Christophe first took Level 1 with me in London in 2004 and then became the Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of France the following year. He then moved up to Level 2 and to finish his training with me flew out to California to complete Level 3. In 2009 Christophe had to step down from the director position due to his demanding commitment to his full-time fitness job. However, he made sure that Julien Nodier, the current Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of France, had a smooth transition and was there as an adviser for the first year.
Although Christophe was no longer the Director of France he was diligent in maintaining his Reality-Based skills and he started learning more about the business end of running a self-defense organization from various consultants. Christophe also started taking martial arts seminars from other top-name instructors to make better-educated comparisons, but in the end found that the Reality-Based Personal Protection had everything he needed in a system. To him RBPP was a "complete" system. Although we had always maintained contact with one another, and kept a good friendship intact since his departure, Christophe none-the-less reached out to me and told me once again that it was my system he wanted to represent. Of course, I was delighted because Christophe was one of my top instructors. When I used to watch him teach it was like watching the "French version" of me. When Christopher "came back," so to speak, I told him that he always was, and is, my protégé.
So, what is the responsibility of a protégé? Think of it in terms of more like someone in "second in command," and someone who will accurately represent the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system and me. Christophe will be my first instructor I am sending to another country, without me going along, to teach the system in my name. Currently Gary Dell, my Reality-Based Personal Protection Director for the United Kingdom, and I are working on having Christophe Besse go over to Devon, England and teach a Conflict Conditioning course.
Under Christophe Besse, the next tier of Reality-Based instructors that teach exclusively the Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection system is Gary Dell, Peter Falk (Reality-Based Personal Protection Director of the Nordic Countries), and Fabrizio Capucci (Reality-Based Director of Italy). These are men who have spent the most time with me, and have put in the most hours teaching with me side-by-side. Under them are the rest of the directors of the Reality-Based Personal Protection. These men are indeed trusted by me, and all of them professionals in the RBPP system, but have not had the opportunity to put in as many hours training with me or the RBPP system is not their exclusive system that they are teaching. Again, the beauty of the RBPP system is that it has something for everyone, and everyone has different goals and objectives.
Under my directors in the pecking order are the many instructors I have certified since 2003. Some teach within the system and some do not. Some were certified so they could teach Reality-Based Personal Protection, and some just want to be able to say, "I was trained by Jim Wagner himself." Others, like police, corrections, and military personnel, wanted to be certified to build up their resumes. As long as nobody is doing anything immoral, unethical, or illegal with the techniques and training methods that I have taught them I don’t care why people study under me. It's all about freedom and having people find "the truth of combat" out for themselves.
Although not officially listed, yet, I do have a core group of people I refer to as Reality-Based Personal Protection advisors. They would fall somewhere under director level in my eyes. These are people I trust in making suggestions, give advice and counsel when it comes to the welfare of the RBPP system. They are: Garth Hofmann (Canada), Matthew Sylvester (United Kingdom), Carlini Jaramillo (USA), Alex Haddox (USA), Fernando Figueroa, Gerard Willemsen (Holland), Andreas Luttrop (Germany), Dominik Klose (Germany), Joachim Roux (Germany), and Avi Nardia (Israel).
Under the certified instructors are the thousands of students who have studied my system. They are not listed on any of the RBPP websites, but they are part of the Reality-Based Personal Protection community as well. These are mostly people who just wanted to learn how to protect themselves without any intention of teaching professionally. They are also the thousands of people who have read my articles and books, and who have watched my DVDs. From Afghanistan to Argentina they seek out what I have to teach.
By naming Christophe Besse as my protégé I am placing great honor on him, and preparing the second generation to learn realistic self-defense. I'd like for you to join Christophe’s facebook and follow him on Twitter. You will gain much from him, and he is definitely someone you need to network with.
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