Customer Reviews

Combat Techniques: An Elite Forces Guide to Modern Infantry Tactics

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

 

 

The book's title - "An Elite Forces Guide" is somewhat misleading. There is nothing in the book to qualify it for the "Elite" designation. Perhaps, if a civilian whose only exposure to tactics of modern infantry combat was from the movies, there would be some useful information.

It certainly is a decent overview of the US Army's FM 3-XX manuals (and, likely, USMC's equivalents, as well as British Army's). Like any overview, it must, by definition, provide only cursory treatment of the many subjects it attempts to cover. It would have been nice if the book's chapters contained references to the FMs or similar, though that is easy enough to do with the help of a decent search engine.

There are some odd inaccuracies in the book which, while not preventing the book from being useful in its own right, make taking its contents seriously a bit more difficult. As an example, in the chapter discussing small arms, there is a photo of a man wearing a MARPAT uniform, holding a Beretta pistol for the first time in his life (this is evident from the blatantly wrong way in which he is holding the sidearm). The caption, however, indicates that this is a "U.S. Army officer practicing at the range." An Army officer, in MARPAT? Seems unlikely. However, the accompanying discussion is accurate, if brief.

Books of this type are difficult to write - while some basics rarely change, the latest/greatest tips and tricks are very theater-dependant. What would work in the plains of Europe is unlikely to work in either Iraq's deserts or Afganistan's mountains (climate/terrain/adversary).

When treated as an overview of other materials, the book does a passable job - earning a 3 out of 5. The book should be renamed to "Combat Techniques: An Overview of Modern Infantry Tactics", and perhaps another proofreading pass, and it'd be excellent in its task - being an overview.

This is a well illistrated and well written book, but it is geared as an overview and starting point for people interested in modern military tactics.

I recently bought this book in the PX here in Iraq. Being a soldier for 10 years myself, this book covers the basics. It's not a "How-to," but an overview towards how modern forces fight today. It's great in covering weapons and tools used by the infanrty, but again, it's broad and basic. Too short of a book to cover the details.

Professional militarymen willn't find too much interesting in the book, but there're some usefull visual material inside.
The book can help instructors to train classes or units better and make a subject easyer understandable

O livro contém os fundamentos de combate usado por algumas forças de infantaria moderna. Apesar de apresentar de maneira didática quase todos os conceitos e ter vários esquemas ilustrativos, ele é mais uma referência geral, um sumário ilustrado.

Ótimo guia introdutório mas é necessário material de apoio para aprofundar o tema.