Special Forces Hand to Hand Fighting Perfect Paperback – July 1, 2006

An older work with regards to the primal Examples depicted; But definitely still of value to your average Self Defense Enthusiast, as i have seen similar albeit more refined Techniques depicted in other Books (Krav Maga, JKD,Joseph Truncale, Loren Christensen) and when Referenced in conjuction with other Books mentioned,can still Wield Formidable Results. A must have.

a little small - hard to read

I am a disabled Martial Arts Instructor and wish to enhance students' understanding (and sharpen my own). It helps having these educational references.

This is a misleading title.It's a fairly basic introduction to very basic karate, not military hand to hand. It's just the wrong tool for the job.If you want to study karate, read all the Nakayama Best Karate series for a fairly complete overview of the syllabus of karate (the style of the Best Karate series is Shotokan). For the applications of the kata, take a look at all the dvds by Iain Abernethy (his style is Wado, but the bunkai he teaches are all applicable to the Shotokan kata, which overlap with the Wado kata).For military hand to hand, the Old Testament is Fairbairn's Get Tough, and the New Testament is Kill or Get Killed, by Applegate. Those are all you need. Simple is better under the most extreme circumstances, because you won't be thinking clearly enough, or have enough fine-motor-control, to execute complex techniques that are easy for you in the dojo.Frankly, if you buy "Special Forces Hand to Hand Fighting", you're just wasting your money.

The Special Forces Hand to Hand Fighting Manual contains blocks, strikes and kicks performed in classical Karate/Taekwon-Do stances, using basic Karate/Taekwon-Do footwork. Karate/Taekwon-Do are great self defesen systems if thaught as such but normaly take longer to master than what is the objective of most combatives program. The manual contains a few practical self defense aplications that are nothing more than average at best when it comes to effectivenes, simplicity etc. Some weapon defenses are presented, but they are in my oppinion inferior to the techniques thaught in modern self defense systems (reality based self defense). Using a cresent kick to deflect a rifle leaves you at an increadible disadvantage if you miss (wich you probably will).This being said, the manual has a certain "attitude" that i really like. Military hand to hand combat may have evolved since Karate/Taekwon-Do was the craze back in the days, but the manual has taken the essential core techniques of traditional martial arts and shows some practical applications. This way the manual may be interesting to practicioners of these martial arts. It should also be given a place in every collectors book shelf as a very different aproach as the one seen today when grappling and ground fighting makes the core of the Army combative program.

Perfect for any former Military Instructed Individual who is intered in the Martial Arts.