The question of why a lot of posters in
longrange do not like Tibosaurus Rex comes up often enough that I am going to attempt to make an FAQ worthy post for.
Who is TiborasaurusRex? TR is a semi-famous youtube "long-range shooting" personality with around 190k subscribers. He is most well known for his Sniper 101 series...a 101 Part series of videos explaining how to be a sniper that average around 30 minutes per video. That's roughly 50 hours of content to learn without firing a single shot. The Sniper 101 Series came out when YouTube began to prioritize time spent watching videos to total number of views, and consequently, Rex's long form lessons became linked to anything vaguely related to shooting, and pushed more viewers to his channel.
Once becoming a successful YouTube personality, Rex formed a company called "Rex Defense", and began to charge people large amounts of money to receive marksmanship instruction from him.
What is wrong with the Sniper 101 Series? The simplest answer is that the length does not correspond to quality. One of the hardest parts of teaching is striking a balance between the amount of content, the length of a lesson, and not getting bogged down in minute details. A smart lecturer knows how to make a lesson just long enough, and amplify the important information so that the audience retains it. The Sniper 101 Series does not do that at all...it goes in the complete opposite direction, and stretches everything out to no benefit.
It would be like going to a history lecture on the impact of King Henry VIII on European history, and spending an hour on how the hair products of the time might have contributed to his difficulty in conceiving a male heir. This a factoid that I just made up...it could be true...but the only purpose it would serve is to make the lecturer look smart. And obviously even if it were true...it really has little to no bearing on the course of European history. Someone who has even a passing understanding of European history would come away from a 3 hour lecture knowing that I was not a historian because I wasted a ton of time on such a minor factoid; While someone who has never even heard of European history might think that I am world renowned because after all...I spent 3 hours talking about King Henry VII in a very confident tone...and I went into so much detail.
And that is kind of the way the Sniper 101 series works. It is intentionally long winded because Rex does not have a background in any serious marksmanship pursuits, nor does he have a background in military sniping as his website seems to imply. He is repeating open sourced material without actually ever having applied it, or truly understanding it. Sniper 101 became popular because it keeps people on YouTube for 50 hours; so YouTubes algorithm pushed people towards TR as a result.
TR is not a sniper, and he is not a competitive marksman but he speaks with the authority as if he is one. He was in the military for a time as a Field Artillery Crewman...or that's the understanding I have based on Frank Gali's podcast. He has been offered to shoot matches, and has declined. Personally, I don't blame him because competitive shooting isn't everyone's cup of tea, and being surrounded by people that are rooting for you to fail would be a shitty experience.
What in the Flying Fuck Is Rex Defense? Rex Defense is the brand name that TR operates under, and the business venture that he has turned being a YouTube personality into. As the name implies, Rex Defense primarily focuses on teaching people...mainly civilians...into becoming snipers. Myself and
u/HollywoodSX did a whole podcast riffing on just the course description of Combat Command Fire. It is truly ridiculous.
The first thing that you see when entering the Rex Defense website is TR quoting himself. "The Art of the Rifle is universal. But the mode of capturing it's perfection is infinitely dynamic."-T-Rex
This is Rex Defenses sales pitch.
“REX Defense offers thoughtful instruction, modulated in real-time to best suit the trainee’s learning style and achieve maximum absorption of the concepts being delivered. REX Defense has an intellectually diverse crew of dynamic thinkers who communicate concepts from multiple angles to ensure the trainees truly understand key concepts. The science is presented at multiple levels of sophistication so that all levels of trainees get the most out of their instruction. In other words, we have the ability to think “outside the box” and our method of instruction is purposefully unique in its eloquence and spirit. Yes, we have fun! Why? We punctuate the minds of our trainees with more than mere anecdotal entertainment, we initiate the chain-reaction of explosive learning by achieving critical mass in the most efficient way possible – by keeping the trainees legitimately enthused and intrigued with a craft they must fall in love with and marry if they wish to truly master. A union with the craft of the long-range rifle is only truly achieved when one is married to it – to be practiced, refined and grown naturally, without the need of force to learn a standardized procedure. To master this craft, you must become one with it on every level. We wish to pass on this fire to our trainees so that they can apply it without the strain of thought – for all the days of their lives.” ~ Rex
The course description reads like military fan fiction. It's full of BS buzzwords that make it sound more official and professional, when in reality, it isn't at all. It goes back to the history lesson analogy. During the podcast, we went into detail about why this type of jargon is just meant to con people out of their money, and how this was a farce. It actually got worse...because we didn't do our research.
Combat Command Fire Video This is a link to Rex Defenses Combat Command Fire Course. The first 2 minutes shows a "sniper" engaging milk jugs that are adjacent to the students. I didn't actually notice this until Caylen Wojcik (who was an actual USMC Sniper Instructor) pointed it out in on an American Rifle Series instagram post. He also commented on the video, and Rex Defense deleted it.
The intention of this little exercise is to simulate being under sniper fire, and trying to find them while being shot at. It's also an incredibly stupid risk to take using live ammo because projectiles can turn pretty dramatically when hitting liquid. It's not an exercise that is repeated in any western sniper school to my knowledge. It definitely does not have the training value to outweigh the risks of accidentally injuring or killing one of your students.
And that is what makes it predatory. TR is praying on gullible people to train them a skill that he has never learned, let alone mastered. An actual sniper could pick apart a bunch of seemingly small issues with the rest of the video that would actually stand out like sore thumbs. Any sniper instructor would have a field day with just how they have applied camouflage. Stalking is an art form that extends way beyond just donning a burlap suit, and putting on some face paint.
Well...Maybe he isn't a Sniper...but what about just the shooting? The application of a marksmanship process is also something that Rex doesn't truly understand, or at least he did not when his YouTube channel became popular. He has probably became better over the years, as anyone who has made a living being a "shooter" is bound to do.
It is entirely possible that TR is a half-way decent shooter, but we don't really see that in his videos. Keep in mind, we only get to see what TR wants us to see. Even in the stuff that he wants us to see, we can see lots and lots of minor issues in the way that he sometimes slaps the trigger, and can have a noticeable flinch. Or how his marksmanship feats are basically hitting milk jugs at a certain distance. To my knowledge, he has never shot a PRS style match, so we have no idea how he stacks up against other people that occupy the same "marksmanship space" that he does.
We can at least look at people like Frank Gali, Phil Velayo, and Scott Satterlee, and see where they stack up against most people. And they also tend to be more forthcoming when a topic is outside their expertise. Knowing when and where your experience ends, and when to defer to another source, is one of the marks of bonafide expertise. Phil Velayo is not going to give any definitive advice on the best scope for F-Class. Scott Satterlee isn't going to give you definitive advice on what brand of arrows you should shoot for your local indoor archery league. And Frank Gali isn't going to give you advice on what brand of boots you should wear for Mammoth Sniper Challenge. And what little advice they do give is going to come with a great big disclaimer of "This is not my area of expertise but I would look at x and y, and ask Person Z about what they used." We don't really get that with TR.
What we do get to see is predatory business practices. The cost of his courses seem to be more expensive than anyone else, especially for his level of actual expertise. The descriptions, and the training go a long way towards implying that he is something that he is obviously not. His courses are also designed to keep you coming back for more. You have to pay $600 to attend a two day long lecture before you are even allowed to pay another $950 dollars to attend an actual live fire course (the course do vary based on location. A normal person has to spend around $1600 in order to send a round down range with Rex...that's not counting the travel costs.) The "Pretend Sniper" course where milk jugs are shot adjacent to you is another $1075.
Nobody else in "the industry" to my knowledge requires that you attend a 2 day long lecture before you can sign up for a live-fire course. Keep in mind this lecture costs more than an Applied Ballistics lecture that is given by actual ballisticians. Nor does anyone else in the industry so shamelessly take advantage of people that believe that fantasize about killing other Americans while wearing a burlap sack in "Civil War 2.0."
How should the longrange community treat TR? I honestly do not have a good answer. At his core, I believe that TR is a half-way decent person, and he doesn't really realize that there is some harm in what he does. To my knowledge there hasn't been anyone that has been injured at one of his courses. Nor does he really go out of his way to step on anyone else's toes.
I think that he is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't think he set out to be the de-facto YouTube expert on marksmanship and sniper-ing, and I think his fan-base set him up to live up to expectations that there is no way he can...so he is constantly trying to walk the line between his actual experience...and what is expected of the most popular long range YouTube personality. To his credit, he hasn't actually cast any stones in other peoples direction. And he does seem to show a sense of self-awareness and humility.
We can kind of see his desire to be liked by everyone in the way he interacted with Frank Gali during the seminar he attended.
Link to Franks Rex Defense Podcast. The short version is that Rex was willing to defer to Frank as being more experienced, and having a greater depth of knowledge than he was.
Rex is even somewhat apologetic to the transgender community. He made a
Sketch about Bruce/Katelyn Jenner that is incredibly funny to his core audience, but is also pretty offensive to a whole different audience. His pinned comment to the video is;
Rex loves EVERYBODY and sincerely wants the best for all folks - in all walks of life - even the ones he legitimately does not yet understand. ;-) The world seems to have left Rex in the dust on this issue, but he tries his hardest to comprehend it all.
That response is a lot more understanding and self aware from someone that is the same age as my parents...who are not that way at all. And I am sure his pseudo-apology doesn't win him any fans with the baby boomer crowd at all.
However that should not excuse his predatory business practices. A grift does not become any less of a grift even if the grifter wholeheartedly believes that it is not a grift. Just because your up-line doesn't believe they are in a pyramid scheme does not mean they are not involved in a pyramid scheme.
Honestly, I think the best course of action is through continued indifference. TR is the product of the YouTube algorithm that prioritized content length over quality, and someone who has tried his best to live up to everyone else expectations. I honestly feel kind of sorry for the guy. Living up to everyone elses expectations can be especially challenging.
It would be responsible to politely recommend better sources of information, and strongly discourage people from paying money for the content of his instruction...however it is perfectly fine that people would want to spend money to hang out with a YouTube star, and that is worth however much they are willing to pay for it.
Anyways, that's my thoughts. Happy New Year
longrange.
Urgent assistance requested guys and gals, please!! Thankfully i caught this yesterday, last minute but at 0930 today, Wednesday sep02, i have a promise to appear at court for 3 criminal charges that were laid against me in may. my dyslexic mind initially read and thought all along that i ad to be in court 09/20/2020 but something told me to read the paperwork again last night and to my panic i discovered that i have to bein court for first appearance 09/02/2020.
As i dictate this into my Bluetooth speakerphone i am on my way and almost at court. But it looks like I’ll likely be 15 mins late. It’s a 2 hour drive on a nice day, but this morning when i left my home in the gta at 630am it was raining, and during my 3+ hour drive up north to the court I am required to be at, I encountered severe thunderstorms a good portion of the way which made my 2 hour drive into 3 hours! I’m almost there and have some questions I’m hoping ya’ll can help me by answering.
- If I’m 15 or 30 mins (tops) late for the first appearance will i be in shit with the judge/justice (what is the proper title of the person i have to appear in front of today and what is the proper way to address them?). Will 15-30 mins late result in a bench warrant ? I am doing my best and with the distance and weather hopefully they will be understanding or does it not work that way?
- I’ll save the all of the in-depth, lengthy details of what fully happened leading up to my arrest for another post and do my best but likely fail To summarize The key details: in may i was unwittingly involved in a very stressful situation that ultimately resulted in me being arrested and charged for 3 crimes which i simply did not commit. I found myself unknowingly in this crappy situation due to random bad luck/timing and pure happenstance. The charges are possession of schedule 1 narcotics(i recall there being a fairly small amount.they were young teens and it was definitely a personal amount. Maybe 2-3 grams but tbh, I dont know what they had. Was also charged with b&e; and theft over $5k. Btw, I highly question where they got that number of over $5k from, and i seriously question that total value is even $5k. I’d estimate $3-4K even with originally purchased, new item pricing; I’d estimate the equipment recovered looked atleast 2-4 years old and is definitely worth less then the estimated $2-4K I made at new purchase pricing they paid years ago. Due to depreciation that all computer equipment/tablets have over time id say the equipment be likely not worth more then $2.5k and that’s probably being way too generous. I question the value of what The original purchase/new item pricing is and also the used pricing the they would pay today if they bought their equipment used. Thing thing is though, I’m not sure if it’s productive to my overall case to look into all these price scenarios, as i simply did not commit any crimes.
Long story short, I encountered 3 teens moments after they apparently broke into a a cottage and stole electronics such as a couple tablets, a laptop and a couple misc computer peripherals if I recall correctly. They also had a small personal amount of apparently schedule 1 narcotics, which i also confiscated when i went thru all the crap they had on them and in backpacks. I dont know what/which substances they were. I thought i saw 2 different coloured /textured substances in the bag, but it honestly all happened so quickly, plus it happened way back in may, so my memory isnt the clearest on the specific details of the narcotics. I also wasn’t charged with possession until August 25! It makes me think that the gentlemen with duty council that i spoke to while being processed at the police station was right, and that their case was weak (duh! I wasn’t ever at the victims property so impossible to have evidence). The cops wanted me to make a statement which duty council said was odd and seemed desperate on their part for me to say something to incriminate myself. I didn’t say anything and I’m wondering if this possession charge was tacked on in desperation literally one week before my first appearance hoping for something to stick due to the other charges being weak?? That’s how it came across to me but maybe I’m just being overly hopeful and it simply took a long time for a lab to confirm if/what kind of narcotics were in the little Baggie that I confiscated and was arrested with. 3. What can i expect is going to happen at the first appearance? Like what is the purpose? 4. How do I reuqest/obtain a lawyer at no cost as I have no ability to retain a lawyer due to being a student and not presently working? 5. Im sure every lawyer hears this from everyone charged with a crime, but I swear I am legit innocent and I can prove it with lack of evidence and the proof that I legit had a car problem and after being in the area to hike in the Forrest trails. This whole stinking incident is as simple as a Wrong place at the wrong time unfortunate, bad luck type situation. To make it more unfortunate/difficult, I am a student, an only parent of 2 kids & a young widower. I’m trying to start over in a challenging new career that I love and consequently as i am a student, i am not working. My kids and I live with my parents while i am going thru school. I simply cannot afford a lawyer as i have no income, the only money i get is a small death benefit as my wife passed away 6 years ago.
What do i do? What options exist for someone who has no income, with dependents who badly needs legal representation?
I heard about something called duty council for free help but dont undestand the difference between duty council and legal aid support
- Given the severe inpact that these charges could have on my past and future careeers, which would prevent me from obtaining any kind of gainful employment therefor essentially wasting two very specialized/sought after skillsets, and taking into account the simple facts that i did not commit any of the crimes I was charged with, so it’s impossible for there to be any forensic evidence against me, combined with My very true explanation of what really happened, am i crazy to hope that a lawyer could talk to the judge and have all the charges withdrawn reasonably quickly? I’d really like to bypass as much BS as possible. One sit down with me and i feel confident that any lawyer and the judge will hear my story and look at me and my entire situation, education, character, no criminal record and they would have all the reasonable doubt In the world that i was involved in the commissioning of any of the 3 crimes I was charged with. I simply cannot accept a situation where I will never be able to obtain work in my past career field of IT or future career field in aviation which i have put alot of time and spent all my personal savIngs (~$50k) plus gone into $30k of debt for.
Bottom line, I encountered a crime that had just occurred, confiscated & secured the stolen property and I fully intended on immediately turning it in to police, but to my horrible detriment, out of pure freaky bad luck, for the first time ever in my 20+ years of driving, the one and only key I have for my car decided to somehow completely loose its security chip like a needle in a haystack when the chip fell out presumably somewhere between when i parked it to go hiking for over 2 hours in a nearby forrest/trails, or during/after i encountered the teens and confiscated the stolen property. I truly had good intentions, and wanted nothing more then recover the properly, Scold the stupid teens with an lesson, And to immediately turn the confiscated properly to the police, with the friendly request that they not bother looking to find/charge some young kids who clearly already had deep enough problems based on how high they looked and finding out that apparently the drugs are schedule 1 (hard drugs).
As I said earlier, no good deed goes unpunished, and little did i know that sometime shortly after the kids left, an opp officer had arrived nearby responding to the victims report of the b&e;+theft at their cottage, while i was trying to figure out what the heck to do with my disabled vehicle. After the officer was done inside the victims cottage, he came outside and looked down the road on the road, Saw me sitting in my car, and became suspicious of me then he searched my car, after looking in my trunk and seeing the equipment that I confiscated/recovered, he arrested and charged me.
Guys what do i do? I need help here and kinda freaking out. First and foremost to get thru the first appearance and to figure out how to get legal assistance I need somehow. 7. Is there a lawyer at the court who can help me get thru this today especially since i dont have a lawyer and i cannot afford one myself personally and will need some kind of financial aid ? Would a lawyer at the court be the same thing as duty council ?
Sorry for the long, million questions post.
This caught me by surprise due to the last minute discovery of my mixup. And I need advice !
Requesting any helpful advice please!! Hopefully everything i said in that rambling mess made sense. i was rushed and dictating this so if u have any questions about anything critical that i missed or need clarification on, pls let me know and I will clarify !
Thx so much in advance!
Regards. K.
