John Farnam Interview

[Doc_Glock]

I really enjoyed this interview on Civilian
Carry Radio.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/civilian-carry-radio/id1210878001?mt=2#episodeGuid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fir earmsradio.net%2F%3Fp%3D10660

I have not heard Farnam interviewed before. Recently I read Matterhorn and Fields of Fire so I have a whole new respect for what it means to be a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. The interview and both books are worthy of your attention.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802145310/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VJkoCbQPB85WD

Fields of Fire: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553583859/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2KkoCbAZVD5PZ

[SAWBONES]

Farnam.
Just FYI. John's a friend.

[Doc_Glock]

Farnam.
Just FYI. John's a friend.

Sorry. Auto corrected and I left it that way. Mods notified.

[Wondering Beard]

John was my first instructor, nearly 30 years ago and a better start on learning how to shoot/fight/behave one could not find. Vicky is also a superb instructor and her segment on how women and men learn differently during their instructor class was eye opening.

When John talks, I shut up and listen.

[Doc_Glock]

John was my first instructor, nearly 30 years ago and a better start on learning how to shoot/fight/behave one could not find. Vicky is also a superb instructor and her segment on how women and men learn differently during their instructor class was eye opening.

When John talks, I shut up and listen.

He certainly seems a gentleman. Loved the interview.

[M2CattleCo]

I took a 3 day, 2 night advanced training course with Farnam back in 2012.

I left before dark on day one due to no desire to get shot or see anyone else get shot. Among other things.

[43Under]

I took a 3 day, 2 night advanced training course with Farnam back in 2012.

I left before dark on day one due to no desire to get shot or see anyone else get shot. Among other things.

^This sounds like it needs more information!

[M2CattleCo]

^This sounds like it needs more information!


The whole thing was a shitshow. They had us running around stabbing targets with knives, doing hand to hand stuff, teaching to ride the reset, one of assistant instructors managed to miss his IWB holster and cram/wedge a hot Glock inside his waistband while running backwards. Farnams played it off. Had super green, timid shooters with pistols and carbines on a hot range, going into night? I left.

[CWM11B]

I have his books, and found them to be pretty good. I attended one of his classes maybe 20 years ago. Not one I would do again, similar experience as M2CattleCo. A good friend with some serious SOCOM creds took it with me, and he had a similar opinion. John was a good enough guy, I just didn't agree with most of his declarations nor his range operations. One of the few classes I have attended where my "tool box" left without any additions.

[TGS]

The whole thing was a shitshow. They had us running around stabbing targets with knives, doing hand to hand stuff, teaching to ride the reset, one of assistant instructors managed to miss his IWB holster and cram/wedge a hot Glock inside his waistband while running backwards. Farnams played it off. Had super green, timid shooters with pistols and carbines on a hot range, going into night? I left.


I have his books, and found them to be pretty good. I attended one of his classes maybe 20 years ago. Not one I would do again, similar experience as M2CattleCo. A good friend with some serious SOCOM creds took it with me, and he had a similar opinion. John was a good enough guy, I just didn't agree with most of his declarations nor his range operations. One of the few classes I have attended where my "tool box" left without any additions.

I think these are pretty good examples of how legends from the past were legends in their days and laid the groundwork for CCW training, but that students and teachers since then have obviously taken what they've learned and advanced our techniques, tactics and procedures to a better place.

The problem is when a person/group ceases to learn and advance, instead choosing to be stuck in their ways as if it's absolute simply because of a given person/organization's legendary status earned during their hey-day.

ETA: Kind of like Grossman and how over the last 20 years he's started believing his own hyperbole as fact, and today is simply batshit fucking crazy.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

I’ve taken several classes with John. Most recently last year, in both live-fire and lecture format. It was very professionally run. We also fired at night. He had everyone on-deck safely corralled in one area, whilst the shooters were 180 degrees removed from them, into dedicated fields of fire. It was as safe or safer than any other live-fire class I’ve taken, over the past 25 years.

I’ve read all of his books, going back to his early publications, and I’ve found it all both instructive and historically informative. I’ve dined with John on a number of occasions, and I don’t say much, since he is very entertaining, as you heard on the podcast, and he literally has so many great, gut-wrenching tales of the war, other wars, and policing, that you can’t help but be captivated.

His safety lecture is a bit different than most in that he specifically tells everyone that GUNS ARE NOT SAFE and that’s what makes them particularly useful to us for our given purposes. He also acknowledges that training with firearms is inherently dangerous, and that great care must be taken to avoid people and things from getting inadvertently shot.

Here’s an essay I wrote about the class:

https://civiliandefender.com/2018/02/15/safety-not-guaranteed-vehicle-tactics-with-john-farnam/




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[Norville]

I took a carbine class with him in the mid 90s and it fell on the ‘scary’ side of the spectrum.

Too many students, hot range with both long guns and handguns, night shooting where weapon lights were discouraged (actually any light at all) and no target feedback.

I picked a spot away from the firing line and just watched the night shoot.

[SAWBONES]

I'm another who's taken several classes with John, mostly handgun and some urban rifle/shotgun.

Only once was there any sense of disarray, in a setting of too many students plus too much variety of experience among students.

With too many students, some individual students' experience and attention suffered, plus "filler drills" (e.g., "battlefield pickup") were added simply to engage one group of students while another did actual training, plus with novice and experienced students mixed (this in an "Advanced Handgun" class), there was continual back-tracking necessary to introduce or reinforce basic concepts, and obviously some of those present had apparently either exaggerated their previous training experience or perhaps failed to learn from it.

John is an experienced and knowledgeable but humble senior trainer who IME has always been open to "a better way" in just about any firearm technique, not hide-bound or one of those "place your feet just so" or "hold your hands just like this" types, but one who reads students well, recognizes difficulties, and knows how to teach pertinent skills effectively.

(BTW, he never runs a range any way but "hot".)

[Dave Williams]

I've taken 4 Farnam classes over the years and need to get in another one, they are a good time and you'll meet some interesting people. In one class I met Chief Jeff Chudwin and Al Kullovitz from Cook County S.O. Al took the famous photo in Street Survival of the biker who soaked up 33 rounds of 9mm before being slugged. I trained with a hard corps NJSP Trooper back in 2001 at one and he was still carrying the P7M8, and it was cool to pick his brain. I've participated in a lot of firearms training and haven't found his classes any more dangerous than any others.

[w provence]

I’ve taken several classes with John. Most recently last year, in both live-fire and lecture format. It was very professionally run. We also fired at night. He had everyone on-deck safely corralled in one area, whilst the shooters were 180 degrees removed from them, into dedicated fields of fire. It was as safe or safer than any other live-fire class I’ve taken, over the past 25 years.

I’ve read all of his books, going back to his early publications, and I’ve found it all both instructive and historically informative. I’ve dined with John on a number of occasions, and I don’t say much, since he is very entertaining, as you heard on the podcast, and he literally has so many great, gut-wrenching tales of the war, other wars, and policing, that you can’t help but be captivated.

His safety lecture is a bit different than most in that he specifically tells everyone that GUNS ARE NOT SAFE and that’s what makes them particularly useful to us for our given purposes. He also acknowledges that training with firearms is inherently dangerous, and that great care must be taken to avoid people and things from getting inadvertently shot.

Here’s an essay I wrote about the class:

https://civiliandefender.com/2018/02/15/safety-not-guaranteed-vehicle-tactics-with-john-farnam/




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Excellent essay.


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