#213 After Dark: From SMU to Law Enforcement Training: Zack Harrison on Building Real Capability

This time I sit down with Zack Harrison, founder of Ascension Training and Consulting, and the conversation goes exactly where you'd hope: deep, honest, and unfiltered. Zack's name had been popping up for years across ranges and in conversations with law enforcement officers, always attached to the same kind of feedback. This guy cares. He slows down and makes sure you understand the why.

Zack walks through the whole arc: growing up, the call of service after 9/11, navigating the 18 X-ray pipeline into Special Forces, deploying to Afghanistan in the early years of the war, and then making the gut-wrenching decision to step away after a decade in. The transition wasn't clean. There were real and unexpected challenges and no plan waiting on the other side. What came out of it was a training company built on the same principles that made him effective in uniform: know your curriculum cold, show up prepared, and never let a student leave without understanding the why behind everything.

The back half of this episode is where it gets really good. We dig into the real friction points in law enforcement training culture: the failure to share lessons learned across agencies, the emotional attachment to tactics that blocks honest evaluation, the cop out of 'we can't do what you guys did,' and the uncomfortable truth that commitment, not resources, is often the actual limiting factor. We talk about what separates the people that elevate themselves with from the ones who stay exactly the same year after year, and why piecemealing instructors works for shooting but absolutely does not work for tactics.

This is one of those Iron Sights conversations that earns a second listen. Whether you are in law enforcement, transitioning out of the military, or just trying to understand what serious training culture actually looks like, Zack Harrison is exactly the kind of practitioner this show exists to put in front of you.

In this episode:

• The 18 X-ray pipeline explained.

• Why Ascension's curriculum starts with a diagnostic on day one.

• The cop out of 'we can't do what you guys did': Zack argues this is usually a protection mechanism for an underlying skills gap, not a genuine policy concern.

• One battle drill, not two speeds: Ascension training philosophy and methodology.

• Why piecemealing tactics instructors backfires: Zack contrasts a team he has worked with for five years against teams that swap companies every time leadership changes, and explains why continuity of instruction builds SOP integrity that a rotating cast of trainers cannot

• Commitment as the real variable: the officers who are genuinely capable all made personal sacrifices of time and money beyond what their agency provided.

• Teaching people how to teach is the missing investment: both agree that a fraction of the budget spent on ammo or equipment, redirected toward instructor development, would produce compounding returns across an entire department's capability

• Standards are what make trust possible: shooting standards, PT standards, and tactical standards give teams an objective frame to evaluate themselves honestly rather than defending the baby when it's ugly

Chapters:

0:01 Intro: The Capable Standard teaser
2:25 Episode opens: introducing Zack Harrison
3:02 How Scott and Zack connected at TTPOA
10:40 Ascension Training and Consulting: what they do
15:22 Zack's background: Richmond to the 18 X-ray program
21:12 Breaking down the 18 X-ray pipeline
28:49 Transition out of the Army: the hard truth
44:12 Military vs. law enforcement: the 'you can't do what we did' myth
57:50 One battle drill: why Ascension teaches one aggressive standard
1:13:13 Five years with one team: the case against piecemealing
1:30:25 Academy training culture and changing the system from within
2:01:40 Ascension's future: West Coast, Texas, and what's next

Mentioned:

Zack Harrison — Owner and founder of Ascension Training and Consulting, former 18B Green Beret and SMU operator, and the primary guest of this episode.

Matt Pranka — Was on the live TTPOA podcast with Scott Howell and fielded questions from the audience alongside Brandon Hernandez.

Brandon Hernandez — TTPOA figure who Zack Harrison recognized from the live podcast recording at the TTPOA conference.

Kim Pastore — Referenced as 'Kim Pastore from the Jorge Pastore Foundation,' credited alongside TTPOA for the hard work of making the TTPOA conference event happen.

Tom Spooner — Described by Zack Harrison as a friend whose quote about drinking reflected Zack's own experience; Tom was also involved in training that helped Zack transition into the private-sector training world.

Kyle Lamb — Described by Zack Harrison as 'the godfather of this whole industry,' credited as a pioneer in both gear and firearms training.