User:Jondn/Captain Chris

"Captain" Chris Pizzo (born July 9th, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, author, and martial artist. Pizzo is credited with expanding reality based self defense (RSBD) and World War II Military Combatives to mainstream audiences outside the martial arts industry.

Through his aggressive marketing campaigns and personas "Lieutenant X", and "Captain Chris" (both exaggerated caricatures based on Pizzo's real-life experiences), Pizzo and partner Gary T. Reinert's Close Combat Company, LLC control several best-selling intellectual properties and house a combined customer and mailing list of over 1,000,000.

Captain Chris and his Close Combat Training Program have been featured on Good Day Tampa Bay, The Today Show, ABC Eyewitness News, and Good Day New York.

Biography
The son of a medical doctor and businessman, Chris Pizzo was raised in the suburb of Franklin Lakes NJ, and exposed to the facets of entrepreneurship and big business at an early age.

Having studied various styles of martial arts since age 6, Pizzo first combined his business and self defense knowledge into a personal training service for his father's colleagues and international business partners in 1990 while still in high school.

Choosing to enroll at Ithaca College to study film and marketing, Pizzo accepted the US Army's recruitment package and attended Cornell University's renowned ROTC program. Pizzo graduated with a Bachelor's degree in advertising and graphic design from William Paterson University.

Tax and employment records show career paths involving a wide array of work for the US Army, the US Department of Defense, the now defunct private military corporation Atexa, freelance work as a graphic and toy designer for Disney and Toys R' Us, and as a High School teacher.

Pizzo began selling martial arts instructional programs through his past and current corporate entities in 2003.

Cancer
Medical records show that in 1997, Pizzo was diagnosed with began treatment for atypical seminoma cancer. Following a three-year treatment period, which included multiple surgeries, high dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplants, and radiation therapy, Pizzo's cancer was declared to be in remission in 2000.

Educator
Chris Pizzo is a certified K-12 technical teacher in the state of New Jersey. State records show that he was employed by Bergen County Technical Schools from 2002-2006.

Martial Arts
An avid practitioner of martial arts since 1980, Pizzo holds multiple black belts and advanced rankings in Kodokan Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Goju-Ryu Karate, Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, and Tekken-Ryu Jujutsu.

According to recent interviews, he is currently "obsessed" with Brazilian Jui-jitsu and is diligently working towards his black belt under the instruction of Louis Vintaloro at Performance Jui-Jitsu (an RGDA affiliated school) in Fairlawn NJ.

Close Combat Training
Origins

In 2002 Chris Pizzo and his wife were the victims of a road rage incident and attacked armed assailants.

While the Close Combat Training marketing story claims that he was "beaten within an inch of his life," official Franklin Lakes NJ Police reports show that Pizzo actually controlled the situation "professionally" by putting both assailants to the ground and disarming them before they ran off.

However, and according to multiple industry sources, this was within the period that Pizzo started training in Reality Based Self Defense and World War II Combatives.

It was a year later that Pizzo began selling his first instruction videos of "Accelerated Battlefield Combatives." This original series was retired and reshot as the current Close Combat Training system in 2007.

Training System

Captain Chris' Close Combat Training programs are sold via the internet, mail order, and direct response television (infomercial). His "core" system includes 7 DVDs and 2 manuals and provides a comprehensive look at Close Combat as used by Allied Commandos in WWII.

Media Exposure

Chris Pizzo as "Captain Chris" and the Close Combat Training system have been featured on several regional and national television shows and publications including:

The Today Show

ABC Eyewitness News

Good Day New York

Good Day Tampa Bay

Black Belt Magazine

Inside Kung Fu Magazine

Soldier of Fortune

Men's Journal

The Bergen Record

Newsmax Magazine