Chuck Habermehl

Chuck Habermehl is a decorated USMC Vietnam Veteran. During his 38 years in law enforcement, he achieved the rank of Deputy Chief in the City of Homestead in Miami-Dade County. In 1994, he founded Direct Action Defensive Systems, followed by CQB-Close Quarters Battle, Inc., now CQB, LLC. Habermehl has trained thousands of police and military personnel inside and outside of the US, including many top-tier elements. He has decades of experience in various hand-to-hand fighting systems; managed a USMC gym facility; spent 10 years as a senior defensive tactics instructor at the Southeast Florida Institute of Criminal Justice; and 16 years as Director of Training at Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, before retiring in 2016.

Habermehl has written and produced several tactical training manuals, including Combat Proven Tactics: Small Unit Urban Warfare, c. 2008, (301 pages). His 2011 book, Depictions: Poems About Warriors and War, was Habermehl’s first non-training book for which Military Writers Society of America awarded him a gold medal; Christ's Purple Heart: Killed in Action Body Resurrected, c. 2023, was his second. Habermehl is a graduate of the University of Miami.