7 Jan 03

From a friend in the Philippines:

"I acquired chanced on a copy of Shooting to Live by Sykes and Fairbarn. Of course, it is dated, and the Commonwealth English, as well as windy writing style, must be overcome.

However, what struck me was that the nature of lethal conflict has not changed between when the work was written and the present. The authors' highlighting the importance of low-light skills and automatic stoppage reduction, as well as emphasizing that real criminals move and shoot back is as relevant today as is was then.

This stands in stark contrast to commercial gun magazines (and today's military philosophy) that dwell endlessly on hardware rather than software components of personal survival.

The philosophy that the book espouses is timeless. As you emphasized in you r last quip, fearful men, particularly those who are afraid of guns, can never be victorious no matter how much 'training' they've received."

/John