Lessons from the Fighting Commandos

Reading Lessons from the Fighting Commandos helped crystallize my own fighting experience. The neighborhood where I grew up was rough and tough, so my brothers and I learned early to use boxing in a street fight. As a teenager, I hung around a boxing gym. In the process, I learned a lot about boxing and picked up tips on street fighting. In high school, I was on the wrestling team. I later studied at a local school that emphasized a gung-ho attitude coupled with the use of open hand blows. The abrupt open hand attacks were easily countered by what I had earlier learned in boxing and wrestling. Sparring with the others in class was too easy, because I had no real problem defeating them using a combination of boxing and wrestling. I switched to a combat jujitsu school where the instructor told me that the toughest guys he had ever known had boxing experience. He went on to relate how during WWI and WWII some countries trained commandos for warfare through a combination of boxing, wrestling and other moves drawn from various sources. Now this brings me to Fred Neff's book on commando strategy that is by far the best book on fighting I have ever seen. He tells it the way it is, not how others fancifully want to hear it. His book combines boxing, wrestling and jujitsu to make a person ready for the street. My considerable experience tells me that this is an effective combination. I especially like the way he teaches to manipulate the adversary into being hit or open for a takedown. Face it, no street fighter is going to stand there and let you hit him with a series of open hand blows. The reality is that you had better learn to figure out a winning strategy and be ready to improvise along the way. Such a strategy often involves moving in and out with blows like in boxing, while being ready to use other techniques and tactics as needed. The strategy section near the end of the commmando book encourages the reader to learn to think, adapt to the opponent and to be prepared for an all-out fracas. This book is necessary to read for anyone who is serious about learning real self-defense.

I have been involved in studying combat related fighting tactics for many years. The combat techniques and tactics taught in Fred Neff's book on Lessons from the Fighting Commandos is what I know from experience works. This book gets right down to business in teaching real fighting. There are a lot of armchair theorists that ignore the effectiveness of boxing and wrestling for street combat. These sports are based on hundreds of years of experience of what works. In a real fight, I have seen the effectiveness of boxing and wrestling. There are times where hitting someone with an open hand will do nothing more than hurt your hand. Anyone who thinks that you can simply move in on a good street fighter and take him out with open hand blows every time is living in a fantasy world. What it takes to win out in a no holds barred fight is the type of knowledge imparted in Lessons from the Fighting Commandos. Other books often ignore the fact that in a real fight you cannot always rely on blows to end the fight. What often happens in a fight is that you end up wrestling with your adversary. Fred Neff's book gives some good wrestling moves that from my experience work in a fight. You cannot prepare to defend in a fight without having both hitting and wrestling skills. To me Lessons from the Fighting Commandos is a five star book, that anyone who wants to learn real fighting will enjoy reading.

The book on Lessons from the Fighting Commandos concisely teaches how to fight for real without being overly brutal. It makes sense to read this well written book if you are looking for a practical way to defend yourself. I have tried selected techniques from the book and found them to be very useful. This book teaches the reader how to bring together fighting approaches from different arts to defend against differing types of adversaries. This book is useful for anyone to read whether they are inexperienced or an experienced fighter.

Commando fighting used in warfare must obviously be adopted to the needs of civilian life, which is precisely what Lessons From the Fighting Commandos does so well. This book gives the many useful techniques used by Fighting Commandos, while being careful to screen out any inappropriate approaches. The excellent blend of techniques chosen for this book met my desire for additional approaches to self-defense that I could learn. This is a book I feel comfortable sharing with anyone because of its responsible discussion of fighting methods. It's style and content is so direct that it would be good for nearly anyone to use. I think this book is really great!

Lessons from the Fighting Commandos is a wonderful resource. It teaches authentic commando approaches while keeping their application regulated by ethics and law. Obviously in a street situation, you cannot use unreasonable force. The author presents a responsible yet effective approach to self-defense drawn from commando approaches used during the twentieth century by armed forces personnel. I am especially impressed with the book's presentation of the need to judge every opponent's individual strengths and weaknesses. The ability to think separates people from beasts. This book brings rationality to self-defense while presenting fighting techniques that really work. I very highly recommend this book to not only some who is interested in commando techniques but self-defense.