Larry Allen Vickers is a retired

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

soldier, firearms instructor, and author. He is the founder of Vickers Tactical, and co-founder of the International Pistol Defense Association and Firearms Training Association.

Early life

Vickers was born in

Adams Mills, Ohio Adams Mills is a small unincorporated community in northeastern Cass Township, Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located on State Route 16 four miles northeast of Dresden. Little more than a grocery stop in the early 20th century, ...

in June 1963. His father served in the

North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and Italian campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. When he was in middle school, Vickers decided that he wanted to join the

United States Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, are a special operations special operations force, force of the United States Ar ...

, and gained an interest in firearms during this period. Vickers entered into the

Delayed Entry Program The Delayed Entry Program (DEP, also called the Delayed Enlistment Program or Future Soldiers Program in the U.S. Army), is a program designed to accommodate new enlistees into the United States Armed Forces before they ship out to basic training. E ...

and graduated from Tri-Valley High School in 1981, and graduated from the military in 1982. He joined Delta Force in 1987.

Career

Vickers participated in

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, and

Operation Acid Gambit Operation Acid Gambit was a Delta Force operation that retrieved Kurt Muse, an American spy living in Panama who had been arrested for plotting the overthrow of the government of Panama, from the Cárcel Modelo, a notorious prison in Panama City ...

, for which he received the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. Vickers retired from Delta Force after 20 years of service, mostly due to personal injuries. Vickers formerly worked for

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...

, during which time he helped to develop the

HK416 The Heckler & Koch HK416 is a gas-operated assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. It is designed and manufactured by the German company Heckler & Koch. Although the design is based on the AR-15 class of firearm (specifical ...

and HK45. Larry Vickers is the author of the "Vickers Guide", a series of

reference books A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to f ...

that launched in 2015, detailing firearms such as the

Colt AR-15 The Colt AR-15 is a lightweight, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle. It is a semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle sold for the civilian and law enforcement markets in the United States. Colt's Manufacturing Company currently ...

M1911 The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...

, and

MP 40 The MP 40 (''Maschinenpistole 40'') is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during World War II. Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with in ...

. In 2009, the Vickers Tactical

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel was created. By 2021, it reached upwards of 900,000 subscribers, and 200,000,000 views.

Personal life

Vickers is a fan of the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

, and has an autograph from

Mikhail Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov ( rus, Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников, p=kɐˈlaʂnʲɪkəf; 10 November 1919 – 23 December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, a ...

. In 2021, Vickers was diagnosed with cancer. Vickers has an affinity for

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, and in 2017 posted a photo of a Rhodesian FAL with the caption “It’s time to slot floppies. ...” (floppies being a racial slur and slot being Rhodesian slang for shoot). He believes that the fall of Rhodesia was “the greatest tragedy of the post-World War II era.”

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Larry Living people 1963 births Delta Force Military personnel from Ohio United States Army personnel of the Gulf War Gun writers Educational and science YouTubers