The primary instructor at W2TF is Will Rodriguez who served over 20 years as an Infantry officer in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Korea. He is a Rangemaster Certified Instructor and holds numerous NRA instructor credentials including Pistol, Personal Protection Inside the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home and the Refuse to Be a Victim Crime Prevention course. Will is Ultimate Training Munition certified and has conducted numerous force on force exercises including serving as a role player for various police department training events. He is a ConcealedCarry.com and Active Self Protection affiliated instructor. Besides being an instructor, Will is an avid student and has over 200 hours of formal instruction. Will is also a competitive shooter and competes in USPSA, Steel Challenge and 3-Gun matches.
One of Will’s primary responsibilities as an Infantry Officer was ensuring the units he led were well trained in the employment of their pistols, rifles and crew served weapons. He was responsible for the planning, resourcing, range development, instructor training, execution and supervision of firearms training for hundreds if not thousands of soldiers without one mishap over his 20+ year career. As a company commander, his emphasis on rifle marksmanship was demonstrated by an unheard of 70% of his rifle company qualifying expert. He was responsible for stress inoculating his combat units and leading them to succeed in the field. Force protection measures at home station and while deployed were a routine part of his responsibilities.
Will’s range experience includes the safe and effective handling of pistols, rifles, light and heavy machineguns from both static and moving positions. While serving as a Tactical Officer at West Point, he was also an officer representative (assistant coach) for the West Point pistol team as an additional duty. He has spent thousands of hours preparing to shoot, training to shoot and shooting, consistently qualifying expert with the M1911 and M9 pistol as well as the M16 rifle. He has personally fired just about every weapon in the Army inventory from the pistol to the 120mm cannon on the M1 Abrams tank. That experience includes the M203 Grenade Launcher, M249 SAW, M60 and M240 machineguns.
Will is also the owner and creator of GRUNTSandCo.com. His writing has been published in Infantry Magazine, SpecialOperations.com, SOFREP.com and is an assistant editor and writer for SpotterUp.com.
Besides graduating from numerous Army schools, Will has degrees in National Security and International Affairs from West Point, a Master’s Degree in Counseling & Leadership Development and is a graduate of the Combined Arms General Staff College. Some of his awards include the Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals and the Order of St Maurice. Born and raised in a tough section of Brooklyn New York, Will lost his accent in the Army, but kept the attitude.