On August 1, 2026, martial artists from different backgrounds, disciplines, and walks of life came together at Polaris Martial Arts in Crete, Illinois, for The Fighter’s Union Combatives Seminar.
We trained striking. We fought through the clinch. We grappled. We worked weapons defense. But the techniques were only part of the lesson.
The real value was the people on the mat.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
— often attributed to Mark Twain
Greetings, family and friends.
It’s been a while.
I’ve started writing this reflection in my head more times than I can count. Life has a funny way of doing that. Sometimes you’re so busy living the story that you don’t have much time left to write about it.
And Team Clas has definitely been living.
When I started Zen Warrior Class, much of my life revolved around being a Soldier. The Army determined where we lived, when we moved, when I left home and, too often, which moments with my family I would experience through a photograph or a phone screen.
For twenty years, that was simply part of the mission.
Then the mission ended.
Or at least I thought it did.
What I’ve learned since retirement is that I didn’t leave the most important team I’ve ever led. I just finally became available to it full-time.
One Team, One Family
Aug. 25, 2026 — Munster, Ind. — Team Clas kicks off another school year as Brianna begins fourth grade and Dominic starts sixth grade. New classrooms, new challenges and another year of growing up way too fast. ❤️📚
The Clas family has entered a completely different season of life.
Claudia and I are building careers and businesses while trying to remain present as husband and wife. Dominic and Brianna aren’t the little kids I used to drag onto the mats anymore. They’re becoming their own people—with their own interests, friendships, victories, failures and opinions.
Lots and lots of opinions.
And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
We’re still training together. We’re still traveling. We’re still investing. We’re still screwing things up, learning from it, laughing about it and trying again.
The difference is that we’re finally doing it from a place we chose.
For most of our marriage, our family adapted to whatever came next.
Now we get to build what comes next.
Building Something That Outlives Us
On March 27, 2026, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, we signed the papers and officially became owners of our little piece of the island in Comerío.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about generational wealth.
When people hear that term, they usually think about money.
Property. Businesses. Investments. Assets.
Those things matter. I’m certainly working on them.
But I’m increasingly convinced that the most valuable inheritance Claudia and I can leave our children isn’t something they can sell.
It’s knowing where they came from.
It’s understanding what their parents struggled with.
It’s knowing why we made certain decisions.
It’s seeing that their mother and father didn’t have everything figured out.
We simply kept showing up.
Maybe that’s what Zen Warrior Class was supposed to become all along.
Not a fitness blog.
Not a military blog.
Not even a martial arts blog.
A record.
A record of one family’s attempt to live deliberately.
The Clas Clan Chronicles
The uniform is gone, but the mission never really ended. It just changed.
Build something with Claudia. Raise good humans. Create opportunities for our family. Stay on the mats. Keep exploring. Take some risks. Screw a few things up. Learn from them. And every once in a while, fire up the Harley and remember to enjoy the road between where we’ve been and wherever the hell we’re going next.
There are some big chapters ahead.
We’re continuing to build our real-estate portfolio. We’re putting down roots in Northwest Indiana. We’re continuing our family’s journey in Jiu-jitsu. We’re investing in Puerto Rico. We’re traveling. We’re watching our children discover who they are.
And somewhere on the horizon is another dream that has been simmering for years: building a martial arts academy of our own.
Some of those plans will work.
Some probably won’t.
Good.
I’ve lived long enough to understand that the failures usually make better stories anyway.
So I’m bringing Zen Warrior Class back to where it started: storytelling.
Once a month, I’m going to sit down and document a chapter of this family’s journey—the wins, the losses, the ridiculous moments, the lessons learned and whatever wisdom I can squeeze out of the chaos.
Maybe someone reading it will find something useful.
Maybe my grandchildren will stumble across these words decades from now and laugh at how crazy Grandpa was.
I’d be perfectly happy with either outcome.
Because the next mission isn’t about me.
It’s about building something worth passing on.
And making damn sure we enjoy the ride while we’re doing it.
Stay tuned, my friends.
One Team. One Family.
~Doc