Customer Reviews

CQB (Close Quarters Battle): A Guide to Unarmed Combat and Close Quarter Shooting

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The best thing in this book is the paper it is printed on; it's semi-glossy and heavy, giving some expectation of quality. The second best thing is that there is surprisingly little text, because some 1/3 of the pages are filled with photos. The fact that this is good news, tells something about the quality of the text.

To start with, the entire idea of presenting the "fighting secrets" of special operations forces in a 200-page book is somewhat absurd, especially considering that the author assumes that the reader does not know virtually nothing about the subject. The techniques presented here are unrealistic in the real world, to a large extent. And finally, the author speaks way too vaguely of the issues he presents, so that you really don't have a chance to learn anything.

The main part of the book concentrates on close combat. Significant amount of these pages is devoted to series of photographs. The photos are supposed to present several unarmed and armed close combat techniques, but they are so small and unclear that you are hard-pressed to figure out what they are depicting. But that's good, because you don't want to learn these techniques, anyway. One amusing thing caught my eye: The author stresses that it is imperative to train in full gear, and carry all the equipment you would be carrying in a real situatoin (that is true, but it is also self-evident). But in about half of the pictures, the guys are wearing karate uniforms!

The reason I bought this book was that I expected to find something on close-quarters shooting. Granted, about the last third of the book is devoted to the subject, but there really is not anything, exept for a total beginner. And for a beginner, there are far better books around.

One thing that especially annoyed me was that the author uses military jargon, apparently to get some credibility. That is the only justification for most of the jargon, as the book is filled with examples like "Any operation in the continental United States (CONUS), that ends in a shooting...", that being the only use of term CONUS in the text. The reason people use abbrevations is to save time and space with frequently used terms, which is not the case with examples like these.

I would recommend this book to a pre-adolescent boy, who wants to impress his pals by how much he knows about guns and real-life combat. If that description does not fit you, stay away from this book.

My disappointment may be caused by I expecting too many. The unarmed combat sessions covers only kid karate class. The mentioned "key strike points" are not secret in Chinese martial art, it is a basic knowledge. I learned Chinese martial art for several years, and I do believe my teacher teached me more than this book in the first year.

For the armed section, it is much better, but discussion is not deep enough. I expect more!

It appears the book was intended to be formatted along the lines of the Applegate classic, "Kill or get killed". But in terms of content, the book is absolutely without merit. The unarmed combat section is a random collection of techniques based on archaic martial arts, with zero regard for the exigencies of real-world combat and agency mandates. The combat shooting information is informative only to the most clueless of novices. The information on nonlethal weapons MIGHT have been interesting before it was completely outdated. To be fair, the book's been around a few years...

I suppose Mr. Lonsdale does the spec-ops community a service by protecting the confidentiality of their skills and information from being disseminated to the public (and criminals for that matter) while he titillates teenaged wannabes with pics of marines training in raid houses and guys in bow stances doing cross-blocks against knife-stabs. As his customer, though, I'm not impressed. I certainly won't be buying his other stuff.

This book's subtitle is "A Guide to Unarmed Combat and Close Quarter Shooting.  Lonsdale is well-known in the law-enforcement training circles.  I like that he presents his information as "one view, one method, one training philosophy". It is refreshing to see someone who isn't proclaiming that their method is the "one true path" to knowledge (although this method seems based extensively on the SAS style). The emphasis of the book is certainly for the professional and the complexity of the unarmed combat section will be overwhelming to those who don't have an extensive martial arts background.  His training team has beau coup years of traditional martial arts experience and hold very high ranks in their disciplines (did I see Tom Muzilla of Shotokan fame in some of the photos?).  This explains why all of the techniques are taken directly from karate. To these high ranks, the techniques are simple, however, to the non-martial artist, they probably seem very difficult.  A consideration you should take into account. But, if you have a good background in karate, then the unarmed section is everything you already know.  Lots of weapons disarms and retention techniques.  Most of the second half of the book is on close quarter shooting which is detailed with good photography.

Mark Lonsdale is a dynamic and fascinating instructor. Having been trained by Mr. Lonsdale, I have seen first-hand the effectiveness of his instruction. I've been in high-risk law enforcement for 10 years. This book, like all of his manuals, is on the cutting edge of both tactics and philosophy.

I found the book to be an accurate outline of the basic theory of CQB. It touches on all the major considerations without going into any one subject in-depth. If you are looking for a point of reference to get a serious study underway, then this is a good place to start.

It seems to be a book written in such a fashion as to promote the other books in the series, which sort of turned me off because there wasn't as much "meat on the bones" as there could have been. The book continually refers to other titles by the same author which cover the topics at greater length.

If you have a good knowledge base in CQB, I would recommend skipping this title and moving directly to the more focused titles from this author.

In depth study of individual CQB skills. Good info and training on firearms, but not detailed enough on CQB movements and searching skills .Best to be read with another STTU books in hand.

Gives very good insight into the overall tactics, training, and logistics within the world of CQB. Being on a Special Reaction Team for a year I found this book helpful in improving the training and tactics of our team. I also found it helped with my own individual base tactics. Tended to be somewhat dry, but the knowledge is worth it.

Cqb is an excellent text for the beginner. If you have'nt had much experience it's a great start. If your organizing a rection team for your P.D. or your just getting on a team its' a good refference guide. Just about half of the book deals with close combat (hand to hand), the other half deals with weapon selection, weapons familiarization and training and the principles of CQB shooting. If your an experienced shooter it can be a good publication to refer to when writing a lesson plan or organizing a training evolution. The bottom line if your a shooter (military or police) its' good to keep on the shelf.

this book is a waist of your money. there is little of use to be learned here. the book leaves the reader wondering how some one can fill so many pages and say so little