Yes, Stone Cold Tom Barnhart was filming the thing and there helping me teach.
He has also accompanied me on several of the sessions in Pendleton, where we taught knife fighting to various Marine units.
In case you missed my Januray Blog -
16 January, 2006: Barnhart's Ear
Listening in on a group of students gossiping at a European seminar break, I overheard them laughing and retelling the famous tale of...Barnhart's Ear. Not wanting to interrupt, I observed the sheer power and enjoyment of the tale and decided at some point I needed to make it official, and clear up any myths and rumors and set the record straight on Tom "Stone Cold" Barnhart's ear and how he almost lost it. I have told parts of the story at seminars for years.
Oh...round about 1999 or the year 2000 or so, I was making multiple teaching trips to the U.S. Marine Corp base, Camp Pendelton in southern California, USA. Both of Tom Barnhart's parents were in the Marines way back and Tom thought it his patriotic duty to offer his help. Getting extra civilian instructors as helpers for me on these bases could be tough even before 911. But somehow I got him on the list as an assistant and he came with me. On this 3-day trip I was to teach a group of 60 or so Marines each day, usually knife fighting, but I was often free to cover a whole host of hand, stick and gun subjects.
About an hour or so into the first day, I showed a combat scenario inside a circle of these some 60 Marines. I cannot recall what the tactic was. Barnhart attacked me with a weapon, I blocked, struck back, did the prescribed takedown. The usual thing we have done thousands of times over ten years. Only THIS time, as Barnhart swirled downward, I felt my forearm bone rake harshly across his ear. It seemed to me it would cause little more than a case of “red ear!” But NO!
As Tom stood up, it was easy to see that his ear was torn significantly from his head, and in seconds, was bleeding profusely. Not "Kill Bill" movie bleeding, but red, wet, bleeding flow down his neck and shoulder. The Marines were silent. Tom stood, knowing he was wet and that his ear was...dislodged.
I said to him in a whisper, “you know, we have to do this one more time.”
He said, “I know.”
And with that, I proceeded to do the same scenario again, this time trying to avoid any contact with the left side of his noggin. Tom hit the ground. Then, I said calmly to the 60-plus, “Can you try this?” and the Marines went to work. Tom and I waited a second or two until they all got busy, then we stepped off to the side by a medic whereupon he was whisked away by jeep to the base hospital. Nearly 5 hours later Barnhart returned with his his head wrapped in a giant turban.
We greeted the new Sahib, replete with numerous stitches, and he stepped in again, as the stunt man for contact scenarios the rest of the day. Now this so impressed the Marines that they took an immediate shine to Barnhart. They crowded around him during breaks and enjoyed his whacko advice as he toured about the workout offering tips. A few months later I was contracted again by Pendelton, setting up sessions where I would teach hundreds of Force Recon Marines coming in from Pacific Ocean assignments. The cadre said, “and oh yeah...bring Barnhart.”
At the end of those days, I had to pull Barnhart from groups of joking Marines that had crowded around him, so we could finally leave. One time there was literally 20 Marines around him in a circle. The ear story helped his popularity, but also- he is such a wise-ass.
Once in awhile I still hear a story about the ear. In 2003, my son was at a party and a former Marine came in. Once introduced, the Marine asked if my son was related to guy who taught the Marines once and tore people's ears off? (What? What a lesson plan! Ear-tearing 101.) In 2005, a former Marine in Florida saw one of my shirts and told the instructor wearing it, "oh yeah, that is Hock's group, yeah, yeah! He tore a guy's ear off once in training and they kept fighting. The guy was bleeding out! Blood everywhere!"
Apparently the tale of Barnhart's ear had embellished a bit and traveled a bit. Not that it was nearly ripped off or not, but because Stone Cold was the kind of guy who, with his right side covered in blood, would “do it one more time.”
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Topic: Marine Dog Bro Fight (Read 1375 times)