Your School Staff Will Freeze When It Happens.
Unless You Do This.
Your staff has never been trained for what actually happens when a shooter walks in. Watch this before someone gets hurt because you waited.
Your School Is Not Prepared.
And You Know It.
Nobody wants to say it out loud. But if a shooter walks into your building tomorrow, your staff is going to freeze not because they're weak, but because they were never given the right training. The protocol most schools are using is outdated, passive, and built around liability protection, not survival. Here's what the data actually shows.
The majority of untrained individuals freeze completely or comply with an attacker's demands in the critical first seconds. A drill that teaches people to hide in a corner and wait does nothing to change that physiological response. Zachary's training eliminates the freeze through live, pressured repetitions in realistic environments.
Police average 4 or more minutes to respond. In many rural school districts it is 10 or more. During that window your teachers and staff are completely on their own with no real training, no real plan, and no real confidence. What happens in those minutes is entirely determined by the choices you make right now.
It was designed in the early 2000s. It is reactive, passive, and teaches people to wait for something to happen to them. Zachary's Ch.A.D. and S.O.S. systems are built on current human physiology and biomechanics research. They are fundamentally and measurably different from anything else being taught in schools today.
Watching a video or sitting through a lockdown drill is not training. It is exposure. There is a profound difference between the two. Zachary puts your staff through live, realistic scenario drills in your actual hallways and classrooms so their bodies know what to do before the day they actually need to know it.
From One Call to
A Trained School
Zachary and his team come to you. It starts with a free conversation and ends with your staff walking out the door genuinely more capable of protecting the people in their care.
Free Consultation
Zachary learns about your school your building layout, your staff count, your prior training history, and the specific scenarios that concern you most. The training is built around your reality, not a generic script.
Zachary & His Team Arrive On-Site
On training day, Zachary arrives with his certified team and trained role-players. They conduct drills in your actual hallways, classrooms, and common areas because training in your real environment creates real muscle memory.
Live Scenario-Based Training
Every participant completes a before-training confidence assessment, then moves through the ASRT™ curriculum Ch.A.D. and S.O.S. systems, freeze-elimination drills, and live interactive threat scenarios. No passive observation. Everyone participates.
Measurable Before & After
After training, every participant completes a confidence assessment. The difference documented, measurable, consistent across every cohort Zachary has trained is visible before your staff leaves the building. That's the standard every school deserves.
Watch Before You Decide
This is what the ASRT™ training actually looks like. Zachary walks you through the ResponseAbility™ framework so you know exactly what your staff is signing up for before the consultation call.
7 Levels. Built to Escalate.
The workshop starts with Level I the essential foundation every school needs. Higher levels are available for districts that want to go deeper. There is also a dedicated children's version for students ages 4–13.
Essentials to Maximize Survival During an Active Shooter Incident
The foundation. Ch.A.D. and S.O.S. systems, threat recognition, freeze-elimination drills, and live interactive scenarios in your actual building. This is what your staff walks away with.
Using Improvised Weapons to Maximize Survival
Applying Level I skills with objects already in your environment staplers, chairs, fire extinguishers. Objects your staff walks past every day.
Dealing with Multiple Assailants
Tactics for scenarios involving more than one attacker how to assess, prioritize, and respond when the threat is not singular.
Multiple Assailants + Improvised Weapons
Advanced response layered with environmental weapon awareness for complex, multi-threat scenarios.
Surviving Non-Firearm Active Threat Scenarios
Unarmed, edged weapon, and impact weapon scenarios because not every active threat in a school involves a gun.
Advanced Non-Active & Non-Firearm Scenarios
For districts seeking comprehensive preparedness beyond active shooter assault, abduction, and broader emergency response scenarios.
Not a Weekend Course.
A Career.
Zachary Pugh isn't a self-defense enthusiast with a YouTube channel. He's a full-time law enforcement officer who built these systems because he looked at what schools were being taught and knew people were going to die because of it.
Full-Time Police Officer Since 2011
Zachary applies threat-response principles in real law enforcement situations every single day. He doesn't teach from a certification. He teaches from active, ongoing experience.
NY Certified Firearms Instructor
State-certified across unarmed, armed, and active-threat training one of the few instructors in the region with this full range of certification.
BOCES Approved & PA Act 55 / Act 48 Compliant
Approved through GST BOCES Co-Ser 609 (NY), meets PA Act 55 school requirements, qualifies for Act 48 continuing ed credits, and complies with OSHA's General Duty Clause for workplace violence.
Trusted by Schools, Healthcare & Businesses Nationwide
Dozens of school districts, hospitals, credit unions, and organizations across multiple states have made Pugh Self-Protection their official active threat training provider.
Proprietary Systems Not Variations of Run, Hide, Fight
Ch.A.D. (Charge & Attack while Distracting) and S.O.S. (Seek, Out-of-sight, Strategically attack) were developed through years of physiology research and real-world analysis. They are not borrowed, rebranded, or watered down.
| Training Category | Standard School Drills | Pugh ASRT™ |
|---|---|---|
| Built on current physiology & biomechanics research | ✗ | ✓ |
| Live scenario drills with trained role-players | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conducted in your actual building | ✗ | ✓ |
| Taught by active law enforcement | ✗ | ✓ |
| Proprietary system not Run, Hide, Fight | ✗ | ✓ |
| State-certified & school-funding eligible | Rarely | ✓ |
| Before & after confidence assessment | ✗ | ✓ |
From People Who Took the Workshop
"I came in with zero experience and honestly a lot of skepticism. By the end of the training I felt more confident than I ever have. Zachary doesn't just show you moves he explains the WHY behind every technique. This is the most practical training I've ever attended."
"Had Zachary come train our entire office staff. The before-and-after confidence scores told the whole story everyone came in thinking they had a plan and left realizing they never really did until now. Our whole team walked out feeling genuinely equipped."
"As a parent I signed my teenage daughter and myself up together. The training was age-appropriate, respectful, and incredibly practical. Zachary has a rare ability to make this material feel manageable rather than terrifying. We both left with skills we can actually use."
"Zachary is the real deal. As someone who works in a school, I always worried about what I would actually do in a crisis. After this training, I have a real plan, real muscle memory, and real confidence. The scenario drills were intense but incredibly valuable. Can't recommend it enough."
"I've taken multiple self-defense courses over the years and this blew them all out of the water. The difference is the live drills you actually practice under pressure. By the third drill I could feel my hesitation disappear. That's not something you get from a seminar."
"This changed how I think about safety entirely. Before the class I thought I had some idea of what to do. I didn't. Zachary's approach is nothing like what you see in basic school drills. This is real training built for real situations. Worth every penny and then some."
The Confidence Guarantee
If any participant attends the full workshop and doesn't walk away feeling genuinely more confident and capable of protecting themselves and the people around them Zachary will work with them individually at no additional cost until they do. No fine print. He stands behind his training completely.
Common Questions
Your Students
Are Counting On You.
The question isn't whether something could happen at your school. The question is whether your staff will know what to do when it does. Make the call now before you wish you had.