Native Carroll signs four-pound deal on Situational Awareness

HILLSVILLE, Va. — He’s been a federal air marshal for nearly two decades and has twice finished in the top three on The History Channel’s competitive shooting show High Cut. And now the Carroll County native can add a published author to his ever-growing resume.

Gary Quesenberry’s first book, titled “Spotting Danger Before It Spots You,” is due out June 1. Ironically, Quesenberry never intended to write a book, but he is now under contract to write a four-part series on situational awareness. for the YMAA Publishing Center.

“It’s funny how it happened. It wasn’t even a book at first. I was going to put together a course for a group of instructors I work with in Kentucky, and they wanted something that dealt with situational awareness,” Quesenberry said. “As I was putting in my lesson plans, I thought, ‘This looks like a table of contents.’ As I plugged in more stuff, I had 30,000 words of situational awareness.

Quesenberry said he started sending his work to different agencies and publishers. He contacted YMAA, a company that publishes a wide range of self-defense books.

“When I sent them my first manuscript, they said it was great, but too big. They said, “Given what you do for a living, situational awareness seems to be your superpower, so we want you to write about it,” Quesenberry said.

“So I revamped the book, wrote about situational awareness, and now have a four-book deal with YMAA. They’re great people. They stay focused on this piece of self-defense. They make a lot of books kung fu and martial arts, but the one thing they didn’t have was the piece on situational awareness, and they liked the fact that all that other stuff didn’t matter if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings.

Quesenberry is already working on a second book for YMAA dealing with teaching children situational awareness. It’s a subject he has dealt with closely throughout his adult life with 28 years of government service.

After serving his country in the United States Army in Desert Storm, Quesenberry worked with the Bureau of Prisons before his long career as a Federal Air Marshal. Whether in a war, prison, or on a plane, Quesenberry always had to have situational awareness at the forefront of his mind.

“There was no other 9/11. We are there as a deterrent. They know we’re here and what we’re capable of,” Quesenberry said as Federal Air Marshal. “In the beginning, a lot of people were asking about your job and how much you made just to sit on a plane. I always say, ‘We get paid for what we can do, and I hope we never have to deploy in these circumstances.”

But as Quesenberry would sadly find out, situational awareness is something that really should come into play in all aspects of our lives. In the book, he talks about a scary incident that happened to his family due to his job.

“When I started working for the Federal Air Marshals, someone called my kids’ school and identified themselves as Gary Quesenberry. They knew my kids’ names, what grades they were in, they had all my credentials. And they told the school that we were moving and that I would be there to pick up my child from school,” Quesenberry said.

“My wife was volunteering at school. My wife and youngest daughter arrived early that day. When she arrived the attendance officer was there with my child and they had everything packed. She said, “Your husband called and said you were going to move out and get the kids ready.” Well, it wasn’t. I was at work in Baltimore.

“My wife notified the police and my supervisor at my field office was at the FBI. He made a few phone calls but we never found out who it was or why they tried to do it but because of my jobs over the years I was targeted. So it was really important to me after that to teach our kids about situational awareness and the things they need to know. The book really stems from that, how to develop it and teach others to be mindful of their surroundings.

Even though Quesenberry is well known for his marksmanship skills, as seen in Top Shot, he said his book was not just for gun owners. It really is for everyone and how to spot danger.

“I talk to a lot of people about personal safety and self-defense, and even in the firearms classes I teach, the one thing I tell everyone is that it’s not enough to carry a gun or be a black belt in jiu jitsu. I tell people all the time that you can’t fight what you don’t see coming. If your head is in your phone, you can’t spot it early,” he said.

“Even though we want to feel safe, people feel comfortable letting their guard down in situations they probably shouldn’t. We are the only animals on the planet that can be in the presence of danger and we try to rationalize why they do the things they do when in reality they could be setting you up for an attack.

“The books that I do, the series is called the Heads Up series. The reason I call it because when someone’s looking for a target, they’re looking for someone who isn’t paying attention. Keep just keep your head off the phone, be alert and look around, it makes you a lesser target.

The reviews and testimonials of Quesenberry’s book, Spotting Danger Before It Spots You, read like a who’s who of the military, firearms and the world of competitive shooting. The foreword to the book is written by U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, also a well-known author in the field and a former West Point psychology professor, professor of military science, and Lt. Col. of the Army Rangers. ‘army.

“I was pretty proud that I had Dave Grossman write the foreword to it. He’s a bit of a big deal,” Quesenberry said. “He said if he liked it, he’d write a preface. He read it and liked it.

Quesenberry also encourages those interested in the subject to visit its website at www.garyquesenberry.com and click on the links on the site. When Quesenberry retires in October and returns to Carroll County, his goal is to teach situational awareness to people in groups of 10 to 15 people.

Allen Worrell is the editor of The Carroll News and can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on Twitter@AWorrellTCN