Some folks have instant name recognition, but for various reasons others don't. Some of those people aren't known because the things they did, and the lessons they learned, happened in places they weren't supposed to be. Some of them managed to pass along lessons to others, and some didn't. Most of those were in the military, and some of the things they learned and taught might not often apply to us plain old citizens.
One name I don't see on any of the lists so far is that of Carlos Hathcock. His name is on a diploma on my wife's "I love me" wall- she got to take his class once upon a time. And I don't think anyone here would argue that Gunny Hathcock had a real influence on what's taught in various classrooms across the country today, though not a whole lot of ordinary citizens are in those classrooms.
In the same vein, John Plaster deserves mention here. Most folks know of John's several books, but he has a long list of accomplishments to his credit in training law enforcement snipers as well. John cut his teeth running recon with MACV-SOG. That by itself establishes sufficient credentials for anyone familiar with the history of the organization.
While he never taught a class dealing with firearms that I know of, there is no greater debt owed in the area of the establishment of mindset than that belonging to Nick Rowe. His legacy lives after him in Ft. Bragg's SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) program. His autobiography Five Years To Freedom is must reading IMHO. "Never, never give up" and "Get back in the fight" are watchwords these days, and hearken to the sort of indomitable spirit that Nick exemplified for all of us.
There are numerous nameless sources who laid the groundwork for so much of what is taught today in the various shooting schools around the country. Much goes back to America's and the free world's first real exploration of efficient combative techniques. Those legends- Sykes and Fairbairn- planted seeds that flourished through the history of OSS and SOE, and their offspring and cousins in free world military special operations. Lessons passed along and new lessons learned in Southeast Asia by organizations like MACV-SOG found their way diretly into newer organizations like Blue Light and Delta. Now we see new instructors joining the ranks of outstanding new trainers in the field following service on the leading edge of the war on terror- Kyle Lamb, Paul Howe, Larry Vickers for example. But their roots run deep...
Lest we forget.
lpl
(Fictional...but...think about it)
