Key Takeaways
- Todd Green’s passing in 2016 reminds us of missed training opportunities with influential instructors.
- Several notable instructors have died, leaving the community with regrets about lost training chances.
- Aging instructors like Dave Spaulding and Tom Givens are reducing their training schedules, making future opportunities limited.
- This current generation of instructors holds vital historical context in firearms training that is irreplaceable.
- To avoid regret, seize training opportunities now as they may become scarce.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
In March of 2016, Todd Louis Green, who went by ToddG online, passed away after a hard fight with cancer. This past March, 10 years since his passing, has brought this lesson to mind. I missed training with him by a year or so. He was scheduled to teach a class in Oklahoma a year or two prior, and ended up canceling most of his road courses to pursue treatment. Todd was the guy behind pistol-training.com, and even though I had not trained with him in person, was influential in both my shooting and writing journey. Being able to attend one of his classes would have likely been even more influential in the level of performance I could bring to shooting. Missing that opportunity because I was slow to the punch is a regret of my training journey.
The Years Past
If you have paid attention to the training industry for the past 15-20 years, you will note several instructors that have passed well before they should have. We, as a community, losing the opportunity to train with them. Todd Green is one that I regret not training with when I had the chance quite a bit. William Aprill, Paul Gomez, James Yeager, and Pat Rogers are others that the training community have missed due to their passing.
The Years Ahead
There is also a cadre of industry leaders that are aging out of the training game. The ones I mentioned earlier, all those notable instructors passed, some rather unexpectedly. We don’t necessarily get the grace of seeing those things coming. But, if we are paying attention, we do see the more senior members of the instructor community drawing closer to retirement, and once they retire the opportunity to train with them is often lost. Names like Dave Spaulding, Tom Givens, Clint Smith, Mas Ayoob, John Farnham, and Ken Hackathorn. Ken has been retired for a few years now. Dave is technically already retired, although he has been dabbling here and there still. Tom Givens has announced he is starting to reduce his training load, and Clint Smith has stepped away from Thunder Ranch, although has maintained that he will continue to teach.
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Bridging the Gap
This particular generation of instructor I think is incredibly important. They bridge an important gap in firearms training history, from the early days of places like Gunsite and the birth of the modern technique, to the current era of firearms training. They possess a historical context that cannot be easily replicated, if at all. Much of the commercial training industry that we enjoy now, was built off the backs of these instructors. We would be wise to carefully consider where our training dollars get spent, and make those decisions understanding that we may soon lose opportunities to train with the people who have helped to build and mature this industry. They say that wisdom is learning from the experience of others, without having to experience the regret that may come from that experience. So, take it from me, a guy who has missed training with people he would have liked to. If you have the means, don’t miss the opportunities, because they may be getting fewer and fewer.
