Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life

by Patrick Van Horne, Jason A. Riley, Steven Pressfield (Introduction)

"At a time when we must adapt to the changing character of conflict, this is a serious book on a serious issue that can give us the edge we need.” —General James Mattis, USMC, Ret. " Left of Bang offers a crisp lesson in survival in which Van Horne and Riley affirm a compelling It's better to detect sinister intentions early than respond to violent actions late. Left of Bang helps readers avoid the bang." —Gavin de Becker, bestselling author of The Gift of Fear "Rare is the book that is immediately practical and interesting. Left of Bang accomplishes this from start to finish. There is something here for everyone in the people business and we are all in the people business." —Joe Navarro, bestselling author of What Every BODY is Saying. " Left of Bang is a highly important and innovative book that offers a substantial contribution to answering the challenge of Fourth Generation war (4GW)." —William S. Lind, author of Maneuver Warfare Handbook "Like Sun Tzu's The Art of War , Left of Bang isn't just for the military. It's a must read for anyone who has ever had a gut feeling that something's not quite right...be it walking down the street, sitting in a corporate boardroom, or even entering an empty home." -- Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The Lion's Gate , The Warrior Ethos and Gates of Fire “An amazing book! Applying the lessons learned during the longest war in American history, and building on seminal works like The Gift of Fear and On Combat , this book provides a framework of knowledge that will bring military, law enforcement, and individual citizens to new levels of survival mindset and performance in life-and-death situations. Left of Bang is an instant classic.” --Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army Ret., author of On Combat and On Killing -- You walk into a restaurant and get an immediate sense that you should leave. -- You are about to step onto an elevator with a stranger and something stops you. -- You interview a potential new employee who has the resume to do the job, but something tells you not to offer a position. These scenarios all represent LEFT OF BANG , the moments before something bad happens. But how many times have you talked yourself out of leaving the restaurant, getting off the elevator, or getting over your silly “gut” feeling about someone? Is there a way to not just listen to your inner protector more, but to actually increase your sensitivity to threats before they happen? Legendary Marine General James Mattis asked the same question and issued a directive to operationalize the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter program. A comprehensive and no-nonsense approach to heightening each and every one of our gifts of fear, LEFT OF BANG is the result.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Survival, Psychology, Self Help, Audiobook, Leadership

228 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2014

Reviews

[Peter Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Amazon review - http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QYZ3H9...

There is a lot of value in this book. Foremost, the authors remind everyone to stay alert. Look for anomalies. If something doesn't seem to fit in, pay attention to it.

The other thing of value is that it provides a language and a heuristic for thinking about the world around us, particularly the behaviors of individuals from which we infer so very much while not being able to articulate why we inferred what we inferred.

I am a civil lawyer and in depositions and court examinations we have have a tendency to privilege the explicit content of a communication over the context. We can easily get into evidence the answer to "what did he say", but when it comes to a question like "was he angry" the answer is treated like a spooky bit of speculative mind-reading. Yet, it is vital to our personal survival that we be able to distinguish between jest and anger.

This books makes explicit what we've been doing implicitly, namely watching for body language, facial expression, interrelations with others, etc. For years, when I get an objection based on "speculation" to a question about whether a person was angry or sad or whatever, I will immediately drop into physical observations, e.g., was he leaning forward? what expression did he have on his face? was he speaking in a clipped fashion? etc. Essentially, I have been doing what these authors suggest, but retrospectively, rather than prospectively.

By creating a language of anomalies - kinesics, biometrics, proxemics, geographics, iconography, atmospherics - the author's permit an individual to communicate their observations, but, perhaps, more importantly, to organize the observations in a coherent system. I was a fencing instructor at some point. My school was Gaugler's Italian school, which had the virtue of being able to articulate fencing moves. Other schools would just demonstrate, but Gaugler had a language to communicate, and by having a language, the system provided a way of thinking about fencing.

This book does the same thing for "human observation." I've started to incorporate the ideas of the book into my witness examination, albeit not the language because the language is too arcane for people not familiar with the system. On the other hand, reading this book has motivated me to ask some questions I wouldn't have thought about, such as where were other people standing? what was the observed person doing with his hands?

This book is mostly of use to security professionals. It is not really aimed at the average person. Nonetheless, there are good thoughts here for the civilian, e.g., when you see 3 anomalies, do something; have a hierarchy of decisions so you don't dither; the hierarchy for civilians should be "run, hide, fight." But there is not, in my opinion, enough here for civilians.

This book is basically an advertising piece to sell the authors' system. The first 20% of the book lauds the authors' system and explains the problems that the status quo has. This a common approach by authors who are trying to interest people in buying the full package, i.e., training, the website, etc., but a person such as myself is already sold; we want the meat not the sizzle, and it took a long time to get into the meat, and when we got there it seemed that we got some terms and an approach....which was fine.

I would give this 3.5 stars if I could. I got material of value from this book, but I thought the advertising took up too much of the early content.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs a bit of editing, as it tends to get wordy and repeats itself at times, but the information inside is great and very useful.

Really helped me put in perspective my day to day habits that made me vulnerable; specially poignant is a paragraph about people and their phones, and how if you raise your head from your phone a bit, you will see a mass of unaware people looking at screens, not noticing the world around them. Really made me turn around my phone usage habits!

I'm also much more observant now whenever I go. Sure, I don't have to face insurgents and armed forces, but it never hurts to take a good look around you.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on situational awareness I have ever read.

Left of Bang details the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter programs methods, which were developed to get Marines being deployed in the Middle East "left of bang," able to recognize and respond to events based on non-verbal and environmental signals.

Left of Bang takes tons of research in the field and turns it into something that anybody can use to assess what is going on around them, and take action if needed, which can range from the threat of violence, which the authors intended, to being able to recognize something is wrong with a loved one, which is probably much more common for people not in the military.

[Henry Fellows Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A treasure trove of information about situational awareness and human behavior. The absorption of the material presented would be a valuable refinement of one's mother-wit. However, I should have liked to see more effort to teach the reader. More scenarios would have been helpful, for instance, especially if paired with analysis. Likewise, I'd have derived considerably more benefit from the book if it provided exercises and discussion for the material. The work would have been better if it had been both a textbook and a workbook. Nonetheless, it was an extremely compelling read. The information was presented in an organized and interesting fashion and the writing was skillful. I would recommend it to anyone interested in being safer and more confident.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of the Gift of Fear, this is a must read.
It's a detailed expansion of the premises outlined in that book. A substantial, thoughtful expansion and based on the program delineated for Marines.

I believe this is a book that should be read by everyone in the military or law enforcement (I can say that confidently, but not being involved in either) - but it's a strong must read for civilians with an interest in the topic.

The book is well, written, clear, and provides a outstanding conceptual framework and standardized language.

If the topic remotely interests you, read this book

[Jacob Amey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book put merely; is about situational awareness with an emphasis on staying out of/away from troubling situations before they happen "Left of Bang."

I usually do not do reviews but was saddened to see so many reviews stating "This is a great book if you're in the Military or Law enforcement, but it didn't apply to me."

This statement is a dangerous one and shows, in my opinion, a lack of understanding of the world around you. This book applies to all walks of life particularly the civilian.

- Walking to your car in a darkly lit car park; this book and its teachings apply.
- Taking a stroll through the park; the writing and lessons apply.
- getting coffee at your local coffee shop; this book and its teachings apply!

This book is for all us, especially those who live "Boring, mundane, lives" where "it could never happen to me" is often uddered.

Being situationally aware at all times can be exhausting I know. But we play the lottery every day whether we want to or not of being victimized. Sick people are out there. Why can't it happen to you? Being able to identify dangerous situations and people and getting out of the area before something terrible happens is always a better option than sticking around and becoming the victim you read about in the newspaper. This book helps to outline how to do that.

This and the Gift of Fear should be read by all in the Civilian world and apply the teachings to your daily routine.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was between 2 and 3 stars for me. It is about recognizing situations that could be potentially dangerous...noticing what's out of the norm and then acting on it. I'm not military and so much of this applied to the Marine Corps. Some of it was interesting, but mostly I felt it didn't apply. The authors eventually got around to applying these lessons to "normal" people.

I liked the title and the idea of this book, it just wasn't a fun read.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. The core idea (situational awareness and profiling are important) is good, but the book is low on information and full of filler, despite being short. The book is essentially a summary of USMC training, training which the authors now offer on a consulting basis, so to some extent it is an extended sales pitch.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been a great read before going on a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. This book is valuable for company grade officers and those in law enforcement. Because of where I'm currently at in my career, it didn't appeal to me.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

The politics books club picked as its November 1 read Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life, thus forcing me to read it in October, when I’m trying to only read nice Halloweeny books. Anyway, I’m not going to write a real lengthy review for this one because I’m going to instead yell about it on Zoom on Sunday.

This books is about combat profiling, mostly situational awareness and how to work through what counts as an anomalous circumstance. It would be an extremely good training on situational awareness if it were pamphlet-length. Instead it is padded out to short-book-length with absolutely eye-searing amounts of copaganda.

There is some very useful terminology here, allowing the reader to explicitly deconstruct and identify things that are usually noticed instinctively, if they are noticed at all: concepts like proxemics and kinesics, how to talk about baselines and anomalies in a sensible way, etc. There is also some really awful, ideologically blinkered terminology, like “good guys” and “bad guys,” where “good guys” usually means, like, U.S. forces illegally occupying sovereign nations that they illegally invaded based on lies and daddy issues, or cops. It is the Year of Our Lord 2020, the year of the George Floyd rebellions, and it is almost impossible for me to read a sentence about how police officers are good guys who will get in some sort of trouble (??) if they make terrible decisions that hurt innocent people. Like, I wish that were the case, dudes, but the notion that it isn’t openly legal for police officers to just execute civilians is so clearly not of this planet (or at least, not of this country) that it stands to undermine the credibility of the rest of the book.

There are also multiple exhortations that these situational awareness skills are useful for “everybody” and that “everybody” should learn them immediately followed by language that makes it clear that the authors have not for one second considered that the person reading the book might be anything other than a straight man. Like, references to men needing these skills are all in the second person and references to women needing these skills are all in the third person (usually it’s “your wife”; the idea that a man who found this book useful and thought his wife might find it useful too might then lend the book to the wife, thus making the wife the reader, is apparently beyond Horne and Riley’s imagination). Like, come on, guys.

That said, if you are in any capacity involved in security, community safety, etc. type work--which I think more “ordinary” people should be, because leaving that shit to the cops is a terrible idea--it is extremely useful to learn how to pay attention to things and how to understand what you’re paying attention to! For this reason I am glad I read the whole thing even though it would probably be easier to absorb the material if the framing weren’t so yikes, and possibly if the authors spent less time trying to upsell you on the rest of their system. Like, it really would be twice as good if it were only half as long, and I highly suggest that leftists not only read it but also make little zines about only the good parts to give to other leftists, so that the maximum number of people learn the concepts but the minimum number of people have to give money to the authors to slog through a bunch of chipper copy about how counterinsurgency tactics by occupying armies are super great. (They are important to know because they will be used against you, but they are not great.)

Anyway yeah the “left” here in “left of bang” refers to the earlier points on a timeline, not in any way politically left.

Originally posted at Community safety, counterinsurgency, and copaganda.

[Nahid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left of Bang explains Unite States Marine Corps' combat hunter methods which were designed to help marines recognize and respond to would-be-hostile or hostile environment through non-verbal and environmental cues. This mehods can be utilized by conscious citizen too.

Left of Bang is a metaphor for preventing the attack, the first shot, the explosion etc. The authors advise “to think about an attack on a timeline, bang is in the middle. Bang is the act. Bang is the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion, the sniper taking a shot, or the beginning of an ambush. Bang is what we want to prevent. Being left of bang means that a person has observed one of the pre-event indicators, one of the warning signs that must occur, earlier on the timeline for the bang to happen. Being on the other end of the timeline is referred to as being right of bang. Most of the training that military operators and law enforcement personnel receive is reactive. They learn skills and techniques that rely on someone else taking the initiative, which means waiting for the enemy or criminal to act first. Unfortunately, whoever strikes first possesses a powerful tactical advantage. When a person is right of bang, they are reacting to the action that took place.”

The authors details six domains to identify the potential threats in any situation and how to act proactively, so that we don't get victimized. They are:

*⃣ Kinesics: Conscious and subconscious body language.
*⃣ Biometric Cues: Biological autonomic responses.
*⃣ Proxemics: Interpersonal spatial interaction.
*⃣ Geographics: Patterns of behavior within and environment.
*⃣ Iconography: Expression through symbols.
*⃣ Atmospherics: Collective attitudes that create distinct moods within an environment.

So often we have intution (gut feeling) that something is not right or there's something wrong in the place and the situation we are in. But yet we ignore this primal gift (intution) and suffer the fatal consequences. This combat hunter program is not just for military, security professional and law enforcement officials. It also perfectly applicable to conscious citizen who can act proactively, recognize threat of violence and get away from it or fight back if necessary. "Something is wrong" does not just indicate enemy forces but also our very closest people - loved ones, friends, acquaintances

Situational awareness is the key to prevent unexpected event - be it verbal or physical assault.

[Son Tung · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't mind the 2 stars. This book has many valuable insights to learn from. The reason for my rating is it is not so radically different from What Everybody Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent s Guide to Speed-reading People.
For the 1st one third of this book, author beats around the bush, a lot.

[Dorum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it only 3 stars instead of 4 because it misses quite a bit from what the marine hunter combat program has. There is for example no discussion about tracking in this book. The only thing it covers is combat profiling. Over all though, it is a solid book with a good analysis of the required combat profiling skills. Easy to read and implement.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wealth of information and required rereading every so often...

[Courtney Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t bad. The first 50 pages out of 200 probably didn’t need to be in there. All the good stuff was after that. I felt I got a more information out of The Gift Of Fear.

[Alexander Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book touches on many different elements of being situationally aware. It's worth the read for anyone in safety-sensitive positions.

[Josiah Hepler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left of Bang is easily one of the best resources I have ever read regarding situational awareness. It takes a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to staying ahead of someone's malicious actions. The text is repetitive, but in a good way that helps you retain the material. This book is for everyone, whether military, first responder, or civilian; the information contained is invaluable to the safety of yourself and those around you.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

how spot bad guys, combat profiling, diffuse threat, shepherds sheep and wolves in sheep’s clothing, who don’t fit in, situational awareness, stages white yellow orange red and black, intuition a sense based on experience and knowledge, behaviors predict intentions, quick accurate decisions, criminal profile is reactive combat profiling is proactive, observe orient decide act, a good decision now with vigor verses perfect decision later, need tools to make good enough decisions identify few 3 critical clues to decision, then freeze flight fright response, what is anomaly can lead to suicide or danger, 9 principles of human behavior predictable creatures of habit take easiest path or lazy lousy liars reactive vs automatic is reliable telegraph intentions predictable via patterns not good at multi tasking too focused limited ability to do different things, body language of sweat twitch repetitive posture of relaxed or defensive, anomaly above or below baseline, believe actions not words, look for cluster of 3 or one dominant clue, the face of attack is anger red nose flared nervous with pupil constricted blinking Clinton did 60 vs 12 and loss of peripheral vision flush face dry mouth shiver frigid and thus attempts to counter with long slow breathing and rubbing arms or legs to calm down, observe proximity obstacle free paths iconography association and whether changed or masked, collective mood verses baseline, 3 clues unless deadly act, kill capture or contact, leader entourage direction adoration mimicking, ideology tops all as motivation, coffee shop training, learning with humility, when expert/knower learning and observing stops.

[Tara Scherner de la fuente · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misogynistic piece of crap. Moreover, the first 10 chapters are just the author basically talking about how valuable the book is--it's got about 10 percent actual content.

I don't really consider myself a feminist, but my gawd, this guy makes it clear that if you're a woman, this book is not for you. If you aren't a strong man, this book isn't for you. If you are not a heterosexual, this book is not for you.

I'm a pretty average, middle of the road kind of person with a lot of conservative and liberal leanings. But my gawd, as the author and publisher insulted one type of person after another, well, I'm asking for a refund. I got the book on sale, and I STILL want a refund.

What a piece of crap. I'm gonna take my non "helpless woman" (quote from book) over to the shooting range and get rid of some of my anger over this book. What an entitled set of assholes behind this thing! I was really looking forward to this, as a person who supports law enforcement, the Marines, etc. But I don't want to learn techniques from an author who clearly doesn't respect the people Marines fight for: Everyone. Feh.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would consider this a somewhat niche book, very much geared to professionals that engage in confrontations: military, law, security, protection. If you're looking for a more generalized, personal experience then steer toward Gift of Fear. The main effort is the detection and interception of persons intending to engage in violence. Left of Bang reads like an excellently researched, written and structured Field Manual (this is a compliment). From higher level concepts down to detailed instructions, this book has it all packed into a surprisingly compact format. I found that I took seven pages of notes for myself. I think this book is good enough that I gifted it to several coworkers I respect.

[David Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a member of a church security team and not having any type of law enforcement or military background, this book was essential and eye opening. The whole premise of how to recognize bad guys especially when they look just like the good guys is ridiculously applicable to church security. The supplemental resources available and online training tools offered make this book well worth the read. Seriously, read this if you are doing security especially at a church.

[Isaac Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read that can build a foundation of knowledge to work off of, it’s especially relevant for Military/First Responder communities that tend to observe more anomalous behavior on a more frequent basis and can apply these concepts to their daily lives. If you are a visual learner like me I would recommend checking out their online training once finishing the book, looking forward to jumping into that when I have the time.

[J. Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this about 4 years ago, due for a re-read thanks to CrossPolitic last night. Highly recommend for those in security or LEO jobs. Also a must read for Father’s and Mother’s, good aid in recognizing anomalies and having situational awareness.

[Ronald Aylward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must for military training and great for those who want to protect themselves.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 I considered a 3 as the last couple of chapters were more what I thought the whole book was going to be about, which was applying the combat hunter program to normal people.

The first quarter of the book or so seemed like a sales pitch for how important classes like this are for marines. Then there was a lot on the history of why the program was developed because we're not taught how to make the best decisions in unsafe situations.

As I'm not a marine, I spent a lot of the time wishing things were phrased for civilians, but unlike the impression I received when I read the description on Audible, this book isn't really geared for us. It's meant to be a companion for their combat hunter classes. So, there was a lot of jargon that didn't really click in my mind while just listening to it. I might go back and listen to the last part or two again at some point in the future.

Interesting, but not really what I was wanting.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I think I was mislead by the title and figured it was something with wide application to most people. You know, how to stay safe both at home and while traveling / out. Not so much. If you’re in law enforcement or the military, read on, but otherwise there are probably better books. This was was limited in appeal and very wordy for as short as it was.

[Tim Zornes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful and informative on situational awareness.

[Angie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my typical read, but I was looking for something about situational awareness & profiling.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

In contrast to Gavin De Becker's The Gift of Fear, and Lundy Bancroft's Why Does He Do That?, Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life tends to focus less on the real-life application of instinct and gut reaction, with respect to the every-day violence that occurs in our streets and homes, instead conjuring up a Chris Kyle-esque male fantasy of patrolling the streets of Kabul.

Ostensibly the actual goal of this book is to provide advice specifically to Marines touring overseas. If that was the case, surely the authors would stop trying to expound upon the greatness and glory of the USMC. Marines already know how great the Marines is. Instead, the majority of the content is geared towards Oakley wearing thumb-face men who want to imagine the valor that they could have had.

The inclusion of a bunch of silly jargon is the icing on the cake. You can't say "atmosphere", it must be "atmospherics". Not "proximity" but "proxemics". It's incredibly difficult to take this book seriously when all I can picture is Steven Seagal rolling around pretending to be an Operator with his fat ass hanging out.

The book has some useful content but I think it's going to take me a few weeks to get the taste of boot out of my mouth. Semper Fi

[Josh Ferrari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book can be a bit of a hard sell for the average citizen because it’s tailored more towards military/law enforcement personnel. That being said, anyone can obtain takeaways from the book. The book is a key promoter of situational awareness and operating in yellow. Operating in yellow can result in being able to identify a potentially dangerous situation before it happens. The book does a great job at explaining all the key factors one can look at when operating in the yellow and maintaining situational awareness at all times. Being proactive or “Left of Bang” instead of reactive or “Right of Bang.”