Anyway, leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I haven't trained with Costa, probably won't ever after this post (my brother did train Costa and Haley on our family ranch in long range shooting) but at some point, idolization must feel silly, right? I mean; one would hope that you would be honest enough with yourself to stop this silly hero worship.
I hope I'm wrong about my gut feeling on this one. Meanwhile, Failure2Stop continues to train folks in carbine and handgun shooting with nothing but a Bronze Star awarded for combat heroics and years spent teaching two nation's armed forces. Yeah, I know, right? No doll, no signature rifle, $3500 1911, no signed posters. Clearly not in the same league as Costa.
Well said. This stuff is getting wierd.
ReplyDeleteAccording to
ReplyDeletehttp://militarytimes.com/blogs/gearscout/2012/04/17/your-mancave-needs-more-beard/
the drawing was designed/conceived by the artist, not Costa, and Costa is donating 100 percent of his proceeds to the Stars and Stripes Foundation.
I trained with him a few times and he was a good trainer and shooter. I'm certainly not in thrall to him and would never buy his poster or doll or 1911. I just wouldn't take it seriously what his dumb fans do.
Chris Costa has become an Internet meme where it has become a joke upon itself where people are joking around.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at this clever Chris Costa hat with a built in beard that I found somewhere on the Internet:
[IMG]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m115/edagain/costahat.jpg[/IMG]
And lets not forget the Chris Costa Action Figure:
[img]http://militarytimes.com/blogs/gearscout/files/2012/01/011112-Caltek-Trainer-017.jpg[/img]
I wish I could remember where I found it to give credit where credit is due.
I don't think this kind of thing is unique to Costa. In order to be a good instructor, to effectively convey the material, you really have to be able to connect with other people quickly and easily. He's clearly a likeable and funny guy, and the best instructors are usually borderline charismatics. It's only gotten worse in recent years when it's become the thing to have your own forum, which quickly becomes a circle jerk of uncritical nuthuggers.
ReplyDeleteSo if he has any blame himself, it's for not putting the kibosh on this nonsense right away. But I think the real fault lies in the guys seeking validation in some kind of fanclub.
Yeah, victims of cult of personality are pathetic, and it is amazing that Costa has so many fanboys when his C.V. seems exceedingly benign (Coast Guard) when compared to trainers such as Paul Howe, Failure2Stop, Larry Vickers, Jason Falla, et.al., whose credentials speak for themselves. I would say that it is a travesty indeed that Costa is the one with the action doll (I sincerely hope that that whole thing was done tongue in cheek) instead of the others I've mentioned, except for the fact that it is so farcical to have an action doll in the first place. Besides, the whole Magpul "method" always seems a little too gimmicky to me, with all of those exaggerated flicks and gyrations..I guess it is useful if you wanna burn a few extra calories while changing a magazine, to better fit into your new Costa Action Jeans..
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