ABOUT
DAVID BURNELL
A life shaped by service, adversity, preparation, and the people encountered along the way.
David Burnell is a decorated United States Air Force veteran, author, instructor, rescue professional, humanitarian, and founder of the Urban Warfare Center. He served more than ten years in the Air Force and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and the John Levitow Award. A lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David’s faith in Jesus Christ has become central to how he understands service, adversity, responsibility, grace, and the obligation to help and remember those who may feel lost, wounded, or forgotten.
Throughout his career, David has worked in personal protection, self-defense, combatives, rescue, emergency preparedness, and high-risk operations and training. Through the Urban Warfare Center, which he founded and ran for a decade, he trained professionals from law enforcement, military, and federal agencies. His work has also taken him into humanitarian and disaster-response environments in Haiti, Japan, Burma, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and many other places.
His approach to self-defense is built around a simple principle: preparation should increase capability without increasing fear. Awareness, avoidance, judgment, de-escalation, practical physical skills, medical readiness, and a clear understanding of the consequences of force all belong to the same system.
David writes books on self-defense, preparedness, survival, military history, resilience, service, faith, and personal experience. His writing draws on decades of training, field work, journals, instruction, humanitarian service, and lessons learned in environments where preparation mattered.