Meet Your NASAR Instructors:
Jimmie Canfield
NASAR Lifetime Member | Former NASAR Board Director | NASAR Instructor of the Year | Search Manager | K9 Evaluator
Jimmie Canfield is one of the most experienced search and rescue professionals and instructors in the United States. With 49 years of search and rescue experience, including military service, Jimmie has dedicated his life to saving lives, mentoring rescuers, and advancing the profession. A Lifetime Member of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR), he has served the organization for more than three decades as a NASAR Instructor, Lead Canine Evaluator, former NASAR Board Director, and recipient of NASAR Instructor of the Year, recognizing his exceptional contributions to search and rescue education and professional development.
For more than 30 years, Jimmie has instructed NASAR's FUNSAR®, SARTECH II®, SARTECH I®, and Managing a Lost Person Incident (MLPI) programs, preparing thousands of search and rescue professionals for the operational, leadership, and decision-making challenges they will encounter in the field.
A nationally respected K9 specialist, Jimmie has spent over 35 years training and evaluating search dogs and has served as a NASAR Canine Evaluator for more than three decades. His expertise includes Area Search, Tracking and Trailing, Land Human Remains Detection (HRD), and Water Human Remains Detection (HRD) operations. Throughout his career, he has handled two operational HRD canines. His K9 Sassi deployed on approximately 200 missions, resulting in 168 successful finds, including one of the deepest documented water recoveries at approximately 120 feet. His second canine, Jocko, deployed on approximately 50 missions, achieving 38 successful finds.
Jimmie served as Director of Operations for the Tennessee Search and Rescue Dog Association (TNSARDA) and has managed search operations throughout the United States. His operational deployments include the search for Natalee Holloway, as well as disaster response operations during Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Katrina. He has also instructed numerous Human Remains Detection seminars and possesses extensive experience in swiftwater rescue and high-angle rescue.
In addition to his extensive SAR career, Jimmie served as a Rescue Swimmer for the canoe and kayak slalom events during the 1996 Summer Olympics on Tennessee's Ocoee River, providing swiftwater rescue coverage for Olympic athletes competing on one of the world's premier whitewater courses.
Beyond technical rescue, Jimmie is an active member of Called 2 Rescue Ministries, continuing his lifelong commitment to faith, service, and helping others during times of crisis.
Jimmie's career reflects a lifetime dedicated to leadership, professionalism, and service. His guiding principles have inspired generations of rescuers:
"These things we do, so others may live."
"The life you save today may be the person who saves your life tomorrow."
Brad Dennis
Retired U.S. Navy Master Chief | NASAR SARTECH I Instructor | MLPI Instructor | Missing Child Search Specialist | K-9 Trainer & Evaluator
Brad Dennis is a nationally recognized search and rescue leader, missing child specialist, instructor, and retired U.S. Navy Cryptologic Master Chief Petty Officer with more than 40 years of operational experience in search and rescue, disaster response, missing child investigations, and human trafficking operations.
Brad currently serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Called2Rescue Ministries and Director of Search Operations for FREE International, where he leads The BIG Search, a nationwide initiative that mobilizes trained volunteers, churches, and law enforcement partners to locate missing and exploited children. Through these efforts, he has conducted or supported more than 1,000 missing child investigations across the United States and has helped recover abducted children while supporting efforts to dismantle human trafficking networks.
A longtime leader within the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR), Brad has served as a SARTECH I instructor, evaluator, and Managing the Lost Person Incident (MLPI) instructor. Throughout his career he has trained thousands of search and rescue professionals in search management, lost person behavior, disaster operations, K-9 deployment, and missing child response.
Brad's operational experience spans major hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, criminal investigations, wilderness searches, and disaster deployments. He has served in leadership roles during responses to Hurricanes Erin, Opal, Georges, Ivan, Katrina, and Helene, as well as the Northridge Earthquake. Alongside his wife, Tammy, he has trained and deployed nationally certified Human Remains Detection (HRD) K-9 teams and continues to serve as a trainer and evaluator for the National Network of Canine Detection Services (NNCDS).
Before dedicating himself full-time to search and rescue, Brad completed a distinguished 20-year career in the United States Navy, retiring as a Cryptologic Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9). His intelligence and counterterrorism background has strengthened his investigative approach to complex missing person cases and multi-agency operations.
Brad has received numerous honors for his service, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner's Award, the Foundation for the Improvement of Justice Justice Award, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking Freedom Award, the Polaris Star Award, and the Escambia County Sheriff's Office Civilian Service Medal. His work has been featured nationally on CNN, The Today Show, Dateline, MSNBC, and 48 Hours.
Drawing on decades of operational experience, Brad brings students practical knowledge gained from thousands of real-world search incidents. His instruction emphasizes leadership, search strategy, interagency coordination, K-9 operations, and the commitment to bringing every missing person home.
