Is It An Act?

 One of the things that has held my interest is my inability to determine whether Giduck is delusional or just trying (incompetently) to protect his “brand.” I’m completely serious- the more asinine suggestions in Terror at Beslan suggest to me that he actually believes the mythology that he is trying to build about himself; despite how easily the idea of putting three former specops guys or a gas dispersal system in each school folds under even the slightest scrutiny, he actually put that in his book.

Artistic rendering of John Giduck's mental state.

If John Giduck were capable of any level of analysis at all he would have realized the- not just inanity- impossibility of these suggestions. The real deals around him either didn’t read his book, or they told him he was a dumb-ass and needed to take out the suggestion for a gassing friendly school protected by Special Operators in which case he ignored them. Add to that the Benny Hill-esque ninja shovel video and it suggests to me that the guy simply isn’t in contact with reality. This is somewhat reinforced by his apparent ignorance of what it would take to actually guard a structure effectively. I am honestly beginning to think that he has simply been emotionally and intellectually stunted at around the age of 12-probably about the time that he read his first Mack Bolan novel. Too bad he didn't read Lord Of The Rings instead- the possibilities would be much more interesting. I'm also pretty sure that orcs are immune to sleeping agents so they wouldn't have to be equipped with gas masks.

Johnny's new plan for protecting our kids.

I can’t rule out this all being about money, but I’m really starting to think- based on his writing and his juvenile responses to criticism- that he believes his own legend. It seems that it is never enough for him to have been involved in something- he has to portray himself as being the best. This is another thing that suggests to me that he is delusional- he couldn’t merely say that he studied martial arts, he had to claim to be in two halls of fame. He couldn’t merely say he was a weightlifter or even a weightlifting competitor- he had to claim to be a national champion. None of this proves that he believes his own bullshit, but I am really starting to think that he does.

Passive Voices and Active Deceit

A recurring characteristic of John Giduck's writing is the use of the passive voice and various literary devices to imply things and then leave the reader to to draw the obvious conclusion. As an example:

"And to walk into a school, and you’ve got 384 dead people, mostly women and children, 186 kids, and many of those kids burned to death in that gym, when the ceiling collapsed in on them, and that gym was collapsed in flames. The smell of that alone, all those kids burned to death, is something you’re never going to get out of your head. Having seen the reality of it, I do everything I can to make sure that’s not my country"

ABIA

Is there anyone reading this that doesn't envision John Giduck crawling through that school while it is still smoking? Does he actually say it? No. It is still quite clear what he wants you to conclude from that passage. This narrative, however, runs counter to the claim of PA congressman Curt Wheldon who stated:

We were the first and, to my knowledge, the only Americans that were allowed into Beslan to visit the school. Our ambassador would visit the North Ossetia office the day after we arrived in Beslan to express the condolences of the American people on behalf of our State Department. 

  Congressman's Testimony contradicts Giduck's claim.

Giduck claims to be doing everything he can to stop it from happening here. How noble. How much money has this noble quest netted Mr. Giduck? I wonder what this is all really about.

 

The way that Mr. John Giduck speaks about combat and war is another interesting aspect of his writing . He avers that "not anyone with Archangel was unfamiliar with blood and the effects of war" on page 34. On page 36 he talks about how the dead of Beslan haunt his dreams every night and how me must return to answer some more questions because "If not me, then who?" A cynical person might suspect that he is trying to build a mythology.

  He later affects the world weary stance of a seasoned combat veteran on Pg.54 describing his entry into Chechnya and concluding that "We knew we were back at war." You see a bit of this experience implied in his advice on preparation as well: "From years in hazardous training and other dangerous undertakings in places like Sudan and Russia, I have learned that some simple first aid items are extremely light, take up little space, and can save lives." (311) It is difficult to read that without coming to the conclusion that Mr. Giduck has experienced all manner of combat and dealt with a wide variety of combat wounds. I won't speculate on what kind of medical treatment he has actually performed.

Similarly on Pp 315-316 he asserts that "No matter the obstacles, close quarters shooting and hand-to-hand training must be developed to deal with realistic terrorist conditions. Every tactical team member must not only be an expert at both skills but at integrating the two seamlessly when bullets are flying. U.S. Special Forces have recently been turning to the Archangel Group for this new, combat essential system and law enforcement needs to as well." That last part reads as though he places Archangel above SF in terms of shooting skill to me. I can only imagine.

Curiously, according to socnet: "US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School has no record of Mr. John Giduck certified to train any SF Soldiers in hand-to-hand combat or firearms." Thus this claim is contradicted by at least one site that was founded and is run by people with ties to the Special Forces community.  I also have all kinds of theories as to how this integrated weapons and hand to hand combat system might look.

It seems very important to him that his readers understand that he has an intimate familiarity with war. I have my doubts as to how well that would stand up to close scrutiny.

Further Reading

I just wanted to link to a few other sources concerning John Giduck and his credentials and credibility. Some of the most in-depth analysis that I have seen on the subject are done here:

The Truth About Socnetlies

Some satire concerning Mr John Giduck can be found here:

Real truth about the lies about the socnet truth (pronounced sock-nyet)

This blog mainly concerns itself with stolen valor, but he has a few entries on John Giduck as well:



Crimes against Honor 1

 Crimes Against Honor 2

Crimes Against Honor 3



John Giduck has been on the radar of people who were skeptical since at least 2005

Penheaded

And here is a blog entry that deals with the tactics of John Giduck towards anyone with the audacity to question his credentials:

A Sense of Security

You can also find a wealth of information by simply googling John Giduck. I would suggest ignoring the archangel site at first- it isn't exactly impartial. Read the information at Socnet or The Truth first- then go back and read the narrative that John Giduck is trying to construct and ask yourself if it even passes the laugh test. As far as I can see, the only real service John Giduck has provided those who actually do serve our country is as comedic relief when his credentials and suggestions are examined.

The Junior High School Girl's Defense

You have to almost admire the manner in which the John Giduck camp has kept sidestepping the actual issues- not because he has been particularly adept, but because- like Wile E. Coyote- he keeps chasing something that he must realize he will never catch. In the coyote's case it was the roadrunner. In John Giduck's case it is credibility.

So far the two defenses that I have seen presented on his website are "It wasn't me" and "They are trying to tear you down because they are jealous of your many accomplishments." This is similar in both tone and content to a pubescent girl's reaction when she realizes that the popular kids don't want to hang around with her because she ratted out the head cheerleader for smoking behind the bleachers.

Stupid? Delusional? Or do you think that we are?

If you find yourself at this little corner of the blogosphere, chances are you got referred here from Socnet regarding noted anti-terror trainer and on-again off-again Russian Special Forces dude John Giduck. I am not going to spend much time here on the many and varied claims surrounding Johnny's Special Education Forces career, instead I want to focus on some ideas of surpassing stupidity espoused by John Giduck. Oh yeah- I've been looking for some pics of Johnny looking uber tactical.

 Alright- so that isn't him, I'll resist the temptation to comment on the similarities.

How exactly did John Giduck get away with being considered an expert in CT/AT for as long as he did? This is the most perplexing thing to me. It all seems to center around his first book- Terror at Beslan (TAB). Is this book really, as John A. Anderson would have us believe "An explosive expose of Russian failure and what America must do to protect its children"? There seems to be a high correlation between publicly proclaiming that and having a vested interest in John Giduck's success. John A Anderson is the chairman of the board of John Giduck's company Archangel. This is the only reason that I can come up with for a Special Forces SGM (retired) to endorse this book- thereby endorsing some suggestions that range from the merely boneheaded to the completely brain-dead.