Thirty years of R&D.
Four suppressors.
Zero shortcuts.

Travis brings over a decade of U.S. Naval service to firearm suppression engineering. His military career began in underwater acoustics — studying and monitoring submarine acoustic signatures — and concluded with service as a Small Arms Marksmanship Instructor and Protective Service Detail agent with NCIS.

After leaving the Navy he worked as a gunsmith in Boise, Idaho while pursuing degrees in Physics and Philosophy. He taught undergraduate laboratory courses and managed test equipment in the university's Physics department stockroom.

Toward the end of his studies, Travis joined Gemtech (Gemini Technologies, Inc.), where he trained under Dr. Phil Dater — the industry pioneer who founded Gemtech. There he applied his combined expertise in naval acoustics and physics to the science of firearm suppression.

Since 2012 he has worked in fast-paced engineering and development environments spanning firearms, components, suppressors, belt-fed weapon system suppressors, ammunition, and integrally suppressed weapon systems.

CJ Dugan retired from the U.S. Army after 20 years of distinguished service — 18 of them as a Green Beret under USSOCOM across multiple units. His final five years were spent inside the Acquisition Office of 1st Special Forces Command, where he integrated operational lessons learned with SOF equipping needs and portfolio management.

That role gave him deep insight into what it truly takes for USSOCOM equipment to meet and exceed required standards — the kind of insight you can't get from the outside.

Following retirement, CJ began helping industry-leading companies secure U.S. Government and international contracts in the weapons and ammunition sector. It was during this period that he formed a working relationship with Travis Bundy and Dr. Phil Dater at Gemtech.

CJ later partnered with Travis to help build Maxim Defense, where they designed the groundbreaking PDX family of SBRs and PDW pistols — complete with a full line of suppression systems.

Hayden Holland is a founder of multiple companies across the defense industrial base, spanning advanced manufacturing, counter-UAS, and firearms. He started his career in private equity, investing in and helping scale consumer, retail, and manufacturing businesses. That experience still shapes how he thinks about building brands and the operations behind them.

Today he leads United Supply, a defense-focused advanced manufacturing and supply chain company working across metal additive manufacturing, specialty materials, munitions, weapons systems, and counter-UAS. That work keeps him deep in the same precision manufacturing world Echo Trace is built on.

His path to the firearms industry started long before any of his companies. His uncles put a rifle in his hands early and taught him that the Second Amendment is a responsibility, one that comes with respect for the tool and the freedom it protects.