Meet the Owner
Nicholas Otero is a retired Air Force Veteran with over 20 years of service. He was on the 95th WMD CST for seven years until he retired in 2019. During his time on the team he developed multiple national level multi-agency exercises, site safety, communications and other significant duties. He has also responded to multiple real-world missions as well as being in charge of Joint Hazard Assessment Team missions such as the World Series, NBA Championship, NASCAR and POTUS visits. Nick has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a Masters in Leadership. With his CBRN expertise, leadership and dedication to training makes Tactical Pause a Go To company.
Get to Know Our Observer,Controller and Trainers (OCT's)
Raj Singh
Incident Commander, Hazmat Tech and Bomb Tech OCT
Royjindar (Raj) Singh has been with the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office since 2004. He is currently a Detective assigned to the Regional Fire Investigation Unit (FIU) and the Stanislaus Threat Assessment Center (STAC). Raj is also a FBI Certified Hazardous Device Technician and a CSTI Certified Hazardous Materials Specialist. He is part of the Sheriff's Office Bomb Team, the Sheriff's Office Clandestine Drug Lab Response Team, a FBI Level III Stabilization Team, and participates with the Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Raj has been involved in the fire service within Stanislaus County since 1998. He is currently the Fire Chief for the Keyes Fire Protection District. Raj teaches courses in the Incident Command System (ICS) and was the Lead Public Information Officer for 10 years on a federal Incident Management Team (IMT) in California. Raj still participates in local, state, and federal IMTs in several different ICS positions.
Bobby Im
Medical/Analytical Lab/TCCC OCT
Bobby Im is a retired Army Veteran with over 30 years of combined service. He began his career as a Combat Medic in the 82nd Airborne Division where he earned the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) and provided emergency medical support for Airborne, Ranger, and Special Operations units. He completed Firefighter 1 training, worked as a nursing assistant and an EMS dispatcher. He returned to active service as a Medical Training Sergeant, Readiness NCO and acting First Sergeant. His final 6 years were with the 95th CST where he served as the Senior Medical Sergeant and mobile Analytical Laboratory Operator – responding to and supporting numerous real-world missions. He is a 4 time consecutive recipient of the Czarnecki-Stone award for excellence in analytical testing, a certified CSTI HAZMAT Technician and also completed NREMT Paramedic (didactic). He is trained by USAMRIID’s field identification of biological warfare agents (FIBWA) and medical management of chemical and biological casualties (MMCBC), advanced forensic microscopy, emerging threats, and advanced Decon. Medical/trauma/tactical courses completed include FEMA USAR medical specialist and confined space rescue, advanced radiation emergency medicine (REAC/TS), advanced trauma training medicine (Rush University and Honor Health), difficult airway, tactical combat casualty care (TCCC), ALS, PALS, ABLS, AMLS, BDLS, ITLS, PHTLS. He holds a BA in Organizational Management and a MA in Asia Pacific Studies.
Brandon Rosen
PHD CBRN Chemist
Brandon Rosen has been working as an organic chemist since 2008. He received his B.S. Chem from the University of Michigan in 2011 and subsequently completed his PhD in Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla in 2015. Since then he has worked as a medicinal chemist, helping to shephard multiple experimental anti-cancer therapies into clinical trials. He brings to the team an expertise in synthetic methods and laboratory techniques for the preparation and safe handling of narcotics, energetic materials, and chemical and biological weapons.
Eulizes Montalvo
Hazmat SME, Modeler, Operations OCT
Eulizes is a retired Army First Sergeant with 22 years of dedicated service, primarily focused on the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Hazardous Materials field. Throughout Eulizes’s career, he developed a robust experience in down range WMD and Hazmat response. He spent 10 years working with the 9th Civil Support Team (CST) in Southern California and 10 Years with 95th CST in northern California. He developed tactical operating procedures and county wide Incident Action plans throughout the entire state of California. Contributing significantly to mission readiness and training exercises. He demonstrated a strong commitment to safety and preparedness, Eulizes played a pivotal role as the hazardous materials plume modeler, providing critical support during numerous real-world incidents.
With a passion for education and training, Eulizes has imparted valuable knowledge and skills to over 2,000 first responders, enhancing their ability to respond effectively in emergencies involving hazmat and WMD. Eulizes’s military career exemplifies a blend of leadership, technical skills, and a dedication to service, leaving a lasting impact on both the military community and the civilian first responder community. Now retired, Eulizes continues to share his wealth of experience and knowledge in support of community safety and preparedness efforts
Justin Flood
Operations and Medical OCT
Justin is a retired Army First Sergeant. With deployments to Iraq and Kosovo, Justin gained years of valuable experience as an Infantryman and earned numerous achievements during his career. For the last six years of his career, Justin served as an operations NCO and First Sergeant on the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team. During his time on the team, Justin gained valuable experience planning and coordinating joint interagency missions at the local, state and federal levels. As a chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) subject matter expert, Justin is trained and certified as a HAZMAT technician, Emergency Medical Technician, confined space, rope rescue, Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation and TEEX Critical Infrastructure. Justin holds undergraduate degrees in both Homeland Security and Counter terrorism studies
Dan Keenan
Hazmat Tech OCT and Chemist
Dan Keenan is a retired firefighter and Hazardous Materials Specialist/responder for the Oakland Fire Department, Oakland, CA for over 30 years. He is certified by California Specialized Training Institute as a Hazardous Materials Instructor for the entire Technician/Specialist curriculum. Dan was awarded the William J. Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award. for his lifetime commitment and sacrifice in creating and/or promoting innovations and achievements in hazardous materials response, management and/or leadership. He is the all around chemist that is a subject matter expert in the chemical and biological realm.
Eli Pantil
Communications OCT
Eli retired from the Hawaii Army National Guard after serving 35 years. 13 years as a M-Day soldier and 22 years as an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) member. During his time with the National Guard, Eli worked in various military positions. Starting his military career in reconnaissance. Moved on to Air Defense and Information Technology. Retiring as a communication chief. Eli reached the rank of Sergeant First Class during his military career. Majority of Eli’s time as a National Guard AGR was spent the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team. During his time on the team, Eli was part of the communication section which provided emergency communications to his team and to first responders. His communication knowledge and experience helped first responders in several real-world events. A few of his real-world event responses were the volcano response on the Island of Hawaii, the tsunami response in American Samoa and the Presidential Inauguration 2021.
After Eli retired in October 2022, he got hired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as an Audio-Visual Engineer Supervisor. All his years of communication knowledge and experience provided him the opportunity to move from supporting local, state, and federal agencies in Hawaii to providing exercise support in the USINDOPACOM region. Assisting our allies in the pacific with SME communication recommendations and setting up virtual exercises for our allies to participate in.
Rob Young
Active Shooter/TCCC OCT
Rob Young served as a police officer in both the Central Valley and the Bay Area for over 19 years. He retired from law enforcement as a Sergeant in 2023. Rob worked several assignments during his career, and holds certifications through the FBI and DPrep Inc. as Hostage/Crisis Negotiator and Crime Scene Investigator. Rob is certified as a law enforcement active-shooter response instructor through National Training Concepts, Inc. Since retiring from law enforcement, Rob has dedicated much of his time instructing both civilian and law enforcement groups in the disciplines of active shooter response, Stop-The-Bleed courses, and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training. Rob has been recognized as a subject matter expert on active shooters, and speaks at conferences and training nationwide. Rob has a unique perspective on active shooter incidents, as he was not only shot twice in one of the very first mass-school shootings in America, he later shot and killed a gunman during an incident while working as a police officer. Rob has helped coordinate and proctor several multi-agency and mass-casualty response training exercises over the years.
