
Jason Smith – Founder
With over two decades of military service—14 of those years in U.S. Army Special Operations—Master Sergeant (Retired) Jason Smith brings an unmatched depth of experience in survival, leadership, and resilience. As a seasoned Special Forces Medic, Jason holds some of the most elite qualifications in the military, including Ranger, Special Forces, SMU DS Medic, HALO (High Altitude Low Opening), SCUBA, and Jumpmaster (both Static Line and HALO). His time in these units forged a mindset of relentless adaptability and grit under pressure.
Jason spent nearly a decade as a High-Risk SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) Instructor, where he taught the nation’s most elite warriors how to endure, adapt, and overcome in the harshest conditions. This wasn’t classroom theory—it was hands-on, life-or-death survival training.
After retiring from service, Jason founded HoboForge Survival LLC—a school and philosophy rooted in both hard-won military expertise and ancient, practical craftsmanship. With over 20 years of blacksmithing experience, Jason combines fire and steel with bushcraft and psychology, forging not only tools but stronger human beings. His approach is immersive, brutal when it needs to be, and always focused on one goal: helping people break past their limitations and become who they were meant to be.
HoboForge Survival isn’t just training. It’s transformation.
Forging Together
The unfinished look of my blades represents the unfinished aspects of our selves and the constant drive to be better each day. It also represents the bumps, bruises, injuries, and surgeries that I and so many endured during our long journey in defense of this great nation. Although my knives are unfinished, reshaped and repurposed from something else you are still left with a very useful piece of kit. Blacksmithing and Teaching Survival is a therapeutic service for me and a way to hopefully add value to every person I come in contact with.
Thank you for the support of what I do and hope to share a campfire with you in the future.
Have a good one!
-Jason HFS