Customer Reviews

Close-quarter Combat: A Soldier’s Guide To Hand-To-Hand Fighting

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is simply a poor book. The moves are, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, overly complex. The moves borrow too heavily from jiu-jutso, which seems to be endemic among the Army's hand-to-hand combat program. A much bettter book on the subject of Close-Quarters Battle is "CLOSE COMBAT" by USMC; the Marines' system is much more simple and pragmatic. Their book is also almost half the price of this nonsense and 10 times as detailed.

Though the book was definetly a waste of money t does have, however, a good psychological ops section and some good techniques for the reversal/counter to punches.

Other good books besides "CLOSE COMBAT" regarding HtH include "Get Tough" by Capt. Fairbairn and "Commando Fighting Techniques" by Jim Wilson and Paul Evans, all availible through Amazon.

I just came off a 9 month tour in Iraq and decided to look into some training material on hand to hand combat to share with my men when I return to Iraq. Holifield's name had come up in previous discussions regarding close combat training so I decided to purchase his book and videos upon my return. For those of you who may be unsure about purchasing this book due to some negative reviews, don't be swayed! From my point of view, the book was written as a basic guide to close quarter combat, and targeted for the average foot soldier (not so much spec ops). In that regard the book is perfect! It breaks down each move and is laid out in a easy to understand format. His video series on the other hand is unreal! He is a dangerous man and knows what the hell he's talking about. If you go to war and meet the enemy face-to-face, you want Holifield with you for sure!!! Buy the book for the basics and the video to finish the job!

The grappling section of this book is extremely poor, so are throws and the failing techniques. The fighting techniques are basic hard style karate. The pistol disarms, if actually used would likely end with the death of the hostage. The only thing I liked were the rifle techniques and even then they were used on an unarmed opponent. Save your $ and go see an instructor.

After serving over 25 years in the U.S. Army and a former Special Forces Operative, I found this book to be a good basic primer for the soldier. Obviously the reader from Arizona knows very little about the basic fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat. And should probally take a course from the professor:) I did have alittle problem with a gun disarms, however, who's to say that any of these techniques would not work. Simply put, no one knows. The majority of all of the techniques and drills covered in this book are excellent techniques especially for soldiers seeking to enhance their own fighting skills. I myself have been in the martial arts for over 20 years. One Man's Meat is another Man's Poison, in other words, what works for me, may not work for you and vise-versa, therefore all techniques have their own personal value. I may add that, though I have never had the pleasure to meet Prof. Holifield personally, I assure you that he is well known and respected Armywide. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the basic fundamentals of close quarter combat.

I believe that this book on hand to hand combat is one of the best training manuals that I have seen in a long time. It shows how to use effective moves that can be done my anyone in a real life situation. It also helps you learn to use weapons out of things around you. I consider this book an excellent buy for anyone that wants to learn the basics of real hand to hand combat and not those fancy moves that take many years to learn and cannot be easily used in real life situations.

I thought this was an excellent reference book on the basics of hand-to-hand combat. As a former combat veteran and hand-to-hand combat instructor myself, I can appreciate the information presented in this book, unlike Mr. Whitaker. The author presents the basic fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat, which is what soldiers need to build upon. After viewing Professor Holifields videos series on close-quarter combat by Panther Productions, he is without a doubt a worldclass instructor who knows what he's talking about. Maybe Mr. Whitaker should seek instruction from the Professor himself.

I've studied several martial arts for a little over six years. Not too long compared to most, but enough to get a pretty decent standing in the world of martial arts. This book takes very simple techniques, and breaks them down so simply that a beginner could almost pick them up immediately.

This book covers knife defenses, handgun defenses, defense using objects you'll find around your camp/in your rucksack, as well as offensive and defensive tactics using your M-16 as well as the M-16 with a bayonet. This is perfect for all military personnel looking for combat effective techniques that you can pickup quickly, and do not rely on strength, nor require loose clothing to execute them. (Full combat gear, BDU's, kevlar, LBE's will work fine with nearly all of them)

It also talks about philosophies on various aspects of combat, relating the military and martial arts as almost a single unit. I'd recommend this book to ANYONE looking for direct, useful material.

I just recently recieved this book. The night I recieved it my electric was out all night. I opened this book and read it all the way threw in candle light and found it to be a great self-defense book with easy to learn defenses and offenses. I especially like all the throws that are demonstated in great detail in this book. This show pressure points and other key target points. Not only is this a H2H combat book but it also has a useful workout section that shows all the necessary exercises and stretchs that you need to do before practicing. This is a great book that I recommend. Another recommendation is the U.S Marine Close-Quarters Combat Manual [...] this is an excellent book too. Remember to thank war veterans for all they have do for us. HOO-YAH!

This book contains hundreds of well photographed techniques, some of which may be practical for the real world. However the author does not talk at all about the psychological aspect of combat, gives too little input on training and conditioning or the applications of the techniques that he demonstrates. the book is just a collection of pictures with short phrases written beside them.

I finally got my hands on a copy of this book and was not disappointed. Professor Holifield's reputation as one of the worlds leading authorities in hand-to-hand combat preceeds him. The book was basic in nature and covered some advanced techniques as well.It is an excellent book for soldiers wanting to sharpen their fighting skills and educate them at the same time. After reading a negative comment made by another reader, it seems to me that the reader has a closed mind to the realities of close quarter combat. What may not work for him, may work for someone else. Combat is unpredictable, and one never knows what attack may come or what technique will be used until that moment, therefore, all tecniques have a place in combat. It would be interesting to see these critics go toe-to-toe with Prof. Holifield. I remember the USA vs. The World Commando Knockout Challenge, where both of Holifield's opponents bugged out! One was the head hand-to-hand combat instructor for the Lebanese Presidential Elite Guard and the other was a top close quarter combat fighter out of Mexico, both fighters never showed!!! (Smart). Buy the Book! And if you want to see some real action, checkout his video series from panther videos and century martial arts!