Our Origin Story

Green Hat was founded by Kalob Creighton, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, builder, husband, and father.

Through multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and Syria, leading men through chaos and uncertainty, he forged an unshakable understanding of preparation, adaptability, and composure under fire.

After deciding to leave Special Forces in 2020, Kalob decided to tackle new challenges here at home. He founded a construction company and began rebuilding communities one house at a time. The mission was different, but the mindset was the same, discipline, attention to detail, and the drive to make things better for others. His focus and mental fortitude never wavered, but deep down, he knew there was still more I could do in service of others.

Then, in February 2025, everything changed. Late one night, as he lay in bed with his wife and two-year-old son, he noticed something suspicious outside their bedroom window. As he moved to investigate, gunfire erupted. Bullets tore through the house and his training took over.

He immediately dove onto his son, who was sleeping just feet away, pulling him and his wife off the bed and to the floor on the other side, shielding them with his own body. In the process, Kalob was shot, sustaining life-threatening injuries, a broken pelvis, shattered iliac crest, and a bullet lodged in his spine.

Immobilized from the waist down but alive, he managed to move his family to the safety of a nearby room with adequate cover, retrieve a firearm, and hold his position until police arrived.

It also revealed a truth he could not ignore: you don’t rise to the occasion you fall to your level of preparation.

Out of that moment, Green Hat Defense was born.

He created Green Hat Defense to utilize his skills and experiences in service of others. Our mission is to equip civilians, families, communities, and organizations with the knowledge and tools to improve security posture and crisis response.