THE SITE

MIDWEST
TRAINING AMERICA'S WARRIORS AND A SELECT FEW

Rare ground. Rarer company.

MEMBERSHIP BY INVITATION
TRAININGFOR THOSE WHO SERVE THE FORGEEXPERIENCES, BY INVITATION AND APPLICATION MEMBERSHIPBY INVITATION

Two hours from Chicago, behind a gate few will ever pass, sits the finest private training ground in America. It was built for those who serve. It is kept for those who take the craft seriously.

TRAINING

Built on service. Kept that way.

This ground has trained police, SWAT, and military units for years, and it always will. Departments and units train here because the facilities hold a standard no public range can, and because the instruction comes from operators who lived it. Bring your team. Leave sharper.

BOOK YOUR TEAM
THE GROUNDS

One hundred twenty nine acres, built to a standard no public facility can hold.

129ACRES
9RANGES
600YARD RANGE
50BED LODGE
Aerial overview of the ranges
THE RANGES
The 600 yard known and unknown distance range
600 YARDS, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN
The live-fire shoothouse
LIVE-FIRE SHOOTHOUSE
The simunition house
SIM HOUSE

A live fire shoot house with a full instructor catwalk. A two story simunition shoot house. A jungle walk. Classrooms, armory support, and a fifty bed lodge with chefs on property. Team weekends are all inclusive: lodging, meals, and range logistics handled, so your team arrives, trains, and leaves sharper. Continuing education credit available through our training partners.

Team bookings are scheduled directly with our cadre. Tell us who you are and we will call you.

Received. Our cadre will reach out to schedule your team.

THE FORGE · EXPERIENCES

Not range time. An operation.

Several times a year, The Site runs a multi day experience unlike anything else in the country. You are assigned to a team. Your team leader spent a career in special operations. Air assets, maritime work, night operations, winter warfare. Small teams, operator ratios, absolute safety. You will not play soldier. You will be trained like one. Some seats are reserved for our charitable partners; most invitations arrive through a member’s hand.

Admission by invitation and application. Dates are never published.

Close quarters battle training in the shoot house
CLOSE
Team training on the firing line
NEAR
Long range precision work
FAR

The next cohort is briefed privately. Leave your email and we will send it when it is ready.

Received. The brief will find you.

INSTRUCTORS

Learn from the quiet professionals the world calls first.

Instruction at The Site is delivered by a cadre drawn from the most selective units in American special operations and law enforcement, teaching teams, cohorts, and members one at a time.

Cory Zillig on deployment, smiling in full kit with night vision

Cory Zillig

CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF TRAINING

Cory Zillig is a retired Navy SEAL with a 20 year career in special operations. Spending 13 of those years at SEAL Team SIX, he is an authority on counterterrorism operations, training, tactics, strategy, and planning. During his military service, he planned and executed hundreds of combat missions across 12 combat deployments. Combat awards include the Silver Star, Bronze Star with Valor, Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, two Navy Commendation Medals with Valor, and four Presidential Unit Citations.

Since leaving the teams, Cory trains and mentors domestic law enforcement units at the local, state, and federal level in tactical proficiency, command and control, organizational and leadership development, and new capability building, planning and executing complex training exercises and guiding their professional development through after action reviews and tabletop exercises. He has also served the Air Force Research Laboratory as a combat development subject matter expert and strategy consultant.

Cory is the author of Ten Attitudes: A Primer for Developing a Warrior Spirit, releasing in early 2027. An avid yoga practitioner and teacher, martial artist, and sauna enthusiast, he loves spending time outdoors hunting, fishing, and enjoying all of God’s creation.

The rest of our cadre is introduced in rooms, not on websites.

MEMBERSHIP

The range is why you come. The company is why you stay.

Behind everything on this page stands a private club. Limited in number, extended by invitation, never advertised. Evenings at the lodge. Marquee weekends with the makers themselves on property. Membership underwrites the mission: every member helps keep elite training within reach of the officers who protect our communities.

ON PROPERTY, BY ARRANGEMENT

DANIEL DEFENSE  ·  GENESIS ARMS  ·  AND THE MAKERS WHO MATTER

The club does not publish its terms. Consideration begins with a conversation, and a name we recognize.

Received. Discretion goes both ways — you will hear from us directly.