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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good advise (and some bad), August 29, 2003
This book is the first book written by well-known weapons and tactics instructor, Gabe Suarez. The author has himself stated that when he was writing this book, he was still formulating his gunfighting concepts. Therefore, the book contains information Suarez himself calls dated and doesn't advocate anymore (like Speed rock). Nevertheless, the book contains some valuable information.The book covers just about all the basics about shooting from the drawstroke and the sight picture to reloading and malfunction clearance. In addition, there is also material for mental as well as tactical aspects of combat. But as you would guess, as this book is about 200 pages long and there are 22 chapters, none of the issues are given very through presentation. The information is presented in a clear and easy to understand way, but there really is not that much that you wouldn't find in other similar books. I think that this book is a good one, and worth the purchase, but there are some issues like the ones mentioned below that bother me:
- Suarez seems to think that PTSD and related symptoms are result of conditioning. He thinks that people suffer from these symptos, because they have been told to do that. What he doesn't realize (or seems to ignore) is that PTSD symptoms have been widely known and discussed for only couple of decades, but veterans of war have suffered from these symptoms from as early as the WWI.
- In many issues, Suarez teaches only one way to do things. Take teaching the proper firing stance as an example: Suarez teaches only Weaver stance, and does not even mention that there are other shooting stances in existence. In my mind it is obvious that these are a matter of choice, and readers should be given a chance to evaluate the possibilities himself. This approach of not even mentioning the "competitive" stances gives the reader an impression that the author can't make the reasoning on the subject, and therefore chooses to avoid the issue completely.
- Suarez teaches to put the trigger finger on the trigger surface as you are in the process of drawing the gun, and the finger should start pressing the trigger even before the sights are aligned to the target! I think that this is extremely dangerous, as this demands extremely good coordination, which propably is not available in the heat of battle.
- There are at least two separate issues where Suarez tells that it is very important to learn some specific skills, but there is not a word on these skills in the book! For example, regarding to shooting from behind cover, Suarez tells that "you must develop the ability to 'roll out' from behind cover in a shooting position", and yet there is not a single word or picture on how to do it. If Suarez thinks that this is an important skill, why there is not even a single page, or couple of pictures on the subject? Speaking of pictures, there are plenty and most of them are very good and informative, and support the text nicely. Some of the pictures are apparently so good that they have been used in other books as well. There is a strange thing that gaught my eye, however. In the chapter on operating in reduced light, there was no discussion on Surefire/Rogers firing technique in the text, but there was a photograph depicting that stance. That gives an impression of sloppiness in part of the publisher. In conclusion, despite its few shortcomings, I would say that the book is a worthwhile investment. But this should not be your first book on the subject, as you have to examine the text with critical eye.
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by Erik Lawrence
by Jeff Cooper
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