James and Bri met while serving in the US Navy. Their paths crossed, by chance, in 2008 in Norman, Oklahoma where James was stationed at Tinker AFB working at an E-6B squadron and Bri was attending the University of Oklahoma in the Seaman-To-Admiral commissioning program. Soon after they met, James deployed to the Middle East and they got to know one another via email and occasional phone calls. This created a strong bond and once James returned home, it was all history from there. They married in 2009 and James separated from the Navy in 2010, in order to make life a little simpler, knowing that Bri would be moving around frequently and the chances of being stationed together was slim.

 

Fast forward 15 years: after 4 deployments, 6 moves, and 2 kids, Bri would finally retire from the Navy after 20 years of service and the family would settle down in Pensacola, FL. James had finished nursing school in 2017 and established himself at a local hospital as a RN. He was from New Mexico and since leaving for the Navy in 2004, had relied on his family to send him his favorite snacks from home. This included a type of beef jerky, called “Carne Seca,” a super thin and crispy, whole meat beef jerky. For a couple of years, James played around with a small dehydrator and different cuts of beef, perfecting the process and coming up with the ideal replica of his favorite snack. He and Bri started sharing their jerky with friends and family, who absolutely fell in love with the style – there was nothing like this in the southeast region! After people started asking for him to make more, that’s when the “AHA” moment hit, and thus the inspiration for LawDawg Jerky. With Bri retired, this proved to be the perfect opportunity to start the business!