You know what impresses me more. The real operators that never advertise or tell anybody what they did in the military or try to create some mysterious background. I know one such individual, where he barely even mentioned to anyone he was in the military at all. Over a course of knowing him for years, I started to cross the Ts and dot the Is, and confronted him about it. He didn’t try to act mysterious or anything, and I’ve left it at that. However, he’s very well respected as a martial art instructor, not based on his military background. The fact that he actually was an operator, that very few people even know about, makes him that more impressive to me.
What that means is, in seminars, quotes, videos, and all media I’ve ever seen that has him, his military background is never mentioned, just his martial art experience. To add even more to that, not even half of his martial art experience is mentioned.
Now, I would proudly say this man’s name and how to contact him but out of respect for him, I will not, unless I ever see the day he actually starts using his military background in his signature. There is no secret reason, nor me trying to act “cool” for not saying his name in a public forum, just out of respect for his wishes not to advertise his past life.
However, some of you may have been lucky enough to train with him based off of his martial art experience. That’s what I seek out, when I want to train martial arts under somebody, I look forsomebody that has the credentials and experience in that martial art.
I’m a military veteran myself, so I respect any vet, and anybody that served in the SOF community but that doesn’t mean they know any “secret” Steven Seagal BS.
While I’m sort of on this subject, I’ll also point out that some units some times contract some very crappy instructors to train their troops. Meaning that just because somebody actually taught a military unit, doesn’t mean they’re any better then a legit BJJ black belt, Lumpinee champion, etc. If somebody openly advertises they trained “Delta Force” or any other SMU they’re probably full of crap, too. I can assure you, that if such units did exist, they would make such an instructor have a security clearance, sign a NDA, and so forth. They’re not going to allow a former instructor to openly advertised that they taught them.
If I want to learn how to box, I don’t seek out somebody that is or was an Army heli pilot. So why in the hell would I need to seek out a former SOF/SMU vet or anybody even claiming to have been support for some unit like that? Are any of you training in martial arts to learn non-conventional warfare tactics? Are any of you doing some weird mock SERE training under these instructors, going through language school, some type of Q course on a military specialty, and so forth?
Sorry, my rant is over…don’t flame me too hard ;).