Lessons From The Fighting Commandos

Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent book!
Review: A friend recently purchased this book for me knowing my interest in hand-to-hand combat and fighting techniques. This is an excellent book! It is jam packed with useful information while at the same time it is concise and to the point. The photographs illustrating each step of the techniques is terrific. The pictures provide step-by-step illustrations of the described techniques. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about hand-to hand fighting techniques. I found the approach taken by the author to be one that I can highly recommend to anyone, from child to adult, who is interested in self-defense.

Rating:
Summary: Lessons from the Fighting Commandos-Platinum all the way
Review: A super present that I got for Christmas this year was a book by Fred Neff on the Fighting Commandos. I especially like this book's coverage of topics not normally discussed in other books on fighting techniques such as defending against hand and foot attackes from different ranges and in prolonged fighting situations. Unlike the typical karate books, Lessons from the Fighting Commandos covers basic grappling maneuvers and defenses when forced to fight on the ground. This book is solid platinum from cover to cover in its exploration and explanation of how to fight.

Rating:
Summary: Fighting Tactics of Proven Worth
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Book on Commando Strategy
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Book on Commando Strategy
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Balanced Presentation Excellent for Children and Adults.
Review: The balanced presentation on self defense in Lessons From the Fighting Commandos makes it an excellent book for children and adults alike. After my husband's death, I noticed my son's depression and withdrawal from activities. His schoolwork greatly suffered and I found that it was nearly impossible to get him to read. Finally, I bought Fred Neff's book on Lessons From the Fighting Commandos for my son hoping it might at least get him reading again. At first he looked at the pictures, but within a short time he was reading the text. A few days later I came home and saw him standing in front of the mirror practicing lessons from the book. As time went on, it became clear that the book had a profound effect on my boy. He started taking an interest in athletics and reading as well. Lessons from the Fighting Commandos is a book any parent would love because it not only gets children interested in reading, but teaches other valuable lessons as well. It avoids the irresponsible approach used by other books that tell children that self defense involves a kill mentality or that one simple blow will defeat any attacker. Instead, Lessons From the Fighting Commandos teaches that to be good at self defense, like any other discipline, requires learning its principles, hard work, persistence, conditioning and developing the ability to think analytically. These life teachings transcend self defense and transfer to other important endeavors as well. I love the book for what it has done for my boy and strongly suggest its purchase for children and adults.

Rating:
Summary: This is a classic five star book
Review: The other day I again came upon Fred Neff's book "Lessons from the Fighting Commandos," a book that I can best characterize as a classic in the field of self-defense. Years ago, as a high school wrestler, I thought I was really a tough guy until I took a beating at a party from a bigger guy. To add insult to injury, he told me that the next time he ran into me I could expect an even greater beating. Given the size of my hometown, it was inevitable that I was in for another beating. My pride was hurt and I made up my mind that if we were going to fight again, I was going to be on the winning end. A friend of my older brother, who had been away from town for several years serving in the military, recommended that I read a book on fighting commandos written by a great fighting master, the book was Fred Neff's Lessons from the Fighting Commandos. I read the book cover to cover and then started to use it as a practice guide. Every day I practiced the fighting moves from boxing and wrestling contained in the book. Within a short time, I felt confident enough to take on the bigger guy that had given me the beating. We ended up running into each other at a local hangout in a shopping area and as expected he picked a fight. This time I used the fighting tactics that I learned in Lessons from the Fighting Commandos and won. My friends made a hero of me because of my win. Lessons from the Fighting Commandos gave me more than fighting skills, it taught me the value of practice, adapting a winning strategy in dealing with an opponent's aggression and the power of thinking your way out of a problem. This is a five star book all the way, that really packs a powerful punch and will be appreciated by anyone who takes the time to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Balanced Presentation Excellent for Children and Adults.
Review: This is an awful book. The techniques that are shown are not Commando fighting skills. What is shown is basic boxing. Commando's used many open handed actions- chops, palm heels, etc. The closed fist had limited use. I have another of Neff's books and this seems like a re-hash of that books material. There is a whole section of the book that gives strategies for dealing with different types of opponents, bigger and stronger, smaller and weaker, the wrestler, the knockout king, etc. While you might be able to tell that someone is bigger and stronger, I question anyone's ability to tell who would be a knockout hitter. Only in something like a boxing match do you know what type of fighter your opponent will be. Again basic boxing is the framework of this book. Using the tactic of "sticking and moving" is not a tactic for the street. Do it sudden and do it hard and then leave, is the rule for the street! If the reader is looking for Commando skills this book will really leave you wanting (I closed the cover after 5 mins.). Any readers wanting Commando skills should get "Kill of Get Killed" by Rex Applegate.