Tom Hruby

Tom Hruby graduated from Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana in 2000. He played Varsity football as linebacker, fullback, and D-End in high school. He was also MVP on the wrestling team during HS Senior year.

After foregoing college, Tom became a professional MMA fighter in Chicago going undefeated at 7-0. After 9/11, Tom worked construction while he trained for the Navy and the grueling Navy SEAL program. He entered Navy bootcamp and BUD/s training in 2006 and graduated from BUD/s, Airborne School and SQT, receiving his SEAL Trident in 2008. He joined SEAL Team One as a Breacher in 2008 and served until 2016 with four deployments including Iraq and Afghanistan.

While still an active-duty Navy SEAL Pre-BUD/s Instructor (Lead Petty Officer LPO) stationed at Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Command (RTC Great Lakes) in North Chicago, Illinois, Tom enrolled at Northwestern University as a full-time student and walked onto the football team as a linebacker after not playing football for 15 years. He played in the Big Ten for Pat Fitzgerald and the NU Wildcats from 2014-2016 at 32, 33, and 34 years old.

Divorced and the father of four boys, Tom currently lives at Hruby Ranch in Crown Point, Indiana.

“The Breacher’s Playbook showcases a modern warrior’s real-life experiences,” said Chris Schafer, CEO at Tactical 16 Publishing. “Tom and James’ story shows that not all battles are in war zones, and not all war zones are sanctioned by governments.

This debut narrative, the first in a planned three-book series, is a fictional account based on Hruby’s real-life story.