It was after a long career as a Recon Marine that Travis Haley fought in his most famous battle—a near last stand— performing as a rooftop sniper with a borrowed AR-15. Haley helped push back wave after wave of Muqtada al Sadr’s Shiite miltiamen, who were attempting to overrun an outpost of coalition forces.

Haley went on to run Magpul, and now runs Haley Strategic Partners, where he still teaches the importance of a “gun guy with a gun.”