Professional affiliation: Bastion Black Performance
Primary specialties: Practical pistol, competition shooting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, combatives, and performance development
Professional Biography
Lane Gries is a U.S. Marine Corps infantry veteran, competitive shooter, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and instructor associated with Bastion Black Performance. His background combines combat experience, high-level practical shooting, and sustained grappling competition, giving his instruction a performance-centered perspective across both armed and unarmed disciplines.
Gries joined the Marine Corps in 2003 as an 0311 rifleman and served with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. His service included Operation Iraqi Freedom II, the assault on Fallujah, Operation Iraqi Freedom III, and operations in western Al Anbar Province. During that period, he served in positions ranging from SAW gunner through fire-team and squad leadership.
After leaving the Marine Corps in 2007, Gries pursued Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission wrestling, and practical shooting. Rather than treating competition as recreation alone, he used it as a continuing process for testing skill against resistant opponents, objective scoring, time pressure, and public results.
Practical Shooting
Gries has competed in USPSA, IDPA, and independent practical-shooting matches. He holds USPSA Grand Master classifications in Carry Optics and Limited and has competed at the Super Squad level at USPSA Nationals, with a finish as high as sixth. He has also represented The Blue Bullets shooting team.
That competitive record gives his firearms instruction a measurable foundation. Practical shooting exposes efficiency—or the lack of it—through accuracy, speed, movement, stage planning, gun handling, and performance under pressure. Gries uses that environment to identify repeatable mechanics and practice methods while preserving the distinction between shooting performance and the additional judgment or tactical demands of defensive and professional contexts.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Combatives
Gries is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under John Hansen of Pedigo Submission Fighting. He has competed extensively in grappling and medaled at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships at blue and purple belt, later earning a medal at black belt in 2024.
Grappling provides another form of resistant testing. Techniques must work against opponents who are actively attempting to defeat them, and shortcomings cannot be hidden by cooperative practice. This experience informs Gries’s broader view of training: performance improves through frequent exposure to meaningful resistance, honest feedback, and serious training partners.
Instructional Approach
Through Bastion Black Performance, Gries teaches from the intersection of military experience, competition, and coaching. His work emphasizes developing durable individual capability rather than relying on credentials or identity. Students are expected to understand standards, practice deliberately, test their skills, and remain accountable for their performance.
His professional value is not based on claiming that one discipline answers every problem. Military service supplies operational context; practical shooting provides objective measures of firearm performance; and grappling supplies sustained experience against active resistance. Together, those disciplines support an approach built on pressure testing, efficiency, physical competence, and continued development.
Connection to Primary & Secondary
Lane Gries is part of the extended Primary & Secondary network through professional discussion of firearms training, practical shooting, combatives, competition, and performance under pressure. His perspective supports P&S’s emphasis on tested skill, appropriate context, honest standards, and the value of training environments that expose weaknesses rather than conceal them.
Selected Sources and Further Reading
Profile last reviewed: September 10, 2026.
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- Lane Gries: USMC infantry veteran, competitive shooter, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and instructor
- Military service: 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines; Operation Iraqi Freedom; Fallujah; western Al Anbar Province
- Practical shooting: USPSA Grand Master in Carry Optics and Limited; USPSA Nationals Super Squad competitor
- Grappling: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under John Hansen; IBJJF No-Gi Worlds medalist
- Professional affiliation: Bastion Black Performance
- Additional associations: The Blue Bullets and Primary & Secondary