I agree Major; dick-measuring contests are a waste of time.
I got the impression that his "cohort" is a friend of his, and hell, for all we know he felt obligated to go with his friend to try to save him from what he thinks is a charlatan (I don't know if iron-shirt guy is or not). I like to give people the benefit of doubt regarding that type of thing.
Unlike troops who actually have skills and are naturally prone to compete, there are some snake oil salesmen out there, with little to no real skill, who like to dupe the public, making it more difficult (and embarrassing) for the real-deal folks to do their thing.
One of your posts about CQC instructors, sir:
'From my experience, any instructor we get damn well better be able to best all of us "students", whether that's shooting, or hand-to-hand. With shooting, the screening process is fairly easy. I mean, Jerry Barnhart has trained some of us and he's creds are not questionable. It is not really the same with H2H types.
I'm our unit we have multiple Bronze Star and Silver Star recipients that have certainly fought it out with people trying to kill us.
So, we don't have anyone too shy to really punch an instructor in the face if he says "Ok, now hit me." Anyone willing to say that to an operator wearing full kit and "amped-up" from several CQB sessions better be able to do what he says he can do.'
(Yes, I pay attention and remember most of what you say, sir.
You are on my short list of people I pay attention to when it comes to such matters.)
I equate what Rickster said/did to what I bold-faced from your post above. You and your guys are good at what you do; somebody with the balls to instruct you better be able to do what they say they can do. Same with this situation: Rickster feels he is good at what he does, he had a friend he thought was being duped, the instructor invited to show him his skills to withstand a punch - well, by God, he wasn't too shy to hit him, and that instructor "better be able to do what he says he can do." Apparently he was not.
I suspect that Rickster, unlike you, I, and others who have been around the block for a few decades having to deal with real-life crap, has the same confidence in his decision he made as we would have. I see his post not as a boast, but as a request to verify that he made the right choice.
I could be wrong though, sir. It's been known to happen once or twice before.
My wife keeps meticulous records.
Jeff Cook