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Most importantly, Siddle explores the psychological and spiritual components which establish the warrior mindset. This pioneering test is a must read for present-day warriors, or anyone involved in use of force, combat or martial arts training.

Average Customer Rating:

Good For Instructors/ Helps Students Pick Training

Customer Rating:

This book is aimed at trainers of military, law enforcement, security. It gives criteria on how to plan training to prepare someone to function in a survival situation. It explains how your mind is going to react when you are threatened and how you can use this to become more effective, instead of just shooting at paper targets or punching a bag. It will not give you scenarios or drills, that's your job. If you are a student or someone in the market for self defense training, this book will give you the tools to sort through all the bogus training out there. This will save you developing bad habits or even dying.

Full of Conclusions without Much Substance

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As a deputy district attorney who prosecutes individuals who murder or attempt to murder police officers in one of the most violent counties in the nation, I have an vested interest in understandig what officers encounter, how they train for deadly force encounters, and what affect it has on them. By gaining a better understanding of this, I can more effectively interview them, present evidence to a jury, and ultimately present a compelling. I was under the impression that this book was one of the first on the subject, and I wrongfully presumed one of the most authoritative. I was wrong. The book is a decent initial primer on the subject, but falls far short. It seems to have more conclusions without anecdotal evidence or reference to studies. I have found that Col. Dave Grossman's "On Combat" is by far a much better book on the issues. Having read both, I found that the time spent reading this book was wasted. I have not yet read Col. Grossman's "On Killing" but I've heard great things about it. I'm hopeful that I will continue to add to my knowledge of deadly force encournters so I can continue succesfully prosecuting those who try to murder those protecting all of us.

Thought provoking

Customer Rating:

As a firearms trainer, I regularly evaluate how I conduct my training. The book was thought provoking and provided some good information. It's not technique driven as most books are but rather tunes in on the underlying philosophies that influence how training is conducted. You may not agree with all his ideas, but I think anyone in the force continuum training field will find themselves having to critically evaluate what they do after reading it.

Heavy on theory, short on practical advice

Customer Rating:

I bought this book thinking that it would provide useful tips to improve a martial arts training regimen. I was sorely disappointed. Most of the book deals with theory and background, with very little useful info for a martial artist. The only really good piece of info I found in this book is that your fine and complex motor skills degrade as your heart rate increases (such as when you are scared and fighting for your life). There was one chapter on firearms training for urban combat, but that would be more useful to a police tactical team or a military unit rather than a martial artist. A psychology major might find this book interesting reading, but for help on martial arts training, better books would be "Fighter's Fact Book" by Christensen, "Get Tough" by Fairbairn, or "Complete Krav Maga" by Levine and Whitman.

Buyer Beware

Customer Rating:

Had bought this thinking it would be a good read and provide insight into training aspects for my martial arts. Feel asleep reading the second chapter. I have no idea why all these people rank it five stars as I found it not only boring, but repetitive and useless. There's even a disclaimer in the book stating that it's repetitive! I think I read too much into the title for this book and, not being a part of the military, found it lacking.