Out, Courage Checks Out

It is not just institutions that fail. It is regular people too.

Watch what happens any time a fight breaks out in public now. Street, school, parking lot, restaurant.

Ten phones in the air.
Comments. Nervous laughs.
A chorus of “oh my God” and hardly anyone putting their actual body between the attacker and the victim.

Almost no one steps in, not even verbally. Almost no one walks up to the victim afterward and says “Hey, come with me, we are leaving.”

We trained a whole country that their primary job in a crisis is not to act. It is to document.

You are not a neighbor. You are a content creator.

Recording feels like participation without risk. You get to go home and say “I was there” without ever asking “What did I do about it.”

Every time you film instead of help, you are teaching your own nervous system a story.

I do not interfere.
I am an observer only.
Someone else will step in.

Next time something bad starts happening in front of you, that story arrives faster than your conscience. The phone is already in your hand while your better self is still waking up.

We are outsourcing courage to the camera. We are rehearsing cowardice.

Children, Schools, And The New Violence

When most adults think about school security, they imagine metal detectors, police in the hallway, and lockdown drills. That is the obvious threat.

What is far more common, and easier to miss, is humiliation.

It does not lead the evening news, but it can injure a child just as deeply and for much longer.

The real damage often happens in group chats, Snap stories, and Discord servers. It lives in the invisible hallways inside a teenager’s phone.

A student sends one reckless photo to someone they think they can trust. The relationship ends. The image does not. It is copied, edited, and passed around. AI tools can add more detail and create entire fake images or videos with that child’s face. Very quickly, their reputation becomes a piece of circulating content.

Or a beating happens behind the gym. The punches stop in the parking lot. The video does not. A few students post it, hundreds watch it, and the victim relives it every time the clip appears again.

For a teenager, social destruction can feel very close to physical harm. The body still reacts with panic, shame, and fear, even when the weapon is a phone.

Most schools still file this under “online drama”. Parents tell kids to “stay off their phones for a while”, as if the problem is screen time instead of a focused campaign against one child.

If you are the adult in the room, treat this as real violence.

• Tell kids that what happened to them is serious, not a joke.

• Make it clear that protecting them matters more than avoiding bad publicity for the school.

• Spend more time understanding their digital life than lecturing them about strangers in parking lots.

You cannot put a metal detector on a group chat, but you can stop pretending that what happens there is harmless.

Domestic Violence And Stalking: Old Problem, New Tools

The most dangerous person in your life is almost never a stranger in an alley. It is the person who decides your freedom is a problem.

That has always been true. What is new are the tools that person can buy on amazon or download in ten minutes.

AirTags and trackers hidden in cars and bags.
Shared family phone plans that let one person see everyone’s location.
“Mutual” passwords for email, bank accounts, and cloud storage.
Doorbell cameras and smart locks controlled from one partner’s phone.

On top of that, social media acts like free surveillance. If you do not deliberately create distance, an ex can see where you go, who you are with, and when you are home.

If a breakup feels unsafe, treat it like a security event, not gossip.

Log out of all sessions and reset passwords.
Check location sharing and stop it.
Look at your accounts and devices the way an intruder would. Where can they see you or control you.

If someone shows you that your autonomy is a threat to them, believe them. Everything after that is just time and opportunity.

The Paradox: Less Violence, More Fear

Here is the first uncomfortable truth. In a lot of places, if you compare the numbers to the 80s and 90s, some types of violent crime are flat or even down. Yet the average person feels less safe than their parents did.

Part of that is math. One bad incident on your block feels bigger than a hundred statistics on a government chart.

Most of it is business.

Fear is now a commercial product. Social media feeds, twenty four hour news, camera companies, alarm companies, political campaigns. Everyone is in the race to be the loudest alarm in the room. Every notification is a little shove that whispers the same thing: “You are not safe unless you listen to us.”

The problem is not fear itself. Fear is a survival system. The problem is junk fear. When you live in a permanent fire drill, it becomes harder to hear the one smoke alarm that actually matters.

What Ordinary People Can Actually Do

If all of this stayed at the level of complaining, it would just be my therapy bill. So here is the practical part.

For yourself and your family:

• Treat unease as data, not as a character defect.

• Leave rides, dates, and places when they feel wrong, even if that makes you look “rude”.

• Make a house rule that no one wires money or gives up passwords based only on a call, text, or video. Always verify through a second path.

• After any breakup that feels even slightly dangerous, reset passwords, end shared accounts, and check devices for tracking.

For kids:

• Talk about humiliation and deepfakes the way you would talk about drugs or drunk driving. Calm, serious, no sugar coating.

• Make it clear that if they get in over their head online, you will fight the people abusing them before you punish them for the original mistake.

• Watch for school avoidance, sudden withdrawal, or panic around their phone. Those can be signals of ongoing digital violence.

At work:

• Push for clear reporting channels for threats, stalking, or domestic situations that might follow someone to the office.

• Support colleagues who come forward, instead of treating them like a problem to manage.

• If you run a company, start measuring and rewarding incidents that were prevented or diverted, not just incidents that were handled.

And everywhere:

• When something looks wrong in front of you, ask yourself if pulling out your phone is really the move your future self will be proud of. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is simply walk over, stand next to the victim, and be a second human body who refuses to look away.

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The Only Upgrade That Matters

We are heading into a future full of fake faces and real blood. AI will get better. Cameras will get cheaper. Storage will get bigger. Every square inch of public life will be filmed.

You can keep chasing that or you can remember the one upgrade that still works exactly the way it did before electricity.

A human being who is actually paying attention.
A human being who is allowed to decide.
A human being who is willing to step in while there is still time.

You cannot download that. You cannot automate it. You have to choose it, train it, and back it up when it acts.

From combat zones in Afghanistan, to the Marine Corps, to Houston manufacturing plants, and hospitals at three in the morning, that is the pattern I see.

On paper, we are safer than we feel.
In practice, we are in more danger than we think.

Because the world is being filmed from every angle.
And almost nobody is watching.

Jason Essazay is an Afghan-born former interpreter for U.S. forces, a Marine Corps veteran, and the owner of Mayer Security Services security company in Texas. He spends his nights walking the places people assume are safe and writes about what violence really looks like on the ground.

1) Understanding Security Guard Licensing in Texas
Security licensing in Texas is regulated by the Department of Public Safety, Regulatory Services Division, under Occupations Code Chapter 1702 and the Texas Administrative Code Title 37, Chapter 35.

• Level II – Non-Commissioned Security Officer
  This is the entry-level credential for unarmed positions. It requires a Level II training course approved by DPS and a fingerprint background check.

• Level III – Commissioned Security Officer
  This license allows you to work armed positions. It requires a Level III course taught by a DPS-approved instructor, firearms qualification, and background clearance.

• Level IV – Personal Protection Officer (PPO)
  This is the license for executive or close protection work while armed. You must already hold a Level III license and then complete a DPS-approved Level IV PPO course, which typically includes a minimum of fifteen classroom hours and advanced scenario training.

Fingerprinting is handled through IdentoGO by IDEMIA, the official state vendor. Make sure to schedule your prints immediately after completing your training. Renewals typically require eight hours of continuing education, including one hour of ethics, and PPOs must maintain proof of firearms proficiency.

2) Step-By-Step Process: From Civilian to Security Professional:
Select a DPS-approved training school that publishes its license number and offers live firearms qualification for Level III.

1. Complete your course and obtain the official certificate of completion. Keep both paper and digital copies.

2. Schedule fingerprints through IdentoGO within 24 hours of finishing your class.

3. Submit your online application to DPS along with your training certificates.

4. Begin applying and interviewing while waiting for your pocket card. Professional firms may allow a pre-hire site tour or observation.

5. When approved, carry your license card and credentials on you at all times per site standard operating procedures.

A fast track is to complete Level II and III through the same provider. Once you have consistent work and reliable references, pursue Level IV for executive protection or bodyguard work.

3) Building Skills That Actually Increase Your Income
Once licensed, you’ll notice that pay differences depend less on the license level and more on extra skills and reliability. In Houston, employers value:

• Medical response: Stop the Bleed, CPR/AED, and BLS certification.
• De-escalation and crisis management: Courses like MOAB or Verbal Judo are highly respected.
• Report writing and incident photography: Clear, timestamped documentation with simple language.
• Access control software: Learning Lenel, Genetec, or Honeywell increases commercial site value.
• Healthcare security: IAHSS Basic certification improves employability at hospitals and clinics.
• Industrial and construction safety: OSHA 10 or 30 certification adds versatility.
• Driving proficiency: EVOC-style or convoy fundamentals for patrol and executive assignments.
• Radio discipline: Short, clear, professional communications set you apart immediately.

4) Marketing Yourself to Better Security Companies
You’ll stand out in the Houston market by treating your career like a trade rather than just a job. Prepare a one-page resume that includes your license levels, expiration dates, and additional certifications. Add three bullet examples of incidents where you resolved an issue, de-escalated a conflict, or improved a process.

Create a portfolio page that includes an anonymized incident report, a patrol log, and a professional-quality photo of a documented issue or safety hazard. These show maturity and attention to detail.

Follow a three-step communication pattern that consistently gets results in Houston:

1. Submit your online application.

2. Call the branch within 24 hours to confirm they received it and ask if they allow site ride-alongs.

3. Show up once, on time, in a clean uniform or business attire with your packet ready.

Asking for a ride-along demonstrates professionalism and initiative. Many managers remember that kind of effort when hiring or promoting.

5) Choosing Your Security Niche: Risk, Liability, and Pay
Different types of security work come with very different expectations.

Lower liability, lower to mid pay
Corporate concierge, museum security, and gatehouse work are good starting points for Level II officers.

Moderate liability with strong pay growth
Healthcare security, industrial plant security, construction site access control, logistics yards, and mobile patrol offer better pay once you gain experience. They reward professionalism, documentation, and safety awareness.

High liability, high pay
Executive protection, strike security, and armed retail deterrence pay the most but require maturity, advanced training, and accountability. The Personal Protection Officer license under Chapter 1702 allows this work legally.

Most new officers find the best balance in healthcare or industrial security with add-on training like CPR/AED and de-escalation. Mobile patrol adds valuable independence and experience.

6) Your First 90 Days On The Job

Weeks 1–2
Learn post orders and client expectations by heart. Build your own opening, mid-shift, and closing checklist. Introduce yourself to the site supervisor or client liaison and ask what their top priorities are.

Weeks 3–6
Refine your reports. Keep entries short, clear, and timestamped. Request to shadow rover or patrol shifts to see how other posts handle incidents. If you’re in healthcare, practice verbal de-escalation. On construction sites, focus on contractor safety and access compliance.

Weeks 7–12
Enroll in an extra skill course that fits your environment—IAHSS for hospitals, OSHA 10 for industrial sites, tactical medical for executive work. Ask for cross-training at another location to broaden your experience. Request feedback from your supervisor and note improvements.

7) Mobile Patrol and Commercial Security: What “Good” Looks Like
Mobile patrol work in Houston is highly valued. It involves randomized patrol routes, door and gate checks, alarm responses, and photographic documentation. Your patrol logs should include clear timestamps, observations, and one supporting photo for any discrepancy or hazard.

Commercial security focuses on visitor management, access control, loading dock safety, and CCTV monitoring. Understanding Lenel or Genetec software makes you more useful to corporate property managers. Learn to distinguish between safety hazards and policy violations and document accordingly.

8) Income Expectations in Houston
Pay varies by level, role, and site type. Level II unarmed officers at low-risk posts start on the lower end, while Level III armed officers at healthcare, logistics, and industrial sites can earn substantially more—especially for night or weekend shifts. Executive protection (PPO) rates vary widely by risk and client profile, often paid daily rather than hourly. Officers who maintain composure, accurate reporting, and professional appearance advance the fastest.

9) Ten Security Companies Hiring in Greater Houston

1. Securitas – International security leader with a Houston branch and mobile patrol fleet.

2. GardaWorld – Global provider with armed and unarmed positions across Houston.

3. Pinkerton – Specializes in executive protection and corporate risk management.

4. Ranger Guard and Investigations – Houston-based private security firm offering armed, unarmed, patrol, and investigation services. Provides training, and competitive pay across industrial, construction, and commercial accounts.

5. Mayer Security Services – Veteran-owned Houston firm focused on healthcare, industrial, construction, estate, mobile patrol, and executive protection assignments. Emphasizes proactive officers trained in de-escalation, emotional intelligence, and situational awareness.

6. United Protective Services – Texas-based regional firm with industrial and corporate contracts.

7. Signal Security (Signal 88) – National franchise model with Houston-area franchises and flexible shift options.

8. Guards On Call – Regional company with a strong industrial presence across Texas.

9. Champion National Security – Regional company with a strong industrial presence across Texas.

10. SEAL Security – Local Houston company providing event, commercial, and patrol security coverage.

10) Compliance, Ethics, and Documentation
The Texas Department of Public Safety enforces all private security rules under Chapter 1702 of the Occupations Code and Title 37, Chapter 35 of the Texas Administrative Code. This includes training hours, firearms qualification, instructor approval, and continuing education standards. Keep every certificate, renewal form, and proficiency record safely stored. Good documentation is not optional; it’s your professional insurance.

11) A 30-Day Action Plan for Houston Newcomers
Week 1
Register for a Level II course and, if you plan to work armed positions, a Level III course at the same school. Schedule fingerprints with IdentoGO immediately after completion. Start drafting your resume and basic incident-report template.

Week 2
Submit your application to DPS. Obtain CPR/AED certification and, if targeting healthcare work, start the IAHSS Basic online course.

Week 3
Apply to ten companies that fit your target niche—healthcare, industrial, patrol, or executive protection. Call at least two offices to ask about interviews or site tours.

Week 4
Participate in a ride-along. Refine your portfolio with what you learned. If aiming for executive protection, identify your next steps toward Level IV licensing and build credibility through reliability, communication, and restraint.

• 12) Frequently Asked Questions
  Do I need Level II before Level III?
  Yes. Level II is required for all non-commissioned officers. Level III builds upon it for armed work.

• How many continuing education hours do I need?
  DPS currently requires at least eight CEU hours for most individual licenses, including one hour of ethics. Personal Protection Officers must also show proof of firearms proficiency at renewal.

• Who does fingerprinting?
  IdentoGO by IDEMIA handles all live-scan fingerprints for DPS licensing.

• Where can I check approved schools and companies?
  Visit the DPS Private Security Program website for official listings and license types, including Class B Security Contractors and approved training schools.

13) Final Word
Security in Texas is more than standing a post. It’s a profession built on awareness, communication, and composure. When you get licensed properly, build your technical and interpersonal skills, and choose a niche with balanced risk and opportunity, you can build a stable and respected career. Houston’s diversity of industries—healthcare, energy, logistics, and construction—makes it one of the best cities in the state for skilled security professionals.

Mayer Security Services continues to grow by hiring proactive, emotionally intelligent officers who understand both physical security and human behavior. If you want to be part of that new wave of Texas professionals, start your training today and take your role in protecting Houston’s people, property, and future.

I stumbled into this line of work by accident, but looking back, it feels like it was always heading this way. Every job, every fire-fight, every sleepless night working as a local national interpreter and fixer for the U.S. Military, including time with some high-speed and intelligence units, shaped how I see work, people, and responsibility. Long before that, as an eight-year-old kid, I saw what real violence looked like. I was on the business end of a gun, watching my father get butt-stroked by IRGC-backed militias for nothing more than being Pashtun. Those moments don’t leave you. They carve something into you that changes your sense of purpose, and how you see fear, power, and control.

For me, Mayer Security Services started from failure. A permanent physical limitation from an IED blast in June of 2009 stayed with me for years. I managed to push through it until a decade later, when I refractured the same spot during the Marine Corps Pre-Scout Sniper Course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. That moment hit harder than any explosion.

Failing that course didn’t just mean I wasn’t going to be a HOG, a Hunter of Gunmen, the title given to Marine Corps snipers who pass. It meant the door to my dream of becoming a CIA Paramilitary Officer was closed too. That realization took me to a dark place. When the thing you’ve built your life around disappears, you start questioning everything.

When you’re in or around the military, the idea of monetizing your experience feels dirty. Like you’re cashing in on something sacred. And maybe that instinct is right. But it doesn’t mean you can’t use what you’ve learned to build something valuable on the outside. You can take the same skills in discipline, awareness, and calm under pressure, and use them to build a business without losing your integrity or trying to impress civilians who wouldn’t know the difference. The world already has enough guys telling hyperinflated sea stories and calling it leadership or valor. What I’m doing isn’t Hollywood quality, it’s just real work from someone trying to make something of what’s left.

My security company license came through when I was maxed out on credit cards and sitting at negative $254 in my bank account. I had nothing but a piece of paper that said I could provide security services anywhere in Texas. That was all I needed. From that point forward, it was up to me and grit to turn that license into a living.

Mayer Security Services didn’t start with investors or business mentors. It started with failure, stubbornness, and a refusal to stay down. Over time it became more than a company. It became a way to rebuild my life and test everything I had learned from years of watching people at their best and worst, in war and in peace.

Here, I’ll write about the real world of private security. The licensing maze. The liability traps. The challenges of managing people who are armed but still human. The slow grind of building trust with clients who’ve seen it all. I’ll share the mistakes too, because there’s no manual for this kind of work.

And then there’s the tacticool culture, which has its place but often misses the mark in private security. Some guys come out of the military or law enforcement world and think the same look and mindset will translate perfectly. It usually doesn’t. When you’re dealing with regular people, that kind of presence can be more intimidating than professional. Corporate clients, healthcare administrators, and property managers want confidence and control, not intimidation.

That image might get attention online, but in this industry, it can hold you back more than it helps you. Success comes from balancing competence with composure, and learning how to make your tactical experience an asset instead of a barrier. I’ll also talk about how veterans can transfer their military skills into private security the right way, building credibility through professionalism, not performance. There’s a fine line between being capable and being misunderstood, and too many transitioning veterans don’t know where it is. That was me too, until I got a few backhanded slaps in the form of offer rejections.

I’m not writing from the top of any mountain. I’m still climbing, still learning how to balance principle with practicality. If you’re trying to do the same, maybe you’ll find something here worth reading.

Subscribe if you want honest insight from someone still in the field, figuring it out as he goes, same as almost everyone else.

Still in the fight, just a different kind.