Customer Reviews

Get Tough

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a classic, there are no doubts about that. It is the result of one of the first scientific studies of violence in a violent environment by someone who knew what he was doing. What is remarkable about the book is not what is says, but what it do not say. While the book is good in itself, there are much that needs to be known in order to use the contents in an effective manner that is not said in this book. I will try to give a brief summary of this "other" materiel, and some hints to other useful pices of information.

The techniques described herein are based on Faribairn's experiences in the service of the Shanghai Municipal Police in the first decades of the 20th century. By this time Shanghai was one of the most violent and nasty places on earth, ever. These techniques were developed, refined and used by men who regularly fought for their lives with very violent and vicious criminals; there is no fancy dojo "what-ifs" involved here.

The book demonstrates some simple and efficient techniques for maiming and killing the enemy, and encourages the reader to choose A FEW OF THEM and learn them thoroughly. Unfortunately Fairbairn does not devote much time and space to explain the rationale behind this, but in order to perform a technique automatically -- to encode it as a reflex, which is amust for an effective response -- it has to be trained over and over again. Some authorities claim that 5,000 repetitions is required, with three additional correct ones for every flawed execution. Do the math yourself. This is the reason behind the, for some, staggering simplicity of the techniques -- at least compared to those taught in more traditional martial arts etc. If they are to be learnt as instictively as is necessary, they have to be simple. The techniques do not look "fancy". They are not supposed to, they are supposed to kill.

However, the contents of this book has been much improved upon since, and most notably by the author himself and his coworkers during WWII when they incorporated the results from actual experience in the field into the curriculum. That is, allied agents who fought axis soldiers and agents wrote field reports and communicated their experiences to the men responsible for CQ-training, most notable within the SOE. The results of this maiming and killing can be found in the so called "Silent Killing Syllabus" of 1944, basically Fairbairns lecture notes.

This curriculum can be found in the book "SOE Syllabus: Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare" (ISBN 190336518X), which is also available from Amazon. The focus in that curriculum is even less on "grappling" than in Get Tough! and almost exclusively on open hand strikes with the odd kick to the lower legs; apart from shooting and/or stabbing the opponent. That is, the techniques in the 1944 curriculum are even simpler and more direct, and more brutal, than in Get Tough!.

The focus is not on "self defence" but on combat, in fact Farirbairn has stated -- I do not remember exactly where -- that if two men of equal ability fight, the one with the advantage of surprise will win. The nature of the game is to strike first, strike hard and keep on striking until the enemy is either unconcious or, preferably, dead. Beat him to the ground and kick his brains in or jump on him.

Fairbairn & Co. stated, quite emphatically, that you are not supposed to fight with your bare hands, you only do so if you are caught empty handed, and you only fight empty handed so that you can get your hands on a weapon. So to get a complet picture of the Fairbairn's work, be sure to read the book on combat shooting, "Shooting to Live", co-authored with E A Sykes and available from the same publisher. He also developed some interesting techniques for use of the stick, which are found in "Get Tough!", and which he later adapted for use with an umbrella. Also, read the book "Kill Or Get Killed", by his American pupil and colleague Rex Applegate for a similar but slightly different approach; and make sure to get J.J. Styers's "Cold Steel" while you are at it for yet another perspective: Styers advocates the use of the fists more than Fairbairn and Applegate do.

It is only beacause of the missing pieces of the puzzle that I do not give the book more than four stars. Faribairn should have been able to write a much better book, at least when the quality of his "lecture notes" are taken into account. Whether he did not do this because he, as we all do, laboured under constraints of the politically correct I do not know, but the ugly truths about real combat have never been popular with the wider audience, so to speak.

If you have never taken a martial-arts or self-defense course in your life, you will be able to learn from this book. The techniques in it are simple and brutal, with many involving a knee to the groing and broken limb. It was originally designed for soldiers during WWII, and you can tell by the illustrations. I think it would be a good reference for military historians because of that. Many military orgs. in the west have apparently still clung to many of Fairbairn's moves, such as the chin jab, throat chop, and scrape-stomp. While not filled to the brim with techniques, the book does offer some little "tricks" that aren't found much these days, like using a matchbox or chair to defend yourself. The book also contains a chart showing how long it takes someone to die from various stab wounds (hmm, wonder how he found that out...) and a chapter on the smatchete, which looks like a cross between a Bowie knife and a meat cleaver. Some of the stuff in here is probably not very usefull to the average guy trying to defend himself, like securing a prisoner to a tree, but for the sake of learning what's in the rest of the book, that stuff can be overlooked. Overall, a good book for anyone interested in defending themselves in a life-or-death situation, and an interesting historical piece.

This classic WW2 military training manual is simple in approach and very pragmatic. The author writes with authority and the discriptions and illustrations (by 'Hary') are very clear. Some of the advice, such as how to escape the police staight arm bar restraining hold, and how to properly secure a prisoner are hard to find elsewhere. Some reviewers have implied that the material is 'dated' (difficult to -ahem- imagine in a book almost 60 years old) but I did not find this. Many of the techniques are better suited to military or police use than to the street. The only specific problems I found were the advice to hold the thumb straight out when delivering an edge of hand blow (too east for the adversary to grab) and the times to death from varous knife wounds. Minor details. If readers could fight half as well as Captain Fairbairn, they would be tough indeed. A more comprehensive biography of the author would be a welcome addition.

As the son of a WW2 Ranger (4th BN) and a former student of Col Rex Applegate I have some insight on this volume. Most of Fairbairn's good material was intentionally left out by Fairbairn and was written mainly for Fairbairn to make some cash since his pension from the SMP was gone with the Japenese capture of Shanghi. Sykes himself called much of the book, "Hokum" and in some manuels listed in Applegate's last book he explains why. This isn't meant to critize Fairbairn himself(who was a true PRATICAL master of close combat) but merely to put this book into perspertive. The blows are excellent, as are the pistol disarms but many of the throws and holds were dropped later on in the war. Police officers are urged to buy a copy of SHOOTING TO LIVE to really appreciate what Fairbairn & Sykes had to offer. A good instructor helps since the blows are delivered in a manner unlike many martial arts being taught today ( the chops, for example, were taught more as a jab/saber cut than as a karate shuto) The WW2 systems are not quite as simple as some instructors like to believe and are hard to learn from books, but this gives good historical refrence.

Get Tough by Capt Fairbairn is a gem. His 1 1/2 pages of humble introduction is worth the price alone. His techniques are illustrated and clearly described in British English. I'd say if your son or daughter were going to be in a life/death struggle and you had only one week to whip them into shape for it, following the advice in this book would be better than 30 years of karate lessons. I wish there was more informtion about Fairbairn and his partner Sykes for historical reasons since these two gentlemen were the real grandfathers of close quarter combat for the allied forces and an inspiration for those who came after them. Without their work, we all might be speaking Japanese or German by now...Best Wishes to all. Mike Member Veterans of Foreign Wars Member Vietnam Veterans of America

From the start: yes, only three stars.

The shortcomings:
-The illustrations are only 'OK', not great. I like line drawings for illustrating unarmed combat, but usually it takes two or three drawings per technique to make things clear.
-A limited range of techniques. It covers the basics pretty well, but doesn't challenge the imagination.
-A lot of military texts (like this) were grouped as lesson plans. It wouldn't have been hard to do, but Fairbairn chose not to do it.
-One or two of the techniques don't stand up well to critical thought, most notably the one with a matchbox in one's hand. Only OK as a technique, but it is very easy for students to fixate on the matchbox rather than the principles of the technique.

Ultimately, the poor illustrations was the killer for me. Never the less, this book has a lot of merit;
-A limited range of techniques... Yes, this is also a shortcoming, but on the other hand it keeps the students focused on what matters.
-Clear and explicit text. This one is not going to win literary awards, but it conveys information clearly, completely, and concisely.
-'Been there, done that' credibility. Fairbairn was not a streetfront studio expert, nor was he a competition kickboxer, nor even a UFC wrestler. He had been a cop in one of the toughest cities in the world, and then trained British commandos in WWII. If the techniques didn't work, his trainees would have gotten really vindictive (if they lived). His trainees lived, and that alone is about the highest recommendation you could hope for.

Three stars, but it has a place in my permanant collection, take this as you will.

This was an interesting book, oddly enough. What we have here is an oft out-of-print copy of the WWII hand-to-hand combat manual used by the British Commandos. I must confess that this is my first circa WWII hand-to-hand fighting manual, or hand-to-hand fighting book in general, so I have really little to compare it to. For those interested in self-defense, however, I will say to you that this is an excellent beginning. This book covers basic striking moves, holds, releases, several throws, and short passages on stick fighting, smatchet and knife combat, and pistol disarming, all the while providing detailed explanations for the application of the desired move. I looked into other hand-to-hand fighting books and I must say that, in my opinion, this is one of the better ones in existence. The moves advocated here have been proven to work, unlike so many of the other hand-to-hand fighting books out there. Some of these moves are difficult to apply and can only be done so in certain circumstances, but, for the most part, they are moderatly applicable. Also, the book will "instil courage and self-reliance" which are both key to winning a fight. I'm not saying that any reader of this book will become a Bruce Lee overnight, but the manual is helpful. Some of the moves demonstrated are...rather cheap, but they are intended for critical situations, not playground fist fights. The techniques are simple but brutal. The manual is, unfortanetly, somewhat short (120 pp.) and expensive ($18). The diagrams are drawn in black-and-white and, consequently, difficult to follow (color would have been helpful). A competent partner is also essential. Even if you do not decide to purchase this book, as the material is dated, I would still recommend utilizing a military manual, as the military has had more experience and funding in the fighting area than those inscrupulous authors who lay claim on the most comprehensive fighting manual. Use this manual for good and stay safe.

This book was written in the 1940's with the real possibility of a German land invasion of the U.K. W.E. Fairbairn Trained the British Home Guard in this form of hand to hand fighting to compliment their weapons training to thwart such an invasion. The book contains an overview of hand to hand combat for many different situations, but the main strength of this training is that it's easily comprehended and brutally effective. This is the same type of training given to the British S.A.S. and the American O.S.S. commandos during W.W.II. There are recent books which expand this type of training: "Kill Or Be Killed" by Col. Rex Applegate and also related book(s) by John Kary come to mind. This book, however was the first and is a classic. The reader gets a feeling of nostalgia while viewing the drawings which depict the "good guys" as Allied soldiers and the "bad guys" as Nazi soldiers. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn or expand their hand to hand combat skills.

A clear and plain book! little time is wasted on philosophic mumbo jumbo. A quick book to learn from. The techniques are very easy and effective and thus very useful for everybody; so I would surely recommend it for beginners; for advanced students: this book gives you an extra edge, no NEW techniques but that does not matter with this book. If you want to learn self defense from a book, this book is gonna help you. keep in mind that the use of some techniques could bring you to jail but can also save your life. The unarmed section is also suitable to set up self defense courses, it does not cover every situation, but it is a firm base to start from! There are no flashy jump kicks here and no flowery techniques. Not a book for sissies!

Quick overview: for real fighting, less is more. If you study a thousand blocks, you'll get hit while your brain struggles to correlate the stimulus of the attack with the reaction that's buried somewhere in your brain.

So you get to make choices in the universe of fighting techniques. Except that you're not an expert with a few hundred or thousand hand to hand donnybrooks, so you have no idea how to make those choices. Enter Fairbairn, who had the experience to make educated choices.

And he was well schooled in the universe of crunch-munchy techniques. After he was beaten and left for dead by Triad goons, he decided it might be good to study fighting techniques. So he did, with exactly the amount of enthusiasm that goes into such study, after you've been left for dead.

This is a short book. It has few techniques. They are not sportive techniques. They are not for casual use, any more than a short-barrel police special is for shoving matches at the softball game.

These are techniques designed to give soldiers, spys, British Resistance Forces after a Nazi invasion, and other folks in a tight spot an equalizer.

Although, from Fairbairn's point of view, if you didn't have a weapon, that was an indication that something had gone terribly wrong.

There are knife techniques in this book and a few restraining techniques. Those are probably not very useful to you unless you're stalking a sentry with a knife, or moving a German soldier a short distance.

One last point: these techniques are like using weapons. They are not for entertainment.

These techniques burst eardrums, break necks and backs, and crush throats. They emphasize pre-emptive strikes and specifically reject the use of groundfighting, preferring to jump merrily on top of your opponent once you have him on the ground, rather than use a folding-scarf hold or a hold-down.

Summary: this is a brilliant book; if you think it's too short, or dated, or inapplicable, you simply don't understand it. But it's a special purpose book. It's not for sports or fun. For a high school kid who wants to better handle himself, boxing or wrestling or books by Tegner are better choices. For somebody who is going to be on a battlefield or behind lines, this is the book. Also see Kill or Get Killed by Applegate, which is from the same era.