Antonio “Tony” Barletta served in the Marine Corps from August 2001 to August 2012. In August 2007 Tony became certified as a Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) instructor. As a MCMAP instructor, Tony would host several training sessions where he taught Marines hand-to-hand combat, weapon retention, weapon disarming, less lethal baton, unarmed vs armed techniques, and the philosophy of maintaining a warrior mindset. Tony was honorably discharged in August 2012 as Staff Sergeant/E-6.

 

In 2013 Tony was hired by the Georgetown, Texas Police department and attended The Police Academy in Temple Texas, and successfully graduated that same year. That same year, Tony began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) at Gracie Academy in Round Rock, Texas. Tony left the Georgetown Police Department and joined the Lewisville, Texas Police Department in 2015. While at Lewisville Police Department, Tony has continued training BJJ, as well as Muay Thai and mixed martial arts (MMA). Tony currently holds the rank of black belt in Jiu Jitsu. During his time at Lewisville PD, Tony has been a Patrol Officer, a Street Crimes Detective, a defense
tactics instructor, response to force instructor, and on the SWAT team.

As a defense tactics instructor, Tony has been certified as a Gracie Survival Tactics Level 1 instructor as well as a Threat Pattern Recognition Use of Force Instructor. Tony has trained many Officers how to successfully apprehend suspects while using the correct amount of force throughout a wide arrange of strikes, angle of movements, takedowns, ground fighting, and proper handcuffing techniques.

While a member of the Lewisville SWAT team, Tony played the role of Mechanical and Explosive Breacher. Tony completed Explosive Breaching school in 2018. Tony has also taken several Active Shooter courses and has also been trained in Close Quarters Battle (CQB) as wellas Vehicle CQB.

After law enforcement, Tony took of a new job as the Assistant Director of Security for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. Tony has also been teaching firearm courses and active shooter training for American Guardian Shield since 2019, and Cinco Pesos Training Group since 2023.