“J.D.” Morris
John “JD” Morris is a retired Master Sergeant with 21 years of service in the U.S. Army, over 15 of those in Special Forces as a Green Beret. Born in Coronado, California and raised in northern West Virginia, he grew up in the woods, learning to hunt, move, and live outdoors. Firearms were part of life from an early age, always taught with respect, not fear. Sports – especially football, basketball, and track – built the endurance, grit, and athleticism that would later carry him through some of the most demanding training and deployments the military has to offer.
JD attended West Virginia University before leaving early to join the Army, and never looked back. He served with 5th Special Forces Group from 1992 to 2008, where his areas of expertise included demolitions, military freefall, sniper operations, intelligence, close-quarters battle (CQB), and targeting. Over parts of 13 years he trained Middle Eastern partner forces in basic and advanced combat marksmanship, freefall, tactics, mobility, and survivability, and deployed five times to the Middle East under combat conditions between 1991 and 2006, alongside numerous contingency operations throughout the 1990s.
Two career milestones stand out for him. The first is a three-year special projects mission for USSOCOM, where he provided operator input on emerging battlefield technologies and worked alongside some of the most capable units and agencies in the world. The second is serving as Team Sergeant for a Special Forces ODA during combat operations in Iraq from 2004–2006, leading and mentoring his team in complex, high-risk environments.
Medically retired in 2008, JD moved into the civilian sector to follow his passion for teaching self-preservation and self-reliance. He worked with a fellow Green Beret at Jedburgh-USA, a Georgia-based shooting and survival company, from 2009 to 2011. From 2013 to 2015 he stepped back to confront and heal his battlefield injuries. That period of recovery changed him. As he began to heal in 2016, his sense of purpose returned, but with a wider lens: it wasn’t enough to teach people how to shoot or survive – he wanted to help them think, feel, and live better.
JD started combining modern combat shooting and daily survival skills with mindful and holistic practices for the “tactical athlete.” He saw first-hand how this work improved his own healing, attitude, resilience, cognitive processing, and even tactical performance. That experience is at the heart of how he teaches today.
JD now serves as Training and Wellness Director for OSS2 Survival & Shooting LLC, based in Morgantown, West Virginia, working alongside his wife and OSS2 founder, Janet. He finally has the balance he never had in his earlier career: a life where self-care, family, and service are all non-negotiable priorities. Off the range, you’ll find him outside with his grandchildren, passing on life lessons through adventure in the hills and woods that raised him.
Beyond technical skill, JD is a relentless veteran and mental wellness advocate. He specializes in peer support, Whole Health, suicide prevention, and positive, practical coaching. For him, “Shooting is simple, humans are hard” isn’t just a tagline – it’s the reason OSS2 exists and the standard he holds himself to every time he steps onto the range or into a classroom.