Originally Posted by
Trooper224
One of the earliest training classes I attended was hosted by Jeff Cooper and Chuck Taylor back in the 80's, courtesy of Uncle Sugar. The training itself was good, since they were considered the pioneering gurus at the time no one had any complaints. I found Taylor to be highly opinionated, but at least willing to engage in a conversation consisting of differing opinions. You weren't going to change his mind about anything, but he at least had the courtesy to hear you out. At the time I didn't know much, so I didn't have much to say, I was really just a sponge. I found Cooper to be pompous and arrogant in the extreme. Articulate and well read, but repugnant in his arrogance. There was his way and that was it, no discussion. At least Taylor had some genuine combat experience, Coopers was actually quite minimal and most of his theories were formulated from competition. I've long maintained that Gunsite wouldn't have survived if there'd been any real competition at the time. Most of Coopers early assistants, like Taylor, Ken Hackathorn, Clint Smith, etc., eventually moved on due to Coopers refusal to adapt his methods based on real world feedback. I think some of that original cadre have now fallen victim to the same kind of closed minded thinking. At this point, the only one of them I'd be interested in taking a class from is Ken Hackathorn. He's the only one still working that seems to have made a concerted effort at adaptive progress.