# Master Chris Garland



## Hanzo04 (Jun 17, 2004)

has anyone heard of Master Garland ? he is a 5th dan in jin jung kwan hapkido. he is the first non-korean to master this style of hapkido. can anyone elde give info on him? i'd like to know more.


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## Matt Stone (Jun 17, 2004)

Hanzo04 said:
			
		

> has anyone heard of Master Garland ? he is a 5th dan in jin jung kwan hapkido. he is the first non-korean to master this style of hapkido. can anyone elde give info on him? i'd like to know more.



Where's he from?

I seem to remember a Chris Garland when I was stationed at Fort Riley, KS.  He claimed he lived with his adoptive Korean parent and/or grandparent and learned Korean MA from a very, very young age...  He claimed an incredibly high belt rank at the ripe age of 23ish...


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## Hanzo04 (Jun 17, 2004)

he's from tennesee. he was an army ranger and he is still called upon to help the special forces. he is very good from what i understand.


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## hedgehogey (Jun 17, 2004)

Claims a black belt at the age of seven. Claims a 7th degree tkd and 5th hapkido at the age of 23. 
Claims connections to the special forces but won't provide backup. 

Sounds like a mcdojang to me, but post this for the fraud hunters on bullshido.net to make sure


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## Matt Stone (Jun 17, 2004)

Yep, sounds like him...

While I mean no ill will toward him, and his skill in TKD-esque techniques seems genuine, his background is a little "iffy."

The school he ran in Manhattan, KS, was odd...  He wasn't the chief instructor (if I remember correctly, there was another guy with him that was senior to him), but he sure did the bulk of the advertising.  They had a local cable access show also, and Mr. Garland would occasionally make reference to learning secret techniques from his Korean grandfather (or whatever), though said "secret techniques" were never shown...

Mr. Garland also, as I recall, did some pretty bizarre hand conditioning, but I think it was only on one hand.

The guy's flexibility was abnormal...  It was really weird to see him do the splits.

He was an Army Ranger (the Fort Riley post newspaper did an article on him...  I might just have a copy somewhere, but even if I do its buried in the garage somewhere), but he still made reference to this Remo Williams background and his ties to the SpecOps community.

Take it for what its worth.


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## Matt Stone (Jun 17, 2004)

His website is here.

I'm not sure which part amuses me more...  The claims of training Special Forces personnel, his having earned the titles of "samrang in Korea and samurai in Japan," or one of his quotes on the front page of his website ("I was a caucasian... They threw everything they had at me. I never whimpered. I never cried. They built me into this machine. *I became Asian.* I don't show the art. I live the art."

I'll never deny the guy appears to have some genuine skills...  But his background is just too much.

Whatever.  I wish the guy no ill will at all.  If what he says is true, more power to him.  If it were me, I'd just word things differently to sound a little more believable (especially when alleging involvement in things he can't discuss...  why bring it up at all?).


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## MichiganTKD (Jun 18, 2004)

I'm always a little suspicious whenever someone wants to know about someone they claim is very good. Sounds like self promotional hype to me, and I tend to think that the person wanting the info is just a mole put up by the individual to drum up interest in himself and his school. Especially if the person claims "He should be in movies." Why tell us that?


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## terryl965 (Jun 18, 2004)

Well I have to agree, what a incredible human being... He's a walking machine but can't explain his own personal achievements, well you know being in the special ops can't discuss, got to be silent or they will come and get me, but wait my secret skill I can hide like the ninja's of old.God Bless America...(P.S. I mean no ill will toward him)


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## Matt Stone (Jun 18, 2004)

terryl965 said:
			
		

> Well I have to agree, what a incredible human being... He's a walking machine but can't explain his own personal achievements, well you know being in the special ops can't discuss, got to be silent or they will come and get me, but wait my secret skill I can hide like the ninja's of old.God Bless America...(P.S. I mean no ill will toward him)



Are you trying to be sarcastic or something?  If so, say what you mean to say...

If not, sorry for misunderstanding your comments.


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## terryl965 (Jun 18, 2004)

Well yes being sarcartic's. I guess just tired of people trying to self promote them selfs or having somebody else do it for them.. If he really is legit then i applaud him if not I feel sorry for his students. I try to be as humble as I can ussally this time the post got to me... God Bless America


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## Hanzo04 (Jun 18, 2004)

i have no affiliation with him at all. i'm from chicago and he's from tenn. i just admire his skill and was just wondering if other people knew about him. and he is not self promoted if he was promoted by the koreans. he can just flat out fight. and keep in mind he's from the country and country people like to talk. so he can't help it, even if he was in the army. you guys need to stop assuming so much and try to read the website www.jinjungkwan.com


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## Flatlander (Jun 18, 2004)

I found some awesome jumps and dives on his site 

: http://www.jinjungkwan.com/video/demo3/demo_reel_3.mpg


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## bosco (May 6, 2005)

you should find this article very enlightening......


http://www.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/textonly.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2005:April_21-27_2005:News:Cover_Story


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## BlackCatBonz (May 6, 2005)

everything ive read about the guy screams "LIAR"
his name is on the veriseal site......he lied about being a ranger, and a seal, and a lot of other things. he was on military contract to provide security and thats all, according to one article. 
robert rousselot had these articles about him on another thread.
he is usually right on the money about these guys.


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## psi_radar (May 6, 2005)

There's a thread on here somewhere that debunks this guy quite thoroughly. Here it is: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23506&highlight=garland

He's on the hall of shame on the VeriSEAL site for posing as, but not being, a Navy SEAL:

http://sec-global.com/services/ctp/vsg/list.html

Although by all accounts a skilled Martial Artist, there's a lot that's been said by him and reported in interviews that seems to be unsubstantiated.  

Hanzo04, I notice you created a very similar thread about a year ago. And in my opinion, being "from the country" is not a license to lie, nor is it even a slightly accurate steroype. If anything, people from rural areas are known for their honesty.


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## Matt Stone (May 6, 2005)

I'm surprised to see this come up again...

I still recall when I was stationed at Fort Riley, KS, from 1995 - 1999.  He was a co-instructor at a school in Manhattan, KS.  He was in a Fort Riley newspaper article (due to his former ties to the Army), and I had to check him out personally...  I had also seen him on a local cable access show, and after hearing him tout his own legendary abilities, his ability to kill with one blow, his having trained his right hand (only that one, because he would be too deadly if both hands were trained) for pressure point striking, etc., seeing him in person was an imperative.

When I went to the school, he was very open about his time in the Rangers.  Having been former Infantry (I'm in the JAG Corps now), and having had several friends in the SF/Ranger community, his story just didn't sound quite right.  Further, he mustered out as a Specialist/E-4, which isn't a very high rank at all; didn't even make Sergeant if memory serves...  The Army simply doesn't make a point to have junior enlisted folks teach anyone anything - they just lack the maturity and experience in 99.999% of military situations.  So his having had all the experiences training, teaching, and deploying to "secret locations" just rung a little hollow.

I won't say he doesn't have some impressive abilities...  Just watching his videos on his website will impress anyone.  However, he compromises his integrity and ethics by lying about his past.  I hate that, and it really degrades his skills, his military service, and the martial arts community as a whole every time he presents his story as true.


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## Dhect (Dec 15, 2007)

I know Master Garland very well, and have had the pleasure of training with him and several of his students on many occasions. The last time I trained with Masters Garland he had and enlisted Navy Seal, a Warrant Officer from Delta and a Forced Recon Marine Captain assisting him with his demonstrations and training. Oh ya, Grand Master Kim came in from Korea and was with him during this seminar.  

It is a shame that so much effort has gone into disparaging this outstanding warrior; I know for a fact Master Garland has contracted as an advisor for Special Ops; more importunity he has been in country during hostilities throughout the current conflict as a civilian. 

One of my students who also trained with Master Garland had the opportunity to meet up with Master Garland in Kuwait in 2005 while he was on a protection assignment. (yes another civilian contractor who was hired because of his martial arts ability) Master Garland was off with several British troops gearing up for mission for an undisclosed area. 

Personally; I am honored to be associated with a warriors of this character and ability, furthermore for the people that doubt Masters Garlands abilities; feel free to Gi up and train with him, he is more that hospitable.  Who knows you may learn something.

Daniel Hect
Shudokan Ryu Taiho Jutsu


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## Tez3 (Dec 16, 2007)

Dhect said:


> I know Master Garland very well, and have had the pleasure of training with him and several of his students on many occasions. The last time I trained with Masters Garland he had and enlisted Navy Seal, a Warrant Officer from Delta and a Forced Recon Marine Captain assisting him with his demonstrations and training. Oh ya, Grand Master Kim came in from Korea and was with him during this seminar.
> 
> It is a shame that so much effort has gone into disparaging this outstanding warrior; I know for a fact Master Garland has contracted as an advisor for Special Ops; more importunity he has been in country during hostilities throughout the current conflict as a civilian.
> 
> ...


 
Really? And who would that be? For reasons I am not going to post I know who trains British troops and he's not one of them I'm afraid.
and why post this 2 years after the last person posted.


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## Dhect (Jun 16, 2008)

Well I guess that settles it then, Master Garland was not there working as a contractor. 

Dan


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## skyman (Sep 2, 2008)

I served in Kuwait from 10DEC2002 to 19APR2003 at the start of the Iraq war.

Yes,  I was there with Chris Garland where he was working as a martial arts instructor for special forces out of Ft. Campbell, KY.

While the rest of you were sitting in the comfort of your homes back in the states, Chris was there in harms way with the rest of us particularly when we came under hostile fire from a week and a half's worth of scud missiles from the Iraqis at the start of the war....he was one of the few civilians at our location.  Had he been injured, I am certain he would have been on his own for any long term medical care.  

In my off time, I would watch Chris train Army Rangers and SEALS in Hapkido.....I did not participate since he had them punching bags full of hard sand and hand chopping pipes wrapped in rope...His training, especially in snatching a weapon from an opponent was invaluable to these guys....He did his job and was not in line for any of the decorations and medals we all got for our service....I viewed his service as exempliary....

Also, the last time I visted Chris at his office in Nashville, he showed me a photo of his providing protection for a senior Bush cabinet member in Baghdad sometime in 2005....he did this as a contractor...

For all you doubters...I don't remember seeing you pudwackers there...

CDR Bill Manofsky USNR(ret)
Operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom
10DEC2002 to 19APR2003
Attached to Special Forces Intelligence
Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait


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## Greg Walker (Jul 11, 2017)

Very interested in this fellow.

Will check with Ranger Department regarding his claimed service in Regiment.

As for contracting here, there, or elsewhere...matters little as the contractor ranks were filled with real deal SOF and guys who embellished their resumes...with contracting companies, depending on who was hiring, doing few real credential checks.

Reference CDR "Manofsky"...what is the color of the boathouse at Hereford, "Sir?


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## Midnight-shadow (Jul 11, 2017)

Greg Walker said:


> Very interested in this fellow.
> 
> Will check with Ranger Department regarding his claimed service in Regiment.
> 
> ...



1. Why are you responding to a thread that is from 2004? 

2. Who gives a damn if he falsely claimed to be a Ranger? It has no relevance here at all.


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## Tez3 (Jul 12, 2017)

Greg Walker said:


> Reference CDR "Manofsky"...what is the color of the boathouse at Hereford, "Sir?



Ronin- Whats the colour of the boathouse at Hereford.


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## oftheherd1 (Jul 12, 2017)

Tez3 said:


> Ronin- Whats the colour of the boathouse at Hereford.



Drat!  Now you tell us.

I just paid cash for a cruise ship to take me there specifically to find out the color.  I planned to use it for the next National Trivia Contest.  I called to cancel and I guess they are having phone problems as they aren't answering.


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## Greg Walker (Jul 12, 2017)

Well, because I wanted to utilize this wonderful resource given it did have a thread on Mr. Garland that caught my eye.

And if you're not, or haven't ever been a Ranger then your second question is a moot point.

From 2005, the Nashville Scene - The Karate Kidder


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