After 9/11, as the operations sergeant on the Mobile Response Team, he and his teammates worked tirelessly at Ground Zero. Following the 1996 crash of TWA 800, he spent weeks SCUBA diving as part of the unified recovery op. Guess’ considerable training made him uniquely qualified to assist at the sites of some of our nation’s most devastating events. After joining the New York State Police, Guess worked as a trooper on patrol and as a member, and later leader, of the Special Operations Response Team (SWAT) and SCUBA Unit.

Guess, a former Army officer, attended Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and Northern Warfare training and U.S. Guess credits the tenacity of his outstanding troopers, law enforcement colleagues, and members of the community with this success. In addition to leading a coalition of agencies, he coordinated strategic, tactical, and operational decisions on the ground and oversaw a team of investigators from the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who investigated more than 3,400 leads ultimately culminating in the apprehension of both escaped inmates. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other federal, state, and local partners. With overall responsibility for the manhunt for escaped Inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat, he oversaw all agencies and personnel involved in the search, including the Department of Corrections, NYS Forest Rangers and Conservation Officers, FBI, U.S. Part one of the interview is at Guess, author of 'Relentless Pursuit,' is a retired New York State Police major and was the Incident Commander for the 2015 escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. His book on the manhunt, Relentless Pursuit, is available online and at local bookshops. Major Charles Guess retired in September 2016 after 32 years of service in the New York State Police and the military. But in hearing that silence it was eerie.'

Did they know who or how many? Perhaps not just yet but they knew an escape had occurred and it’s monumental in any facility let alone Dannemora. Because clearly before we walked in that afternoon the inmates had been locked down. I expected there to be jeering, cat-calls, and you know a bit of a ruckus. 'I was surprised by the silence number one. In this second part of an interview, he recounts his first walkthrough of the prison with Governor Andrew Cuomo on the first day of the search. Now retired, he has written a book about the 23-day manhunt. The search for David Sweat and Richard Matt fell under the jurisdiction of New York State Police Troop B, commanded by Major Charles Guess. On Jtwo convicted murderers escaped from the maximum security prison at Dannemora.

Relentless Pursuit by Charles E. Guess