The Karate Kidder

Chris Garland is not a soldier, but he plays one on TV. A talented martial artist who once served in the Army, Garland has been featured nearly 10 times in the last three years on WSMV-Channel 4 for his military exploits and expertise at self-defense. In front of the camera, he's a natural, whether he's shooting a bow through a bull's-eye blindfolded, shearing the tops of bottles with his bare hands or recounting his faith in Jesus Christ.

But Garland is more than just a faith-based fighter. The 31-year-old Beech High School graduate has worked with the Department of Defense and the U.S. military, traveling at a moment's notice to war-torn nations, working behind-the-scenes with soldiers and high-ranking government officials. Some of the top brass in the American military know Garland and lavish praise on his bravery, patriotism and work ethic.

"I was so impressed with his method of instruction that at the age of 45 I became one of his students," Colonel David Fox wrote in an email. Fox has served as a battalion commander of the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, one of only 15 Special Forces commanders. "His training gave me the confidence and the skills I needed to survive while engaged in combat in Afghanistan."

Garland's military and martial arts skills have been giddily recounted by The Tennessean, the Nashville Scene, All the Rage and Tae Kwon Do Times, in addition to Channel 4, which might as well be his unofficial network. WZTV-FOX 17's morning show interviewed the tough, telegenic Garland about how martial arts can prepare you for nearly any situation. Kiplinger's Finance even ran a short story about how Chris and his then-wife saved more than $50,000 to place a down payment on a new home near Vanderbilt. Fighter, military contractor, personal finance whiz. Garland seems to be a jack-of-all-trades.

Taken collectively, the press accounts of Garland's life make him out be a real-life action figure, a tough-guy hybrid of Vin Diesel and Jackie Chan. At the age of 17, the credentials go, he served in U.S. Special Forces, the elite branch of the military reserved for only the bravest and smartest soldiers. Special Forces are trained to fight behind enemy lines and in other dangerous locations conventional troops can't reach. Not only did Garland join this bastion of alpha-maledom when he was only a teenager, he trained them as well. And there's more. Garland was an Army Ranger, served in the Gulf War and was later deployed in the Balkans. Finally, he just happens to be a master in Hapkido, a Korean martial art.

But wait.

Unfortunately, there's a major problem with what's been reported about Nashvillian Chris Garland. Much of it is the stuff of pure urban legend, inexplicably propagated by gullible reporters, Garland says, unwilling to take the fall. To his critics, which include enlisted soldiers and martial artists alike, he is a brash, excitable teller of tall tales. Despite several press accounts to the contrary, Garland put in an unremarkable two-year stint in the Army from 1993-1995 in Fort Riley, Kan., and was honorably discharged as a specialist. He was in high school during the Gulf War and never saw combat in the Balkans—or anywhere else for that matter. He never served in Special Forces. He was no more an Army Ranger than, well, Vin Diesel. The VeriSEAL Group, an independent outfit that tracks false military claims, lists Christopher Garland in its Hall of Shame. And as far as being a master in Hapkido, one of his former martial arts instructors says that while Garland has considerable talent, he throws around that label recklessly.

Garland says that careless reporters have confused his military record and that he's hardly to blame for the series of fabrications that have burnished his reputation. Now, it's true that Garland has worked as a Department of Defense subcontractor and has trained U.S. Special Forces in hand-to-hand combat, which is just one of dozens of things they need to know. What happens, Garland says, is that when he tells that to reporters and shows them photographs of himself with Special Forces units, they mistake that for membership.

"I have never told anyone I was a Navy SEAL, I was a Green Beret or I was a Ranger," he says over coffee one Saturday. "This has taught me a lesson. I need to see what's written about me before it comes out."

None of the press accounts of Garland that the Scene reviewed quotes him directly making a false claim. It just so happens that in almost every story reported about Garland, there are major mistakes and questionable claims, nearly all of which just happened to help promote his business, Executive Martial Arts.

At least two journalists say that Garland misled their publications about his military service. Earlier this year, Hollie Shulick, a writer at All the Rage, a local Gannett weekly aimed at younger readers, profiled Garland and reported that he joined Special Forces at the age of 17, which would be a remarkable achievement considering that most soldiers serve about five years in the military before the highly competitive selection process even commences. An annoyed soldier at Fort Campbell and the VeriSEAL group alerted the paper to its error, and it made a correction on its website. So how did Shulick erroneously report that Garland was a member of Special Forces? All the Rage managing editor Kristen Whittlesey writes in an email that "Chris Garland did tell Hollie Shulick flat-out that he was in Special Forces."