If you were at SHOT and didn’t get the chance to get by the Line of Fire booth, you missed out on meeting David Lyon. David is the president of Forward Solutions LLC and the guy who developed the Lion Individual EOD kit. In addition to that kit and some other specialty pieces of kit they are developing, Forward Solutions provides consulting services to companies and individuals dealing with high stress and dangerous situations. He (David that is) is a medically retired Marine EOD Tech also heavily involved in organizations focused on helping veterans deal with living day to day with catastrophic injuries.
The Lion Individual EOD kit was developed over the course of five combat deployments. It’s primarily intended for dismounted operations and includes a well-designed hook and line capability and cable coil as well as a number of tools. It can be mounted a number of ways. You can contact David at 877-801-4541, e-mail him at info@forwardsolutionsconsulting.com or contact Force Multiplier, the company that is distributing the Lion kit: Force Multiplier, 5482 Oceanus Drive, Suite F, Huntington Beach CA 92649. Cage Code 6JER4.
These are some pictures David shared with from some of his time in Iraq. Both times I met up with him at SHOT was at the end of the day when he was smoked and relaxing with his service dog. I didn’t feel like pressing him for a picture of him there at the booth, though I did make arrangements to talk to him more in the future. He’s a great guy, has given a lot to this country and the Marine Corps, and doesn’t appear to have slowed down a bit since he lost his legs and entered civilian life. Forward Solutions is definitely a company to watch and I’m looking forward to bringing more news from them in the future.
These are pictures of what remained of the first operational individual EOD kit (before it was formalized and named the Lion kit) after the blast that took David’s legs.
-DR