Customer Reviews

Close Combat

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am going to write an open and honest review. This book is excellent. It teaches the basics and thats what works. The wrist locks are from aikido and jujitsu, two time proven arts. Sure they are not kill techniques, but still practical and useful. The throws and strikes are very simple to understand, which is good. How many times have you heard... this is the best way? Then it takes 6 months to learn that one technique. The throws and ground fighting are good, despite what some have written on the net(trying to sell their product over this one). What you need to remember is the illustrations are single example movements. No one knows what is really going to happen in a street fight. One recommendation. If you are looking for martial art styles... look into hsing i, wing chun or krava maga. STAY AWAY FROM MODERN WU SHU!

This is an excellent reprint of the U.S. Marine Corps' most recent "Close Combat manual" Dated 18 Feb 1999. It's an excellent reference guide and "how to" manual for learning Hand to Hand fighting, disarming opponents, Bayonet techniques, knife fighting and many other areas that a Marine must be proficient with to win on the world's Battlefields!

As bad as us Army people HATE to admit it, the Marines are no-nonsense fighters, every soldier is a rifleman, everyone fights. This is the manual that helps them stay alive!

Overall, I liked this book. There are some minor complaints. For example: The manual instructs you punch (with your fists) only "soft tissue areas" (I agree on this point by the way), then it proceeds to illustrate a Marine delivering an upper-cut to an opponent's jaw... since when is the jawbone or chin a "soft tissue area"?

I'm glad to see the manual cover ground-fighting techniques; however, a lot of important details of the mount, the guard and some of the other key techniques are absent. This won't be a problem if you have a instructor who really knows his material - but I feel a manual of this sort should be more detailed, as soldiers ought to know the fine subtleties of techniques to make them 100% effective.

This book is a good starting manual for basic self, but is not complete enough top be a stand alone guide. The techniques are standard issue military hand to hand, but perhaps a little "old school". The unarmed combat is simply a catalog of basic boxing and judo techniques, with basic self defense strikes (palm heel, knife hand, hammer fist, elboews, knees, low kicks), some basic ground fighting maneuvers, and a section of come-along/submission holds. It also includes sections on stick fighting, knife fighting, bayonet techniques and weapon retention. Using it as a starting point for basic techniques is fine.

Since I've served in the Swiss first-line assault troups -more or less equivalent to the USMC- I know some stuff about close combat. Most hits, throws, blows or general tips like the "anatomy for fights" are very useful, but not necesserely in a high stress self-defense situation, in which a layman could possibly get. But all in all a very interesting book, but like I mentioned above: more for military or elite-police than "civilian" use!

Since I've served in the Swiss first-line assault troups -more or less equivalent to the USMC- I know some stuff about close combat. Most hits, throws, blows or general tips like the "anatomy for fights" are very useful, but not necesserely in a high stress self-defense situation, in which a layman could possibly get. But all in all a very interesting book, but like I mentioned above: more for military or elite-police than "civilian" use!

Here it is!
This book provides an overview of the Marine Corps's NEW close combat system, of the last ten years. Its brief and gets to the point. A new close-combat system was long overdue in the Marines, and this is the best system they have utilized, since World War II.

Why does the Marine Corps prevail in combat? Because they have a history of taking the fight to the enemy, killing the enemy at close-quarters in his own trenches.

Having attended the Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor School at Quantico, VA, I give this book my recommendation.

It should be noted, that these are just the basic level techniques. If you have already participated in a few martial-arts styles, this will be nothing new to you. The Marines use a five belt system of advancing techniques, from tan, grey, green, brown, to black. The techniques listed in this book are approximately to the green-belt level.

Although these are fairly basic fighting skills, there is a very good reason for this, and its rather common for most military-style fighting systems. Consider that:

1. A military close-combat system has to be composed of such basic but effective techniques, to train large numbers of people, and get them ready for battle as soon as possible.

2. Basic techniques utilize your largest voluntary muscles. This is very important. Imagine yourself in a combat environment, with all manner of loud, confusing noise all about you, ...smoke,weapons fire, and explosions everywhere. You might be in an adrenaline-charged state of rage and/or fear, with all your focus on fighting and surviving. Then, theres an enemy soldier charging in on you from five feet away...

The techniques are simple, because thats what most people will remember, under stress, based on muscle-memory from constant practice.

The new Marine Corps system was the result of analyzing a large number of martial-arts styles, with input from a panel of experts inside and outside the military. The techniques cover the span from lethal to non-lethal, armed to unarmed, to be utilized in a number of tactical scenarios. There are techniques purely for deadly combat, ...to security/riot-control/military-police situations. In fact, the resulting system is very similar to the program taught to Marine Raiders, or British Commandos/S.O.E./O.S.S. in World War II.

Once again, be mindful that this book does not illustrate everything in the U.S.M.C. system.

If you are under age 30, JOIN THE MARINES! Learn the whole system first hand!

SEMPER FIDELIS!

This is an excellent reprint of the U.S. Marine Corps' most recent "Close Combat manual" Dated 18 Feb 1999. It's an excellent reference guide and "how to" manual for learning Hand to Hand fighting, disarming opponents, Bayonet techniques, knife fighting and many other areas that a Marine must be proficient with to win on the world's Battlefields!

As bad as us Army people HATE to admit it, the Marines are no-nonsense fighters, every soldier is a rifleman, everyone fights. This is the manual that helps them stay alive!

A good book on how to defend yourself according to the USMC. A few techniques presented are effective, but several are from the "old school" of hand to hand.

Good descriptions of the techinques but no discussions on theory, but that wasn't to be expected.

Pick up the book - it is a good addition to a hand to hand combat instructors library.

It's a great introduction to the fundamentals of hand to hand and melee weapon fighting, but if you're looking for advanced fighting techniques, this is not the manual you are looking for.