About Sal
Echo Services Group, Inc. was founded in 2002 by Salvatore Franzese, and he is the company’s president and lead instructor. Sal is a U.S. Army combat infantry veteran with more than 35 years’ professional and competitive experience in firearms and security. An expert in modern small arms and in personal and maritime security, Sal holds certifications from the US Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, Rangemaster Firearms Training Group, Operational Skills Group, the National Rifle Association, International Defensive Pistol Association, and the Second Amendment Foundation. Bringing his clients and students the benefit of his experience (and more than 1100 hours of top-tier firearms and security training), Sal has trained everyone from novices to professionals in the use of arms and in armed and unarmed security. Sal’s instructional expertise includes the following disciplines:
- Fundamentals of marksmanship
- Defensive use of firearms
- Defensive tactics
- Anti-piracy and maritime security (per STCW and IMO standards)
- First aid / first responder training
- Rifle marksmanship
- Wilderness first aid and primitive survival
- And much more
In addition to use of arms and security, Sal has taught lifesaving, woodland survival and land navigation for adult and youth groups including The Boy Scouts of America and The Civil Air Patrol. He also drafted and implemented Shooting Range Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Safety Officer Training Curricula, and the Advanced Shooter Evaluation Program for the most technologically-advanced indoor shooting range in the Southeast United States.
Sal proudly served as a Heavy Weapons Infantryman (Military Occupational Specialty 11-H) in Operation Desert Storm with the 1st Cavalry Division and was honorably discharged in 1997.
