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American filmmaker and entrepreneur Gary ‘Chip’ Weichelt (1951-2003) created both AcademyMen and the Academy Training Center. In the early days, his videos (and they were VHS videos in those days) were rough and unscripted – not much more than a camera recording real men in gear at play. And he did use real men – including off-duty and former law enforcement officers and deputies, military personnel, and pro-wrestlers – in authentic gear, with authentic attitudes and behaviors.

Few of his early recordings survive, but from time-to-time you’ll stumble across clips from these early projects in corners of the web. These films were created from black-and-white surveillance cameras he had installed around the Academy. His later works were sold first as VHS tapes in blue boxes, later as CDs, and finally through internet outlets.

His first full-length release was Atlanta Knights (1991), made in cooperation of the Atlanta Police Department and intended for a television audience. Later releases were intended for a more targeted demographic and deeply unsuitable for TV.  Other releases include:

Academy History (1-5)

Academy Instructors

Academy Training (1-4)

Beyond the Law

Boot Camp

Cold Steel

Final Justice

Force Recon

High and Tight

Kick Ass Cop (1 and 2)

Learning the Ropes

Manhunters

Men in Training

Nine Tenths of the Law

Outtakes

Rage Top Cops

Swat in Training

Taken by Force

The Academy Brig

The Finishers

The Game

The X-Ten Formula

To Serve and Protect

Tough Enough

His life unraveled in his later years, and Chip died in 2003. While AcademyMen lived on in various incarnations after his passing, it was never really the same without his imagination and vision.

For a brief shining moment spanning the late 80s and early90s, the Academy Training Center (ATC) was a physical reality, a space where uniform-oriented men proudly displayed their specialized talents and experience. A place where real law enforcement and military men performed in very realistic incarceration situations.

The Academy was the brainchild of Gary 'Chip' Weichelt, an American entrepreneur and filmmaker. Many AcademyMen videos were created in and around his home in Washington, Missouri (and later Alpharetta, Georgia). If you pay attention to the backgrounds in the vids, you’ll see details of both homes – upstairs in the ‘real’ house and downstairs in the ‘Academy space’, both when they were under construction and in their completed forms. Chip literally lived at the Academy.

Chip posted ads in several gay publications, and hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of men booked sessions at the Center while the Academy was operational, hoping to experience first-hand authentic and fully realistic incarceration, interrogation and disciplinary situations.

The Academy did not offer sexual services, although ‘happy endings‘ may have occasionally arisen from the activities. Think of it as a stationhouse-themed environment that focused on domination, control, discipline and punishment - not a well-stocked bathhouse or playroom. You paid upfront for a bespoke experience customized to your requests, which were then carried out by a team of well-prepared professionals who performed many of the same activities in their work-day lives.

AcademyMen videos almost seem to have evolved as an afterthought. The Academy had wall-mounted security cameras that recorded activities just as they would in a real facility, and clips made from this black-and-white security footage can still be found in odd corners of the internet. These rough videos were later followed by more polished productions sold under the Fleetwood label (the name that appears on the ‘big’ Academy films).