Last week, I began a series inspired by Kyle Defoor’s Paying Homage posts at his blog. The next person on my list is Ken Hackathorn.
I first met Ken back in 1997 after being invited to attend his Combat Shooting class by host (and well known gun writer) Dean Speir. The class was held on Long Island at the Pine Barrens shooting facility in New York.
Ken’s background is well known. A U.S. Army Special Forces small arms instructor during the Vietnam War, Ken went on to be one of the earliest members of the instructor cadre at Gunsite. He was involved in the founding of both IPSC and IDPA, and served on the IDPA Board of Directors for many years. Ken’s incredible skill and ability has led to his role as an instructor for many of the most elite military and law enforcement tactical teams in the United States and around the world.
Ken is also a regular contributor to various shooting periodicals as well as a consultant to many companies in the firearms industry. Yet somehow, Ken still finds the time to teach a number of open enrollment classes each year.
One of the biggest factors in Ken’s decades-long success as a small arms trainer is that he is the least dogmatic instructor you could ever meet. During that very first class back in ’97, Ken didn’t just show us his way of doing things, he showed us every legitimate way. Did he have a favorite flashlight technique? Yes. Did he show us two or three more so we could find the one that worked best for each individual? Yes he did.
Someone with Ken’s background could easily wave his royal scepter and declare One True Way. But on the contrary, Ken remains deeply involved in the shooting community and has never stopped learning. He’ll tell you right in class, if he sees a better way to do something, he’ll examine it and adopt it. Unlike some of his peers from those early days at Gunsite, Ken didn’t stop developing his technique at Weaver and the Mozambique.
Maybe that sounds like no big deal, but think about it. Here is a guy who is paid big bucks by top tier military units for his knowledge and opinion, a man who is known even among his peers as the Tactical Dali Lama. But he has no ego tied to what he’s teaching. If you want to show up and hold the gun a different way, pie corners a different way, use your flashlight a different way… fine. Ken treats students like adults, not kindergartners who need to be whipped into a perfect mirror of his personal technique.
And that, hopefully, is the number one thing I’ve learned from Ken. Trust me, it can be very hard to separate your ego from your instruction. After all, would I be teaching technique-xyz if I didn’t think it was important, the best way to do something? But as Ken has told me many times, the job of an instructor is to show students a menu of techniques and let them pick the ones they want to keep. Expecting students to leave a 2-day classes as an army of Mini-Me’s is unrealistic.
Ken has been a good friend for many years (photo at right is from his 60th birthday party match at Ft Harmar, OH). He remains a generous tutor on everything from tactics to pedagogy. Countless of Ken’s inventions — including the 3-Second Head Shot Standards and the incredibly well known Hackathorn Standards — have become mainstays in programs I teach. Everything I teach gets run through the filter of Hackathorn’s Law: If you’re not confident in your ability to perform a task, you will not even attempt it under stress.
To this day, I take every opportunity to attend one of Ken’s classes. And true to form, some things Ken teaches today are different than what he was teaching thirteen years ago. Ken is not static. Ken is passionate about this stuff. He spends his personal time reading and searching out new information about what really works when people start pointing guns at one another.
Sadly, Ken would rather drive a tractor over a computer than type on one, so you will probably never see him on the internet. Nonetheless, most of his open enrollment classes are listed at FT&T. As I tell people all the time, if you are only going to take one class next year, take a class from Ken.
So thank you, Ken. Thank you for what you’ve taught me about shooting, about teaching, and about being part of this community. It’s far more than I could ever hope to repay.
Next week… Ernest Langdon.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Ken sounds like a great guy and a good instructor. I have spoken with people that have worked with him in the past they hold him in high regard.
Great read. To add, I really like the fact that Ken not only has his preferred method, but he can demo and suggest alternatives based on any other criteria for the student to ensure they leave with a technique that works best for them. A lot of the in-between stuff really helps put you in the right state of mind as well. I look forward to learning more from him.
(He also had us run the FAST)
I am so looking forward to training with Ken this coming May. Maybe you should come up for the class too Todd? lol
I can’t agree more.
I literally grew up reading Ken’s articles. My first class with him was in 2008, where he and Larry Vickers co-hosted a low light class in OH. I leapt at the chance to train with Ken, something I’d never thought I would be able to.
If you have a chance to train with Ken, take it. He is the grand master of firearms trainers in the world.
I consider myself fortunate to have spent time on and off the range with Ken. Your words are spot on. He’s a class act and you can tell he loves shooting and gun people.
For those of you who have not taken a class from him, I urge you to make that a priority for this coming year.