The Grim Reaper continues to decimate the ranks of great firearms instructors. My old friend John Benner, founder and head of the Tactical Defense Institute in Ohio, has passed.
With a long and distinguished record in law enforcement and SWAT, John’s school hosted many of today’s leading instructors and of course, he was a great teacher in his own right. A strong advocate of armed faculty as a bulwark against “school shooters,” John was a prime mover in FASTER, Ohio’s role model program for training such personnel. FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response. It has proven hugely successful.
If you own the popular TDI self-defense knife from KaBar, you are carrying a John Benner design.
We’ll never know how many lives this good man’s work has saved and how much tragedy he has prevented.
We are diminished.
I carry one every day.
Bonnie & I took Partner Tactics class with John many years ago. The force-on-force exercises with real people, real guns and paintball ammo were the highlight, and very instructive. Real people are a whole different ball of wax compared to static targets! One thing I learned – I’m a lousy armed robber, so I’ll just have to stay on the right side of the law!
Sadly, this blog has almost become the gun world’s obituary column. Let’s hope we don’t see MFA listed anytime soon.
I had the privilege to get training from John, and, more importantly, sent my wife to train with John and the TDI staff. He will be missed.
I have taken training from Jonn at TDI. He was a great instructor and a genuine, nice guy..
A few years ago, I attended a TDI sponsored FastER Saves Lives Level 1 Course, count myself fortunate to have had the honor of meeting and spending some time with Mr. Benner and can attest that he was a true gentleman, masterful instructor and sincerely kind hearted person. He’ll be sorely missed.
Our lives’ richness is measured in the fine people we have befriended and learned from. Our success and legacy is measured in the people we have helped and taught.
I have been more fortunate than I deserve in the people who have blessed my life by freely sharing their friendship and hard-won knowledge. It is normal to feel sad at the passing of such people; but, as good eulogies remind us, they leave us with so much more than death can steal away.
I give thanks for all my great teachers, including you, Mas.
So sorry for the loss of your friend Mas.
We are dealing with multiple losses in the ranks of our Brother and Sister Firefighters.
It’s been a heartbreaking few months.
Let’s hope this is the last for a good long while.
Take good care…..
More detailed info I found on Greg Ellifritz’s Weekend Knowledge Dump. Rest peacefully Brother John.
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/john-benner-1947-2025?utm_campaign=active-response-training-rss-20250725&utm_medium=email&utm_source=rss_newsletter
As I age, I am continually struck with the fact that the relevant elements of our life exist in something like a circle, and every year that goes by the circle get a bit smaller, almost like the aperture inside of a camera very slowing closing.
And what that circle moves past and leaves outside of it are the things that aren’t truly *that* important… job, stress, possessions, promotions, notoriety, pride, accumulation, even big success. The things that seemed so important at 30 seem silly as I approach 60. What my eyes and heart have now become laser focused on is my family, my friends, and trying to leave a legacy to ensure those whom I loved and cared about, know it.
Entropy always wins… collections of cool stuff, notoriety, éclat…they mean nothing, just baubles and pride. Reality mandates we’re all going to meet our moment. But when you can leave a legacy that you loved, you cared and you lived in a way that truly consistently meant something to people, that you truly helped people, then perhaps you can meet your moment and your Creator with some sense of satisfaction of service.
It sounds very much like that is what Mr. Benner did. I never knew him, but the testimony I see here bears wonderful witness to the man he must have been.
Rest in peace, sir.
Well said sir!
njk
Super Dave Harrington is in late-stage hospice too. So few legends left… in so many fields.
We Are Diminished, indeed.
John and I bumped into each other at different training organizations. I hosted John and Greg Ellifritz’s excellent TDI Knife course at SEALE Academy in Bedford Ohio years ago.
The very last time I saw John was in 2018 at the FASTER Panel of Experts. John and I sat together on stage, among several other experts. he and I and rode in his truck together for dinner after wards.
John was just a tad younger than me. I am on a cane. He invited me multiple times to come to DTI to observe a FASTER course, he said to honor me for my “Stopwatch of Death” work data that he used. Unfortunately at my age, I get drowsy driving alone at long distance which at my loss, had to decline.
Sincerely, Ron Borsch PACT Consultant Group Manager Bedford OH Founder and 1998-2015 Manager and lead trainer SEALE Regional Police Training Academy (10 states)