ANCILLARY SKILLS CONFERENCE INSTRUCTOR BIOS
Jeff Hensley - Trauma Care
​
Jeff Hensley is a former Clinical Instructor in the Special Operations Medic Program, Paramedic, and current Anesthetist. He began his medical career while in the US Army Active/Reserves (1989-1999). He cross-trained as a Special Operations Medical Sergeant after training as a Special Operations Communications Sergeant. He also served as a clinical instructor/supervisor for the US Army Special Operations Medic Program training Army Special Forces, Navy SEAL Corpsmen, and Air Force Pararescue.
After leaving the Army, Jeff worked as a paramedic and flight paramedic while obtaining his RN/BSN. He then worked as an RN while obtaining his Masters of Nurse Anesthesia at Texas Christian University.
Jeff is a father, husband, Christian, and currently practicing CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist), practicing general, regional, obstetric, pediatric, neuro, orthopedic, trauma, and burn anesthesia at HillCrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Work experience:
* US Army Special Operations Medical Sergeant / Clinical Instructor
* EMT-Paramedic high volume 911 response
* Flight Paramedic fixed and rotor wing operations
* RN ER, ICU, Cardiac ICU, Trauma ICU, Pediatric ICU, PACU
* CRNA general, regional, obstetric, pediatric, neuro, orthopedic, trauma, and burn anesthesia
Teaching experience:
* US Army Special Operations Medic Program Clinical Instructor
* Paramedic Field Training Officer
* BCLS, ACLS, AMLS, PALS, BTLS class
* Air Crew Survival Program
* Basic & Advanced Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun Instructor
* US Parachute Assoc Jumpmaster, Instructor / Tandem Instructor
* Clinical Preceptor for anesthesia residents
* Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia and Vascular Access
* Catastrophic / Emergency Airway Management
* Tactical Emergency Medical Care
* Emergency Medical Care in Austere Conditions
Licenses and Certifications:
* CRNA certified registered nurse anesthetist
* RN registered nurse
* CCRN critical care registered nurse
* CATN course for advanced trauma nursing
* TNCC trauma nurse core curriculum
* ENPC emergency nurse pediatric course
* NRP neonatal resuscitation program
* NREMT-P nationally registered paramedic
* CF-P certified flight paramedic
* CCEMT-P critical care paramedic
* BCLS Instructor basic cardiac life support
* ACLS Instructor advanced cardiac life support
* AMLS advanced medical life support
* PALS Instructor pediatric advance life support
* BTLS Instructor basic trauma life support
* PHTLS pre hospital trauma life support
* ATLS advanced trauma life support
* ABLS advanced burn life support
* TCCC tactical combat casualty care
​
​
Jim Meeks - Field Communications
​
Jim Meeks served for 6 years as a US Army 31M (Multichannel Transmission Systems Operator). In that capacity he installed, maintained, operated and supervised those tasks on a variety of tactical communication systems. These included radio, wire & cable, satellite, multichannel & microwave, and other systems. Specifically, Jim worked on single channel AM/SSB and VHF, to multiplex UHF transceiver systems, including the equipment which supported their integration. Jim’s experience included configuring and installing communication networks to support troops over a wide area of operations. During this time he became proficient in preparing technical information and data and presenting it to non-trained personnel, who would use the information presented in a variety of ways. This developed his skills as a mentor, instructor and presenter.
​
Since leaving military service, Jim has maintained his skills as an amateur HAM radio operator at the Technician and General levels. His focus is on mobile radio, with an emphasis on field radio communications, and improvised communication methods. This includes rudimentary & complex improvised antenna construction and wired communications, to support small intergroup and longer range network communications needs.
​
Jim is also a multi-course alumnus of Direct Action Resource Center, having completed their SUT and TUSC courses, as well as working as OPFOR for various DARC law enforcement and military counter terror courses.
​
​
Steve Parker – Land Navigation
​
“There we were: Zero-dark-thirty, zero-illum', a thirty-two vehicle Blackhorse convoy, including heavy armor and mechanized infantry, with supply trains. Blacked-out, we marched across a network of Mojave Desert trails twenty-six miles from our motor stables south of Bicycle Lake to the northern Pioneer Cut wadi complex. As lead vehicle, charged with guiding this column to dispersed, camouflaged positions by morning, my crew and I relied solely on terrain association. Armed only with a small-scale monochrome contour map, and while on the move, we identified features on the horizon. Under night vision, the Baker city lights silhouetted obvious features to the rear, a dim glow from the Goldstone antenna offered side-rail reference, but in the direction of our destination, there was nothing but starlight and the Granite Mountains. We safely arrived in our hide that night, but only by maintaining a constant pace, strictly logging our course changes, miles traveled and, at every opportunity, checking into vaguely identifiable intermediate star-lit terrain features.”
While serving in the 82nd Airborne Division as a Blackhawk Crew Chief and in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) as a Cavalry Officer, Steve successfully completed numerous land navigation courses of varying scale and difficulty. A graduate of the US Army Officer Candidate, Airborne, and SERE schools, Steve was fortunate enough to conduct two large-scale land navigation courses for soldiers earning their Expert Field Medical and Infantry Badges. While assigned to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA as a Cavalry Officer, Steve commanded a Motorized Rifle Company and a Motor Battery of OPFOR soldiers responsible for emulating Warsaw Pact Tactics and Soviet improvised Doctrine. Steve led dozens of combat vehicles and tens of men to the order of battle during thirty NTC training rotations. Steve was also inducted into the coveted “Order of the Spur” while assigned as a Trooper with the 11th ACR.
Steve teaches map reading, geocaching and old-school orienteering to youth, Boy Scouts, interns and fellow professionals at events like the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado Annual GPS Day and the BSA Camporee. Combined, he has over 25 years of land navigation experience to offer. Steve is a happily married father of four. He is a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in the states of Colorado and Kansas, is a Certified Federal Surveyor, a Certified Floodplain Manager, and holds a BS in Geology from Fort Lewis College and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from University of Colorado Denver. Currently, Steve serves as a project manager for a Midwestern architectural and engineering consulting firm and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
​
​
Mike Vaught – Tracking
​
Mike is a retired state agency chief and currently a full time District Attorney's Criminal Investigator. Mike began formal tracking through a U.S. Border Patrol-BORTAC Tactical Tracking Course in November 2000, followed by continued training in tracking and field craft through JTF-6. In March of 2003, he completed the 11th Session (March 2003) of the National Parks Service Special Operations Course. In 2004, Mike completed a course in Mesquite Nevada taught by David Scott Donelan, and since that time has taught and assisted in over a dozen formal courses at Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune, Beaufort MCAS and Eglin AFB, as well as teaching basic tracking at the Oklahoma State Law Enforcement Academy (CLEET). He has responded to and tracked fugitives in documented law enforcement operations in central Oklahoma, as well as having employed tracking skills in crime scene investigations, including current district court cases. Mike was selected as one of the tracking instruction team for Border Hunter JTF-N, the technical report for which is available online.