Does that James Yeager guy irritate you too?

[breakingcontact]

He puts cameramen down range in basic pistol classes.

Nuff said

How could that possibly go wrong? Oh...that...

Without Life there can be no Liberty.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Do you all think the so called "coward" incident was dug up and publicized because he was already "irritating" people and they just wanted another reason to dislike him or dismiss him? I find it troubling how so many people in the gun community bailed on him with his "pack your bags" video and comments about "killing people."

That video has been out for years. This is nothing new. Like I said, most of the "characters" in this industry all have some sort of colorful past in one manner or another. Sometimes those individuals learn from those things, use them to better themselves, and extract some meaningful value from past mistakes. How a person deals with mistakes, failures, etc. is crucial. If the response is deflection, excuses, shifting blame, etc., that's certainly one direction and it demonstrates a lot about a person's character and decision making skills.

One well-known character is on video discussing how he was geared up and in the car heading to shoot up his PD and kill as many people as possible (God told him to stop, so he did...). Another one that's been very successful, never been in a gunfight, teaches all about gunfighting and what you will and will not be able to do in a gunfight...apparently at one time got fed up, grabbed a student's gun, and threw it downrange. Another instructor, not so well known on the net, but with a paper qualifications list a mile long and 30+ years in LE has negligently shot himself I believe multiple times, has students aim their guns at him to check their sight alignment, etc. One I personally know is almost a stolen valor case as he likes to frequently throw terms like "NSW" around (I think he was a SeaBee), tricking the average uninformed person into thinking he was a SEAL without actually saying it. That particular guy has barely competent female pistol shooters taking aerial marksmanship classes with M4's out of the back of a helicopter, and apparently no one involved sees the huge potential for that short ride to the ground. All of these things are, again, great insight into people's character and decision making skills.

 

[M. Sage]

He's a moron who lets roid rage run his mouth and what I've seen of his classes in videos hasn't impressed me. I've seen too many people that should still be at the "crawl" stage being pushed into "run" in situations where they can end up putting lead inside another human being. It'll happen at one of his classes if it hasn't already.

Like Travis says, there are enough good trainers out there who are better teachers (maybe because their vocabularies don't consist mainly of "****") and won't put your life and limb at risk so they can impress empty-headed "students" and satisfy their own tiny egos.

 

[M. Sage]

Do you all think the so called "coward" incident was dug up and publicized because he was already "irritating" people and they just wanted another reason to dislike him or dismiss him? I find it troubling how so many people in the gun community bailed on him with his "pack your bags" video and comments about "killing people." He seemed to be venting and saying what most of us were thinking, and I happen to agree with all his statements on 2nd amendment rights and firearms carry rights. He seems to be on the right side there. I also can't disagree with him on much on what he says regarding tactics and equipment. I see all that other stuff as just salesmanship, but sometimes he does effectively challenge you to evaluate your own beliefs about your equipment, training, tactics, lifestyles, etc. Even if you don't take a class from him, I think he still does bring some valuable information and furthers discussions just from his contrived videos. That's not a bad thing. With all that said, I think he is a good guy and he doesn't irritate me, although I agree with everything else Sig_Fiend has said about choosing a qualified instructor.

That video was a perfect example of what I was talking about with him letting his fragile little ego run his mouth. There's a time and a place for everything, but posting a video to Youtube screaming and ranting about shooting people is just idiotic. It shows that he's surrounded by people who are either too scared of being kicked out of the clique or too stupid to realize that this kind of thing is a dumb idea... probably both.

If he ran on intelligence instead of a fragile ego, he wouldn't have shot such a video, let alone uploaded it.

I guess that's what irritates me. I hate puffed up swaggering punks like him. To me, that's always been a sign of underlying weakness and cowardice. He can scream and shout and rant and froth in a camera all he wants, he can wear all those MMA shirts and get tattoos and take steroids to get all muscly and grow that disgusting-looking goatee until the end of time, but none of it has me convinced that he's anything approaching a hardass or warrior.

That video has been out for years. This is nothing new. Like I said, most of the "characters" in this industry all have some sort of colorful past in one manner or another. Sometimes those individuals learn from those things, use them to better themselves, and extract some meaningful value from past mistakes. How a person deals with mistakes, failures, etc. is crucial. If the response is deflection, excuses, shifting blame, etc., that's certainly one direction and it demonstrates a lot about a person's character and decision making skills.

One well-known character is on video discussing how he was geared up and in the car heading to shoot up his PD and kill as many people as possible (God told him to stop, so he did...). Another one that's been very successful, never been in a gunfight, teaches all about gunfighting and what you will and will not be able to do in a gunfight...apparently at one time got fed up, grabbed a student's gun, and threw it downrange. Another instructor, not so well known on the net, but with a paper qualifications list a mile long and 30+ years in LE has negligently shot himself I believe multiple times, has students aim their guns at him to check their sight alignment, etc. One I personally know is almost a stolen valor case as he likes to frequently throw terms like "NSW" around (I think he was a SeaBee), tricking the average uninformed person into thinking he was a SEAL without actually saying it. That particular guy has barely competent female pistol shooters taking aerial marksmanship classes with M4's out of the back of a helicopter, and apparently no one involved sees the huge potential for that short ride to the ground. All of these things are, again, great insight into people's character and decision making skills.

I thought it was funny when I made that crack about Spetsnaz being dumbasses who shoot anybody in front of them and Sonny Puzikas read it... and then a few weeks later he shot a fellow instructor in a shoot house.

 

[556.45.12]

He annoys the absolute crap out of me. I had to spend an ample amount of time ripping on him for his "Glock is better than 1911" series. Sorry if it's been mentioned, but Google "buck man with a pussy" and you'll find his twin brother.

 

[SR9TEX]

.

I guess that's what irritates me. I hate puffed up swaggering punks like him. To me, that's always been a sign of underlying weakness and cowardice. He can scream and shout and rant and froth in a camera all he wants, he can wear all those MMA shirts and get tattoos and take steroids to get all muscly and grow that disgusting-looking goatee until the end of time, but none of it has me convinced that he's anything approaching a hardass or warrior.

So your saying you liked him better when he started Tactical Response, he was over weight, had hair, small beard and no tattoos or tight shirts?

Do you really judge a book by its cover?

I mean you don't technically know him personally, and we all know drama sells. Because even those who say they are drama free still feed into it and that's all his videos are.Once you understand that it will make your frustrations easier to understand.If he didn't have the little drama/cockyness.His videos wouldn't be any more entertaining to watch then say hickok45 or Sootch...

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

These are from his class. Notice in the second picture, you can see smoke from the gun being fired, so it's not like they're just doing dry runs.

 

[breakingcontact]

Nutnfancy > Yeager. There. I said it.

Without Life there can be no Liberty.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

People are way too focused and concerned about being entertained (which is one of the major problems with this industry right now) when they should be focused more on the decision making skills and failures in judgment of the people they are taking stock in. Actions not words. Personally, I think Yeager can be very entertaining to listen to sometimes, and I have actually enjoyed some of his videos. That doesn't change the fact he has made some poor/questionable decisions. It amazes me that anyone would want to roll the dice and train with him, especially after the fact he made national news by posting a video with vague threats that, for all the average person might have read into it, suggested he was going to indiscriminately start killing people (regardless of what he actually meant, the perception of it), then subsequently lost his CHL. That could present some interesting legal ramifications if brought up in court on a self defense case of a former student that might have trained with him.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

These are from his class. Notice in the second picture, you can see smoke from the gun being fired, so it's not like they're just doing dry runs.

Great example. The fact that a person would make a judgment call that, "yes, it's okay to risk this AI's life to get a cool picture", when simply a $20 tripod and camera set to auto shoot could have solved that problem just fine.....that should make anyone seriously question that person's judgment. And I don't even want to hear the argument that "square range rules are unrealistic", as I understand the principle. We're talking basic pistol class in that picture, not advanced hostage rescue with top tier military/LE tactical teams that do this shit for a living and that may or may not be shooting with other top level shooters fore or aft. There is no place for that shit in basic classes with the average, and potentially inexperienced or beginner shooters.

I also seriously question the judgment of anyone that can look at those pictures and especially watch those specific videos, and not have the same or similar reservations I mentioned above. If you see that and don't think there was a problem....you may be part of the problem yourself and may want to do a bit of soul searching. I'm speaking totally generally here and not directing this at anyone specific, just anyone that may come across it in the future and that these points may connect with.

 

[London]

"All guns should be Glocks and all Glocks should be 9MM."

A good instructor first needs to be a good student, and a good student must have an open mind combined with a healthy amount of skepticism. That statement demonstrates neither an open mind nor skepticism. Just extreme mental rigidity.

IMO he appeals to people who lack self-confidence and need an authoritarian "Expert" to sell them confidence. After all, I'm doing what JY does, and he's an "Expert," so I don't have to doubt or question my tactics.

I know it sounds weird, but you can learn a lot more about shooting well by reading and understanding the principles outlined in The Tao of Jeet Kune Do than you can from most "Experts" I've seen, and that book has absolutely nothing to do with guns.

 

[breakingcontact]

Sig, your discussion of these guys as industry celebrities got me to thinking.

Computer world celebrities: heads of major companies, Gates, Jobs, Google Guys, blond chick who runs Yahoo and so on.

Automotive world celebs: race car drivers and collectors, Paul Newman, Andretti, Jay Leno, Andretti, John Force, Earnhard, Schumacher

Gun industry: it was once probably famous lawmen, famous hunters...now its famous YouTubers? Jerry Miculek should have way more views that Yeager. I looked up the #s. Jerry has 5M and James has 24M.

*please forgive how much i use the word tactical in the following

Our gun celebs should be guys like Miculek or people with real experience in their career related to firearms but Jerry is an excellent competitor but he would admit competition style shooting isnt "tactical" shooting.

Hickok45 is great to watch for recreational watching. That might have sold in the past but now a lot of gun guys are into the "tactical" training and associated gear so they want someone with a harder edge using guns the way they want to use them.

Heres a good example to me. Chris Costa. He had a legit career with the USCG. Then was president of Magpul Dynamics. He has the "tactical" look that gun guys can man crush over, hes serious but also doesnt take himself too seriously but most importantly he had a career first, THEN got into the training industry. Yes he can make money selling weird stuff like that cool M&P Costa edition gun, he can make YT vids, run shooting schools and do whatever he wants but to me he is a more steady gun celebrity as his celebrity is based on his life and not some image that he constructed out of thin air to sell.

Tactical.

Without Life there can be no Liberty.

 

[London]

He's a shit head. But the way the ambush happened and the amount of fire coming in I doubt he could have done shit besides run in the ditch. I've never been in combat but the amount of fire coming his way was pretty overwhelming. I think they knew the direction it was coming from but not exactly. But what do I know. I've never been in that type of situation.

There is video of the incident. As much as I dislike him I can not criticize him for what he did. He claims he took cover and tried to establish where the fire came from, the video seems to back this up. It is easy to see how some people would consider that running and hiding. I for one would never make that claim.

 

[Andy]

And I don't even want to hear the argument that "square range rules are unrealistic", as I understand the principle. We're talking basic pistol class in that picture, not advanced hostage rescue with top tier military/LE tactical teams that do this shit for a living and that may or may not be shooting with other top level shooters fore or aft. There is no place for that shit in basic classes with the average, and potentially inexperienced or beginner shooters.

This!

 

[matefrio]

There is video of the incident. As much as I dislike him I can not criticize him for what he did. He claims he took cover and tried to establish where the fire came from, the video seems to back this up. It is easy to see how some people would consider that running and hiding. I for one would never make that claim.

I I'm There was a breach of protocol he made that held up the line of cars holding them in the kill zone.

 

[London]

Sorry if it's been mentioned, but Google "buck man with a pussy" and you'll find his twin brother.

I don't even wanna know how you found out about that guy....

 

[cbigclarke]

Why is it assumed that he placed, forced, made, the photographer stand there?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[txinvestigator]

Why is it assumed that he placed, forced, made, the photographer stand there?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

it does not matter how the photographer got there. Yeager is responsible for the actions in his class. He should never allow such a thing to happen.

 

[cbigclarke]

it does not matter how the photographer got there. Yeager is responsible for the actions in his class. He should never allow such a thing to happen.

Okay... Do we know if he was even there when it happened?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[txinvestigator]

Okay... Do we know if he was even there when it happened?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

It was his class. I don't get what you're getting at.