Is Tom Turpen Bullshido? A strong case. But, is it wrong?

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 2/22/2007 11:33am

JKDBuck,

Yes, I believe it was shut down sometime within the last month or so. As of yesterday Tom Turpen pulled down all of his websites that had anything to do with Kung Fu and deleted his My Space account. He has effectively gone into hiding, it is believed after finding this article about him on internet;

http://www.geocities.com/warriorspiritma/Turpen.html

Before he shut down his My Space, Xaviertr, the author of the article, was in the process of systematically outing him to everyone listed as a "friend" on his myspace page.

**Monster79** · Posted On: 2/26/2007 12:22pm

Hi Ronin.74, I'm glad to hear An laoshi is still here in central Ohio! I'd stopped training with him for various reasons... combination of lost job, surgery bills, lack of transportation, etc... just a bad couple of years, one thing after another :(... Then when I was thinking of going back since I have some stability now, but I'd been told by someone he'd moved back to China! Luckily, just when I was starting to save up for a trip to China, I stumbled across this thread while working on a school asignment today involving search engines ;) Anyway, would you be able to give me his location and tell me how I could contact him (or his assistant since I only speak a few mandarin words :P), and maybe when a good time to see him would be? You can contact me at brad_bauman@sbcglobal.net Not being able to train with him has been like loosing a member of my family :( When you see him tell him that Brad, Dianne and Gary (my parents) say Hi :)

To get on topic, I remember this Thurpin guy, though I only remember meeting him once. He'd trained a bit with An laoshi in exchange for acupuncture treatments. Aparently, the acupuncture wasn't even that good, but An laoshi thought he was nice and didn't want to hurt his feelings. I was kind of curious about this guys website too after coming across it before, but figured maybe I'd missed something in my absense. One thing about An laoshi is that he's defenitely not stingy with his knowledge. His core students weren't so much closed door deciples, just guys who worked harder and took martial arts more seriously. THAT's the only secret to learning his best material... work hard, pay attention, and make an effort. You only get back what you put into it :) Reading about this Thurpin guy makes my blood boil, because with as much effort as it apears he put into his lies, he could have learned quite a bit and had access to as much knowledge as any "closed door" student out there.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 2/26/2007 12:33pm

I will send you his contact info as soon as I get home from work. I think you and I may have met before. I do recall meeting someone named Brad once before at OSU. I'll send you everything in a few hours.

**Monster79** · Posted On: 2/26/2007 1:18pm

Thanks! Yes, that Brad was probably me ;)

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 2/26/2007 4:24pm

Monster,

Contact info sent, let me know if you get it or not.

**xaviertr** · Posted On: 3/06/2007 12:43pm

Just a quick update- Turpen claimed he was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute, which is a noted foriegn language training institution. He claimed to have graduated from the DLI, having studied Italian. One of my students, who is a local S.W.A.T. officer, is a former instructor at the DLI. Using his contacts, he researched Turpen's claim, and there is no record of Turpen attending the DLI. Furthermore, Turpen claimed that he was a military interrogator (MOS 97E). There is no record of Turpen completing that training either. It appears that Turpen was seperated during basic training, unable to take the "rigorous" training. So not making the grade, and then lying to make up for it, is something he has been doing for a long time. Sad, he is a personable guy, who would have been liked, had he simply told the truth.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 3/06/2007 1:08pm

Originally Posted by xaviertr

Just a quick update- Turpen claimed he was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute, which is a noted foriegn language training institution. He claimed to have graduated from the DLI, having studied Italian. One of my students, who is a local S.W.A.T. officer, is a former instructor at the DLI. Using his contacts, he researched Turpen's claim, and there is no record of Turpen attending the DLI. Furthermore, Turpen claimed that he was a military interrogator (MOS 97E). There is no record of Turpen completing that training either. It appears that Turpen was seperated during basic training, unable to take the "rigorous" training. So not making the grade, and then lying to make up for it, is something he has been doing for a long time. Sad, he is a personable guy, who would have been liked, had he simply told the truth.

WOW!

So just more lies/embellishments on his actual experience. When you say that he was separated during basic training what does that mean? Does that mean that he did not even finish basic training and was basically discharged for being unable to complete the physical requirements? Please explain.

Thanks

**xaviertr** · Posted On: 3/07/2007 12:32am

I don't yet have confirmation on what happened in basic training, so I cannot say with certainty, but it seems Mr. Turpen was seperated from the army before the completion of basic training. He was given an ELS (Entry-Level Separation) with a reenlistment code of R3, which barred him from reenlistment without a waiver.

**xaviertr** · Posted On: 3/07/2007 12:46am

Oh yeah, Mr. Turpen changed his claims on his acupuncture website-

http://www.integra.homestead.com/turpen.html

he now only states he is a long time practitionerof kung fu, instead of the 25 years, 6th degree black sash, master B.S.. I find it humerous that he still only backs up as far as he has to, without letting go of the fantasy. I am meeting with a reporter from a local paper (iIll hold off on saying which one until the story is printed) on Tuesday the 13th. I wasn't going to say anything, but I am giddy that this will get that kind of local coverage. They are also interested in covering his and Melissa's illegal herb prescribing. If that goes out, it will cost them both their licenses.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 3/07/2007 7:55am

Originally Posted by xaviertr

Oh yeah, Mr. Turpen changed his claims on his acupuncture website-

http://www.integra.homestead.com/turpen.html

he now only states he is a long time practitionerof kung fu, instead of the 25 years, 6th degree black sash, master B.S.. I find it humerous that he still only backs up as far as he has to, without letting go of the fantasy. I am meeting with a reporter from a local paper (iIll hold off on saying which one until the story is printed) on Tuesday the 13th. I wasn't going to say anything, but I am giddy that this will get that kind of local coverage. They are also interested in covering his and Melissa's illegal herb prescribing. If that goes out, it will cost them both their licenses.

It sounds like it might be time for Mr. Turpen to pack up shop and head out of town before he gets run out. The amount of back pedaling he is doing in regards to his history is hilarious. Once everything is settled with the newspaper let me know which one and when the story is going to come out. I definitely want to pick up a copy for myself and Master An as well, he won't be able to read it but I am sure he would still like to have a copy for himself.