Founder
Johnny Lee Smith
Founder of SSGT. Creator of the Vanguard system. A lifelong martial artist, instructor, and use-of-force authority.
Johnny built SSGT around a demanding idea: instruction should survive contact with real consequences.
His work brings together defensive tactics, instructor development, martial arts discipline, and use-of-force analysis. The result is a training program designed for professionals who must control resistance, make sound decisions under stress, and explain their actions when the encounter is over.
SSGT’s foundation reflects Johnny’s belief that effective instruction is not about collecting techniques. It is about preparing people to teach, lead, protect, and prevail when the margin for error is small.
Founder · Instructor · Use-of-Force Authority
A Lifetime In The Work
Vanguard & SSGT
The System He Built
Johnny’s contribution was not simply that he could perform or teach defensive tactics. His larger work was turning that knowledge into a structure other professionals could learn, test, correct, and carry forward.
Vanguard became the instructional core of that structure, giving SSGT a way to organize defensive tactics training into levels, instructor certification, and agency-ready instruction.
From there, Johnny’s work expanded into specialized programs for criminal justice officers, corrections, corporate security, women’s self-defense, and instructor development.
01
From Skill to System
Johnny shaped his defensive tactics knowledge into a teachable program built for criminal justice officers and agency instructors.
02
Levels That Build
Vanguard gave the program structure through Level One, Level Two, certification, and re-certification pathways.
03
Adopted for Training
The system moved beyond one instructor and became part of formal academy and agency training environments.
04
Expanded With Purpose
Programs such as Equalizer, COR-Tactics, and OnGuard show how the same foundation was adapted for different audiences and responsibilities.
Lineage · Instruction · Discipline
Martial Arts Lineage
A Lineage of Discipline
Long before SSGT became a training platform for agencies and instructors, Johnny’s work was shaped by decades of martial arts discipline.
His background spans traditional martial arts, Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and direct study under Rickson Gracie and Carlos Machado. That lineage matters because it connects physical skill with patience, correction, repetition, and responsibility.
The result is not martial arts presented for sport. It is a lifetime of training translated into instruction for people who may have to apply control for real situations.
1979–1993
Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan
Johnny’s martial arts foundation includes a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan.
1987–2004
Kobayashi Shorin Ryu
His training also includes a 4th Degree Black Belt in Kobayashi Shorin Ryu.
1993+
Gracie / Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Johnny began Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1993 and later became the first person in Alabama to achieve Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
2025
6th Degree BJJ Black Belt
Johnny was promoted to 6th Degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Carlos Machado.
Johnny’s professional curriculum vitae provides the complete record of education, law enforcement and security qualifications, martial arts credentials, awards, agency experience, media work, and inventions.