Self-defense techniques are useful for both military personal and in everyday situations. Written for the non-expert, the Special Forces Unarmed Combat Guide explains how to deal with unexpected assaults, whether you are in the home, enjoying a night out, or just walking along the street. With the help of clear illustrations and precise text, the book explains how to handle sudden assaults, escalating confrontations, and premediated attacks, whether by unarmed or armed assailants.

The book includes secions on de-escalating confrontations, how to win without fighting, training and preparation, striking methods, locks and controls, strangles and chokes, throws and deflections, dealing with grabs, kicks, and punches, defeating edged weapons, defeating firearms, fighting on the ground, defending against a group attack, and fighting with improvised weapons.

Written by an expert self-defense instructor, the Special Forces Unarmed Combat Guide will prepare you for that unexpected and unsought attack in an everyday situation.

Martin J. Dougherty is a British Master Level Assessor with the Self-Defense Federation, holding black belts in two styles of ju-jitsu as well as self-defense. His martial arts career has encompassed ju-jitsu, kickboxing, and self-defense as well as military combative systems. Dougherty has written books on a variety of subjects, including self-defense and military history, in addition to his work in the defense and security industry, where he is an expert on weapons systems and asymmetric conflict.

Contents

Introduction
Preparation
1 The threat
2 Win without fighting
3 Training to win
Tools of the trade
4 The basics
5 Unarmed combat training
6 Your body's weapons
7 Striking and grappling methods
8 Locks, controls and chokes
In action
9 Tactics
10 Defeating unarmed attacks
11 Defeating hand-held weapon attacks
12 Defeating firearm threats
13 Fighting on the ground
14 Fighting under adverse conditions
Final notes
Index

The Special Forces Unarmed Combat Guide attempts to demonstrate hand-to-hand combat techniques that are practical and easy to use. The main problem is that when it comes to self-defense or any martial art whatsoever, it requires you to be able to practice and prepare. You can’t be thrust into a crazy situation and expect to be able to handle it perfectly merely with the aid of a book, though it does help in some ways.

The book begins by addressing the psychological aspect of fighting and the preparation required to defend yourself. If you want to try a martial art it makes some suggestions for ones that might be useful. The main ones suggested are arts that are widely available and taught the same all over. Take Boxing for instance. The book states that it is good for striking skills, footwork, stance, and strike defenses. The real thing to watch out for are Specialized Martial Arts like Judo and Taekwondo since there are strikes and techniques that are considered illegal in a match and you might develop a blind spot for those situations. It doesn’t say these arts are bad or worthless, just that they are incomplete for full self-defense. It even tells you how to discern a good class from a bad. If there is a lot of air-punching, belt ranks, over-complication, too much devotion to some ancient spirit, a certain-death technique, or any other mumbo jumbo then it probably isn’t that good. It covers the legality of your actions in self-defense as well. The idea is to merely incapacitate and even then, it is better to fight without fighting. It should really be your last resort to fight the opponent. The final part of the preparation section is training. Your own body might be the only weapon you have in a situation so you should keep it running smoothly.

The book covers a lot of topics and is quite useful for preparation, but real practice is necessary for self-defense to work. It covers the basics of a solid guard, good posture, and effective movement. Furthermore, there are tons of images and graphics that demonstrate the techniques talked about in this book. So I would say it is a good starting point but a lot of work would need to be done for full self-defense. I give it four out of five stars. ( )