Vetting an instructor

I have a question that doesn't fit the P&S Facebook group but would like some direction as far as how to vet a trainer. Long story short, this guy made some interesting claims in the past along the lines of serving as a SEAL corpsman. He has been and still is offering CQB classes.

It recently came to light this trainer lied about major life events and portions of his life. This has obviously called into question whether his claims of military service are legit. I normally wouldn't care but if he is marketing himself as a SEAL and teaching bad tactics it could have serious implications.

Thanks all.
 
Hello all. I'm hoping someone can help with this. There is a guy named Brandon K One Feather teaching CQB classes in WY dba One Feather and Associates. He's previously made references to military service as a corpsman on a SEAL team.

His stories sounded more and more fishy to the point where he claimed he was in medical school. Brandon bragged about how easy it was because he had already learned everything in hospital corpsman school. It didn't take too much digging to figure out he was taking 6 years to finish a 4 year undergraduate degree in biochemistry and was not nor was he ever enrolled in medical school. Additionally, he would disappear from the area for months at a time. Upon return he used the excuse of contracting overseas and sailing around the Horn of Africa conducting maritime security. It was more than likely he was taking undergraduate courses at the University of Minnesota.

Since this has come to light, it has obviously made me question his credentials. I am pretty certain he is a Navy vet. He might even be a corpsman. I do question whether he is a SEAL as that seems to be the standard embellishment in the "training" community.

The guy that owns the range he conducts training at is probably taking him at face value as did I when I first met him. There are a lot of people that believe his background at face value and trust his training. I have not taken training from him but would hate to see someone get hurt if Brandon is providing incorrect or poor training.
 

Asr34

Amateur
http://www.cofc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/DAMICH.OneFeather.pdf
http://www.odmp.org/officer/15415-police-officer-kelmer-harwin-one-feather

If this is the same guy, he was in the Navy and at basic training in 2000. His father was a tribal police officer, and was killed in the line of duty on 07/01/2000. Brandon appealed denial of his father's death benefits. He was denied, because he was 20 years old and Navy basic training did not qualify as "full time school."

This is just from my light googling. Hope this helps you with a timeline, but it appears that he was at least in the Navy.
 
That part is accurate. I'm just not sure there is much else available in public domain verifying any claims of special training.
 

Superslug

Newbie
Hello all. I'm hoping someone can help with this. There is a guy named Brandon K One Feather teaching CQB classes in WY dba One Feather and Associates. He's previously made references to military service as a corpsman on a SEAL team.

His stories sounded more and more fishy to the point where he claimed he was in medical school. Brandon bragged about how easy it was because he had already learned everything in hospital corpsman school. It didn't take too much digging to figure out he was taking 6 years to finish a 4 year undergraduate degree in biochemistry and was not nor was he ever enrolled in medical school. Additionally, he would disappear from the area for months at a time. Upon return he used the excuse of contracting overseas and sailing around the Horn of Africa conducting maritime security. It was more than likely he was taking undergraduate courses at the University of Minnesota.

Since this has come to light, it has obviously made me question his credentials. I am pretty certain he is a Navy vet. He might even be a corpsman. I do question whether he is a SEAL as that seems to be the standard embellishment in the "training" community.

The guy that owns the range he conducts training at is probably taking him at face value as did I when I first met him. There are a lot of people that believe his background at face value and trust his training. I have not taken training from him but would hate to see someone get hurt if Brandon is providing incorrect or poor training.

At this very moment there are people looking into his claims about being a SEAL, could you elaborate on conversations you have had with him, what did you ask him, and what did he tell you? Example did you ask him what BUD/S class? If so do you recall his answer? Any and all information would be helpful, especially if you have a picture of him instruction these classes wearing any and all Trident(s).
 

Superslug

Newbie
At this very moment there are people looking into his claims about being a SEAL, could you elaborate on conversations you have had with him, what did you ask him, and what did he tell you? Example did you ask him what BUD/S class? If so do you recall his answer? Any and all information would be helpful, especially if you have a picture of him instruction these classes wearing any and all Trident(s).
 
Sorry about the delay in response. During pistol matches or casual evening outings, he will say (sometimes directly, sometimes inferred) he served with the SEALs in Afghanistan back in the 01-03 time frame. He's pretty vague and no one has really asked him which class he graduated from or where he trained. I went to a couple of these classes and didn't feel like they were anything more than pistol drills. He never wears the trident when teaching class, but will make references to the SEALs. I know anyone can check into anywhere on facebook, but he likes to check into Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. At one point he said he was in the Navy Reserves still but I am unable to find any pictures of him in uniform. He puts up a lot of trident stuff on his facebook but we all know that means almost nothing. Quite honestly, I wouldn't have even questioned it had I not found out he lied about medical school. If you can lie about something like that then who knows what else is a fabrication or exaggeration.

Sorry I wish I had more info on him. He recently moved to CA for graduate school of some sort. I believe he is going to UCLA. He claimed he was going there for a Cardiology residency, then an internal medicine residency, etc etc,...My previous research indicates he may be working on an MPH. His blog was public at one point but not now. Let me know if there's any other info I can try and gather.

Again, this really doesn't affect me, but if he is claiming to be a SEAL and training folks under those credentials; I have a problem with that. Ultimately, this could result in death or injury.
 

Superslug

Newbie
Brandon K OneFeather is not nor has ever been a Navy SEAL. It is true he was a Corpsman, but he was not a Corpsman on a SEAL Team. Albeit there are Corpsman's that work with SEALs, notice the the word, "with" but generally those Corpsman are assigned to a Duty Station on land like in a MEPS BLDG as an example. In order to be a Corpsman on a SEAL Team they have to be a SEAL, and he was not. FOIA has been sent out for the complete list of his claims and soon we will all know exactly what he did, because there is a BIG difference working with SEALs, as a Corpsman, and being a SEAL Corpsman. So did he actually say verbatim he was a Navy SEAL?
 
I've personally heard "SEAL Corpsman" come out of his mouth. I can point you to other people he has made these claims to as well. Thanks for looking into this.
 
Sorry about the delay in response. During pistol matches or casual evening outings, he will say (sometimes directly, sometimes inferred) he served with the SEALs in Afghanistan back in the 01-03 time frame. He's pretty vague and no one has really asked him which class he graduated from or where he trained. I went to a couple of these classes and didn't feel like they were anything more than pistol drills. He never wears the trident when teaching class, but will make references to the SEALs. I know anyone can check into anywhere on facebook, but he likes to check into Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. At one point he said he was in the Navy Reserves still but I am unable to find any pictures of him in uniform. He puts up a lot of trident stuff on his facebook but we all know that means almost nothing. Quite honestly, I wouldn't have even questioned it had I not found out he lied about medical school. If you can lie about something like that then who knows what else is a fabrication or exaggeration.

Sorry I wish I had more info on him. He recently moved to CA for graduate school of some sort. I believe he is going to UCLA. He claimed he was going there for a Cardiology residency, then an internal medicine residency, etc etc,...My previous research indicates he may be working on an MPH. His blog was public at one point but not now. Let me know if there's any other info I can try and gather.

Again, this really doesn't affect me, but if he is claiming to be a SEAL and training folks under those credentials; I have a problem with that. Ultimately, this could result in death or injury.

I can say with certainty that he was actually in Medical School. Was.
 

Ryan St.Jean

Regular Member
Honestly this seems like when someone thinks their spouse is cheating on them. You could hire a PI figure out exactly where and with whom it is happening but if you get to that point you are pretty darn sure it’s happening.

There are lots of reputable trainers. Choose one of them.
 

Harry19

Newbie
Brandon K OneFeather is not nor has ever been a Navy SEAL. It is true he was a Corpsman, but he was not a Corpsman on a SEAL Team. Albeit there are Corpsman's that work with SEALs, notice the the word, "with" but generally those Corpsman are assigned to a Duty Station on land like in a MEPS BLDG as an example. In order to be a Corpsman on a SEAL Team they have to be a SEAL, and he was not. FOIA has been sent out for the complete list of his claims and soon we will all know exactly what he did, because there is a BIG difference working with SEALs, as a Corpsman, and being a SEAL Corpsman. So did he actually say verbatim he was a Navy SEAL?

Can you share how you know he is not or has ever been a SEAL? I stumbled upon this thread because I met him in college and after a while had my doubts about his claims and thought I might get some info from a google search. I too had stronger doubts after conflicting stories about med school/going to school in CA. I feel really naive for beliving him after hearing many of the same stories stated here. At times I had my suspicions but ultimately hoped I’d never meet someone that would lie about something like this.
 
I can say with certainty that he was actually in Medical School. Was.
Do you know if he ever made it past second year? He seemed to know a bit about first year but then his explanation of second year really sounded fishy as far as too many breaks and unrealistic clinical rotations.

Can you share how you know he is not or has ever been a SEAL? I stumbled upon this thread because I met him in college and after a while had my doubts about his claims and thought I might get some info from a google search. I too had stronger doubts after conflicting stories about med school/going to school in CA. I feel really naive for beliving him after hearing many of the same stories stated here. At times I had my suspicions but ultimately hoped I’d never meet someone that would lie about something like this.

I don't know more about his SEAL claims other than he's told me. The med school stuff was more obvious because non of his stories made sense. Also at the time he was supposedly to be at med school, the University website listed him as an undergraduate research assistant. He also has some unrealistic stories about clinical rotations. Those should be the last two years not second year. He also mentioned his school was furloughed and he was going to do security contacting for the summer. None of this makes sense and a simple web search disproved it.

I've forgotten a lot of the other stories by now but he has a ton of them. Alone some of them were perfectly believable. Together they often contradicted each other. He went so far as to "recruit" friends for supposed contracting gigs that never materialized. I know this almost cost one person their job in 2014.
 
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