Get Outta Town!

The beginning of a new year is always exciting, especially when the outgoing year was full of so much turmoil. For many people, fuel prices and other financial considerations made 2008 the year of the “staycation.” But 2009? The economy is still in rough shape, but the prediction is not only for an up tick in travel but for increased travel to exotic – even “forbidden” – locations. Maybe this is your year to visit Cuba before it becomes legal to travel there, or maybe you’re dreaming of closing your eyes and aiming a dart at the map to let fate pick your next adventure for you.

Whatever you decide, plan wisely with some expert advice from Paladin Press. Adventure Travel in the Third World: Everything You Need To Know To Survive in Remote and Hostile Destinations by Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin is a rollicking trip around the world to the places where tourists don’t go. They cover everything you’ll need to know before embarking to points unknown.

Before you leave, remember that nothing enhances travel and opens doors like the ability to effectively communicate with the locals. (My one-eighth-Irish brother was welcomed like a son of the Old Sod when he was able to ask directions in Gaelic during a recent trip to Ireland.) So before you head out, invest some time with The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast by A.G. Hawke. The author, a U.S. Army Green Beret who often travels to foreign countries on short notice, promises that his teaching method will help anyone become functional in any language in seven days and proficient in 30.

So make a plan, have fun, and remember the sage observation of famed neurosurgeon/physicist/rock star Buckaroo Banzai: “Wherever you go, there you are.”

New from Paladin Press: Highland Martial Culture: The Fighting Heritage of Scotlandby Christopher Scott Thompson

Now available from Paladin Press

The revival of interest in historical Western martial arts has focused a great deal of attention on the weapons of Scotland, especially of the Highlanders. Yet, despite all this enthusiasm for the martial arts of the Highland, few of those practicing have experienced genuine Gaelic culture – and without a cultural context, no practice of martial arts can be considered complete.

Highland Martial Culture examines the nature of the Gaelic warrior class and its martial training; the Gaelic duel and how it differed from the duel in continental Europe; the phenomenon of wandering swordsmen in Highland society; the Highland conception of honor; internal aspects of martial arts practice such as mental tricks, traditional charms and spells used in warfare; unusual skills such as the fast draw; and health practices associated with the warrior class.

This is your chance to find out more about the rich cultural heritage associated with the practice of Highland weapons.

Order Highland Martial Culture by Christopher Scott Thompson now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Drawpoint, Volume 3: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Strategies with James A. Keating

Now available from Paladin Press

Master-at-Arms James Keating teaches you how to hone your reverse-grip knife fighting skills to razor-sharpness in this third video of the Drawpoint series.

Taking what you’ve learned from the previous volumes, Keating teaches the foundational fighting drill called Pallasoot, designed to burn trapping and hooking techniques into your muscle memory so no matter how you’re attacked, you’ll be able to control your assailant’s limbs. He also links this drill to the previous material, showing you a multiplicity of attack and defense strategies for both lethal and nonlethal fighting. Also taught are fighting with the left hand, fighting an opponent who is left-handed, replacing the knife with a handgun for extreme close-quarter shooting and using the long gun as an unbeatable close-range defensive tool against a knife-wielding opponent.

Drawpoint isn’t overengineered knife-dancing: it is a knife fighting system that you can plug into any close-combat style you practice for maximum effectiveness in a life-or-death situation. For information purposes only.

Order Drawpoint, Volume 3: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Strategies with James A. Keating now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Drawpoint, Volume 2: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Tactics with James A. Keating

Now available from Paladin Press

Building on the skills and techniques Master-at-Arms James Keating taught in the first volume of the series, this DVD continues your education in knife combat with the reverse grip.

Focusing on the edge rather than the point, Keating shows you how to perform the cover and slash drill: the fundamental combat drill every competent edged-weapon fighter needs to know. With his typical attention to detail, he teaches rapid knife deployment and maximum efficiency in close-quarter combat, demonstrating how this drill and the applications drawn from it can defend against both high-line and low-line attacks, how you can perform less-lethal attacks with the blade, lightning-quick drawing and cutting attacks, and more. Keating also teaches you to execute the drill with a knife in each hand, turning you into that most lethal of adversaries: the ambidextrous fighter.

And even if you don’t have a knife, the empty-hand applications taught in Drawpoint, Vol. 2 will have you destroying your assailant’s attacking limbs in no time, allowing you to win the fight even when you’re behind the curve. For information purposes only.

Order Drawpoint, Volume 2: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Tactics with James A. Keating now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Drawpoint, Volume 1: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Fundamentals with James A. Keating

Now available from Paladin Press

Originally released on videotape as Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting, this updated DVD teaches you the fundamentals of knife combat using the reverse grip. Fighting with a knife is inherently dirty, dangerous and deadly. But when the going gets really tough in close-quarters, real-world knife fighters turn to the reverse grip to win the fight. Allowing you to get up close and personal with your assailant, the reverse grip also enables you to implement a variety of devastating hooking, trapping and immobilizing techniques that are virtually impossible to pull off with a conventional grip.

In this DVD, Master-at-Arms James Keating reveals reverse-grip knife fighting’s secrets, from basic slashing and thrusting patterns to more advanced combat methods that integrate foot traps and live-hand striking to create a virtually unstoppable close-combat system. Keating also shows you advanced training drills and quick-draw methods that will help you hone your reflexes as sharp as your blade. For information purposes only.

Order Drawpoint, Volume 1: Reverse-Grip Knife Fighting Fundamentals with James A. Keating now from Paladin Press!

Enter the Wim Demeere Holiday Sweepstakes and Win Fabulous Prizes!

Popular Paladin Press author and martial artist extraordinaire Wim Demeere (The Fighter's Guide to Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training, the Combat Sanshou series) is currently running a Holiday Season Sweepstakes over on his website, http://www.wimdemeere.com/. You can win over $270 worth of prizes - including personal consultation time with the man himself - but don't delay, because this is a limited-time offer!

Entering Wim's sweepstakes is easy, and the details of the big holiday giveaway can be found here.

The prizes:

• 1st prize: a copy of The Fighter's Video Guide to Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training DVD and a 60min telephone consultation
• 2nd prize: a 60min. telephone consultation
• 3rd prize: a 30 min. telephone consultation

While you're at it, check out Wim's frequently updated blog for everything from behind-the-scenes photography to training tips to product reviews.

New from Paladin Press:Fighting in the Clinchby Loren Christensen and Mark Mireles

Now available from Paladin Press

Brawling doesn’t get any closer or uglier than when you’re struggling to tear yourself out of a street attacker’s clinch. Authors Loren Christensen and Mark Mireles know this from painful experience: with a combined 75 years of martial arts study and more than 40 years of working the mean streets as city cops, they have had many opportunities to develop their techniques for both powerfully breaking a criminal’s determined grasp and hanging on to a suspect desperately trying to resist arrest.

Fighting in the Clinch is not about banging around with training partners – it’s about surviving a frantic street fight. It’s filled with techniques for that gritty place where there are no tap-outs, referees or rules. If it’s illegal in competition, it’s in here. If it would get you jailed if you weren’t legally defending yourself, it’s in here.

Christensen and Mireles present dozens of tried-and-true clinch escapes using clear, uncomplicated instruction and step-by-step photos. Let these veterans of countless violent street fights give you the edge you need to break out of a dangerous situation.

Order Fighting in the Clinch by Loren Christensen and Mark Mireles now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Livedby Paul Kirchner

Now available from Paladin Press

More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived is a collection of profiles of superlative warriors of such strength, skill, courage and ferocity that they could – and often did – turn the tide of battle. It follows Kirchner’s earlier collection, The Deadliest Men, published in 2001, but the individuals included in this second edition are in no way second to those in the original volume.

Each of the warriors herein dominated a violent environment and triumphed against overwhelming odds. They fought for blood, not sport, with the weapons of individual combat: fist, knife, sword, bow, pistol, rifle and machine gun. They range from Western lawmen to big-city cops, from crusaders to fighter pilots, from a boy shepherd in Judea to two women ranchers in Kenya. Most of them fought for something beyond survival – a cause, a code, a creed or a country – while others fought solely in defense of their lives, a worthy enough purpose in itself. Some of them are well known; others are not so well known, though they deserve to be.

It seems that the least we owe the hero is that we remember him. Without remembrance, without honor, we cannot expect to have such men when we need them. Without an awareness of what has been done, we do not realize what can be done, nor are we inspired to do that which should be done.

Order More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived by Paul Kirchner now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:The Fighting Forms of Kuntao Silatwith Bob Orlando

Now Available from Paladin Press

Before you skip over it, wait: The Fighting Forms of Kuntao Silat with Bob Orlando isn’t just another forms video. In fact, it’s nothing like any form you’ve ever seen. Rather than showing you a dry collection of martial arts moves that have no basis in real-world combat, best-selling author Bob Orlando and Paladin Press have put together a video production that teaches hard-core fighting skills in a format that’s easily learned, repeatable and practical. Drawn from the best elements of the Indonesian combat art of kuntao-silat, this video shows you the only two forms you’ll ever need.

Combining the author’s logical, detailed instruction with multiple camera angles and slow-motion photography, you will learn two of the most fundamental forms of kuntao-silat: Enam Matjan and Elbow Exercise. Both teach the important combat basics of angle, leverage and body positioning to win any fight, including dealing with multiple assailants or fighting from a disadvantaged position. In addition, Orlando shows strikes with both the open hand and the fist that will literally stun your opponent with pain and leave him open to devastating leg destructions to disrupt his base.

This is the forms video for people who don’t like forms and is a must-have for any complete combat library. The video set includes a 46-page workbook on Enam Matjan and Elbow Exercise. For information purposes only.

Order The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat with Bob Orlando now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Defense Dans La Rue, Vol. 1:Savate Street Kickingwith Craig Gemeiner

Now available from Paladin Press
In the early 20th century, vicious Parisian gang members calling themselves “The Apaches” were all but uncontrollable. The fighting system called Defense Dans La Rue – created specifically to combat these thugs by developing techniques more brutal than the criminals could think of – turned the tide against them

In Defense Dans La Rue, Vol. 1: Savate Street Kicking, instructor Craig Gemeiner presents a detailed breakdown of the savate street-kicking techniques of this combat system, combining it with conditioning exercises and modern pressure drills tailored to the needs of anyone interested in personal defense. There are no high kicks and martial-artsy techniques here: this is a fighting system for real-world combat. For information purposes only.

Order Defense Dans La Rue, Vol. 1: Savate Street Kicking with Craig Gemeiner now from Paladin Press!

Paladin Podcast Episode 8: Bob Orlando, Author of the New DVD The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat

We are honored to round out the 2008 season of The Paladin Podcast with esteemed martial arts teacher and respected Paladin author, Bob Orlando.

Orlando is the founder of the Je du-too School of Martial Arts, and teaches a hybrid fighting system that combines elements of Chinese kuntao, Indonesian pentjak silat, Chinese kenpo, kung-fu and the Filipino martial arts. He is also the author of the best-selling books Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals and Martial Arts America, and he has several popular Paladin Press videos under his belt, as well: Reflex Action, Fighting Arts of Indonesia, and The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao-Silat, Vols. 1-4.

His newest DVD, The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat, has just been released and can be ordered on the Paladin Press website by clicking HERE.

Subscribe to The Paladin Podcast via your iTunes interface; the new Orlando episode should automatically will download for you. Alternately, you can visit our podcast's blog, where you can stream the episode on your computer, or click through to set up your iTunes subscription.

*Our exclusive offer for listeners of The Paladin Podcast:*

Listen closely to this episode for information on how to take 10% off of The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat. You must act soon because this special offer is only good until midnight on Thursday, Dec. 25.

New from Paladin Press:The Art and Science of Mook Jong:The Blade Setwith Joseph Simonet

Now Available from Paladin Press

One of the most innovative minds in martial arts today, Joseph Simonet is always learning, always refining, always improving. Now, in this groundbreaking video production from Paladin Press, Simonet has taken his best-selling Mook Jong Slam Set material and adapted it to create a functional knife fighting program suitable for any type of combat involving edged weapons.

Wooden dummy training allows you to perform techniques full force and at full speed, simulating a real fight in the way practicing with a live partner can’t without inflicting serious injury. Using that as a guiding principle, Simonet prepares you for a real knife fight by teaching a short form on the dummy that burns in simultaneous block and attack, moving through your opponent to disrupt his base, lightning-fast slashing attacks, initial stunning strikes to set up a fight-stopping cut and much more.

A knife fight isn’t a game. Every movement in this form is designed to damage your attacker, cripple him or end the fight once and for all. For information purposes only.

Order The Art and Science of Mook Jong: The Blade Set with Joseph Simonet now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:The Art and Science of Mook Jong:The Club Setwith Joseph Simonet

Now Available from Paladin Press
Drawing from the functional, combat-ready movements of his best-selling Mook Jong Slam Set video, master martial artist Joseph Simonet teaches you a simple, brutal stick fighting system in this original video production from Paladin Press. In The Art and Science of Mook Jong: The Club Set, he focuses on teaching a streamlined version of the Slam Set, adding a stick rather than just going empty-handed. Taking best advantage of this novel approach to wooden dummy training, Simonet shows you how you can train full speed and full force on a partner that won’t complain, get injured or quit.

This isn’t the fancy stick-dancing you may have seen in other instructional videos: it’s a hard-core, street-ready fighting system that teaches crippling strikes with both the business end and the handle end; close-range attacks that can lead to applying chokes, locks and takedowns; two-handed stick hits to your opponent’s most vital areas; and more.

If you’re looking for complicated flow drills and finesse-filled techniques, go elsewhere. The Club Set is all about finishing your opponent using the simplest of weapons in the easiest, most effective way. For information purposes only.

Order The Art and Science of Mook Jong: The Club Set with Joseph Simonet now from Paladin Press!

Clips of Brand New Videos on Paladin Press YouTube Channel!

From veteran martial artist and best-selling Paladin author Bob Orlando, Paladin is pleased to announce the release of The Fighting Forms of Kuntao-Silat, a book and video package that is sure to change the way you think about forms training. In it, Orlando takes two seminal kuntao-silat forms, Enam Matjan and Elbow Exercise, and breaks them down into their combative applications, showing you the form from several angles. Combining devastating hand strikes and brutal leg destructions, this video will show you what real forms training is, not dojo dancing.

From best-selling video author Joseph Simonet, Paladin presents two separate videos based off of his wildly popular Mook Jong Slam Set program.

The first is The Art and Science of Mook Jong: The Blade Set. This video takes Simonet's in-your-face approach to wooden dummy training and applies it to realistic knife combat, showing you how you can practice full force, full speed folding knife tactics on a partner that won't get injured or quit. Paring the Slam Set down to its most elemental form suitable for knife fighting, Simonet teaches simultaneous block and attack, lighting-fast slashing techniques, fight-stopping cuts, and much more.

In The Art and Science of Mook Jong: The Club Set, Joseph Simonet teaches a simple, effective stick fighting system not based on angles of attack or complicated flow drills, but instead focusing on gross motor skills that will get you out of a jam when the only weapon you have is mankind's most basic: a stick or club. Using principles of adhesion and close-range striking, the Club Set is suitable for anyone interested in a weapons-based self-defense program for the real world, not the dojo.

WILLIAM WENDALL HOLMES,1929-2008

William “Bill” Holmes, author of the Paladin Home Workshop Weaponry series of books and videos, died on December 4, 2008.

Many people call themselves gunmakers, but few have actually made a gun. Instead most buy parts from various manufacturers and assemble them. Bill Holmes made countless rifles, handguns, and shotguns from scratch—ranging in caliber from .17 to .50—for almost 60 years. As a result he became an acknowledged expert on most firearms, as well as the laws governing their manufacture, modification, and possession. Once he stopped building precision-crafted firearms for others, he concentrated on writing about how to make guns safely and legally so that others could make their own weapons. He wrote his first Paladin book in 1977, Home Workshop Guns for Defense and Resistance, Volume I: The Submachine Gun. Through his seven books (The .50-Caliber Rifle Construction Manual; Home Workshop Guns for Defense and Resistance, Volumes I–V; Home Workshop Prototype Firearms; and A Master Gunmaker’s Guide to Building Bolt-Action Rifles) and two videos (The Home Workshop .50-Caliber Sniper Rifle and Home Workshop Weaponry) for Paladin, Bill attracted a legion of followers who anxiously awaited each new project from the master gunmaker. He also published a scathing indictment of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in Entrapment: The BATF in Action, recounting the agency’s fruitless efforts to hang an illegal weapons charge on him.

Bill kept a fully equipped machine shop in an outbuilding next to his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but in later years was forced to sell off his lathes, drill press, and other equipment to pay legal and medical bills. For a brief period he turned his hand to knifemaking. (The knife shown in the photo was a gift to Paladin staff.) He will be missed by many.

Bill Holmes was preceded in death by two sons, Jeff and James Holmes. Survivors include a daughter, Leslie Bracy of Stillwater, Oklahoma; and two grandchildren.

Our Big 25% Off Sale is Going on Now! Get It While It Lasts!

Want to know how to save 25% on ALL Paladin Press books and DVDs, now through Dec. 31?

Then head on over to Paladin's online store and get yourself subscribed to our monthly e-newsletter! Simply click on the "Sign up for our Newsletter" icon (located at the bottom-left corner of our homepage), type your email address in the field provided, and click "Join."

Soon after you've signed up, we will e-mail the current (December 2008) edition to you. It contains the specific promo code necessary to take advantage of this limited-time special offer. Also included in our December e-newsletter are great gift ideas, links to all kinds of free bonus content, and other special offers, sale items, and Paladin news.

And please note: we will not share your email address with anyone - ever.

Jim Morris and the Story of War Story: This Week's Classic Paladin Centerfold!

It's time once again to open the vaults and dust off another vintage Paladin Press catalog centerfold.

This week, we're revisiting the genesis of Jim Morris's Vietnam combat memoir: War Story, and of Paladin's timely - and trend-setting - publication of this seminal work.

When Morris, a Vietnam Special Forces captain, approached Paladin in 1979 with his manuscript for War Story, he had already been turned away by numerous large publishing houses. Paladin, however, knew a critically important piece of non-fiction when it saw one and took the book to press.

The universal acclaim that followed set the stage for an entirely new publishing genre: the combat memoir. The public's hunger for a truthful, full accounting of the Vietnam conflict had now been stoked, with other publishers rushing to fill a newly-recognized literary niche.

Yet Morris's book continues to be treasured like few others in its class. To this day, it is widely regarded as one of the essential stories of what happened "over there."

To access the centerfold article (itself a much better retelling of War Story's impact than that attempted here), visit the Paladin Press website and click on the Features and Extras tab at the top of the homepage. In the dropdown menu, select "Classic Paladin Centerfolds" to view our growing list of classic catalog centerfolds scans; the Jim Morris files are located at the bottom of the page, highlighted in red. They will open on your computer's PDF reader when you click on them.

For ordering information, click on the above cover image in this article. Paladin's secure website makes your online experience an easy and safe one.

The Story Behind Paladin’s Book of Dangerously Fun Stuff

In 1995, Paladin published Ragnar’s Action Encyclopedia of Practical Knowledge and Proven Techniques, a collection of eclectic material culled from a variety of Paladin books. We did this to give readers a taste of a broad selection of Paladin titles and showcase authors to a whole new audience. The book and its follow-up were very successful, and we have been looking for a way to do it again ever since. Now we’ve done it.

Putting our own twist on the hugely popular Dangerous Book for Boys and its spin-offs, we are pleased to offer Paladin’s Book of Dangerously Fun Stuff for Boys Who Never Really Grew Up. Where the original book covered such topics as how to build a tree house, make a paper airplane, and other things every well-rounded boy should know, our version talks about how to build a catapult in your backyard, take out a tank with creative guerrilla tactics, make a pile of money as a bookie, and all sorts of similarly fun stuff. Some of the chapters are excerpts from Paladin best sellers and little-known gems in the catalog; others were commissioned exclusively for this project.

Here’s a taste of just some of the more than 70 chapters in the book:

• How to Fight a Duel by Paul Kirchner
• Dealing with Potentially Violent Co-Workers by Loren Christensen
• Fighting a House Fire with a Garden Hose by George Bradford
• Confessions of a Ferrari Mechanic by Tom Meadows
• Mantracking by John Plaster
• Boxing DQs for Self-Defense by Mark Hatmaker
• Your Rights by Claire Wolfe
• Celebrating the Bicentennial in Cell Block C by K. Hawkeye Gross
• Guerrilla Fishin’ by A.G. Hawke
• How to Win a Knife Fight by Ernest Emerson
• How to Land an Airplane . . . If You Must by Reid Kincaid
• Safari Hunting in Old Africa by Basie Maartens
• Running a Police Stakeout with Jim Cirillo by Paul Kirchner
• How to Be a Sports Bookie by James Jeffries as told to Charles Oliver
• The Greatest Sniper of All Time by John Plaster
• Start Your Own Country by Erwin Strauss
• Thinking Like a Pilot to Boost Your Car’s Performance by Laura Russo
• Riots as a Spectator Sport by Loren Christensen
• Constructing Simple Homemade Rockets by Joel Simon
• A Rescue Firefighter’s Quick Course in First Aid by Michael Morse
• Adventure Travel in the Third World by Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin
• Making Weapons out of PVC Pipe by Tom Forbes
• Kitchen Table Remedies for Survival Medicine by Lisa Katie Stratton
• How to Disable a Tank by Ragnar Benson
• Interpreting Graffiti in Your Neighborhood by Matthew David O’Deane
• How to Avoid a Fight Without Throwing a Punch by Bill Kipp
• Vehicle Rollover Recovery by Brad DeLong
• The Fighting Tomahawk by Dwight McLemore
• How to Become a Professional Con Artist by Dennis Marlock
• A Quick and Dirty Guide to Crossbows by Gary Dowdy
• Brady Denial? Get Your Guns Back! by C.E. Hill
• The Border Patrol by Colonel Charles Askins
• A Crash Course in Survival Driving by Robert H. Deatherage Jr.
• How to Become Invisible in the Woods by Tom Forbes
• Build a Backyard Catapult by Bill Wilson

All this and 35 more compelling chapters on all sorts of stuff . . . stuff that’s must know, stuff that’s just neat to know, and stuff that some people think you shouldn’t know—but we’re going to tell you anyway!

Ultimate Secrets of Survival Salsa (aka Sambo Cranbo!)

Our recent Christmas party here at the offices of Paladin Press was filled, as usual, with great food, music, and merriment. The annual potluck is actually a high point of the year, as we have several very talented cooks in our ranks. While I’m not among these kitchen achievers, I did manage to find a simple, no-cooking-required dish that led to a phrase I hear about as often as “Madame, your private jet to Paris is ready” and “Mom, this meatloaf is divine!” – and that is “Can I have the recipe for this?”

It’s relatively fast, fairly healthy, and with its bright red berries and green jalapenos and cilantro, it’s festive as hell!

Cranberry Salsa

12 oz. fresh cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
6 scallions, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, chopped
2 inches (or more) fresh ginger root, finely chopped
Grated peel and juice from 3 limes
Pinch of salt
8 or more tablespoons fresh cilantro

Pulse the cranberries and sugar in a food processor. Add scallions, jalapeño, ginger, lime peel and juice and a dash of salt. Pulse till it’s evenly chopped, but don’t go too far or you’ll end up with mush. Add cilantro last, and pulse lightly. Put it in a decorative bowl, cover it up, and refrigerate for at least two or three hours, but overnight is best. Serve it with a big bag of your favorite chips (baked cinnamon pita chips are especially good) and you’re all set!

Eliopulos To Head NCIS Forensics Division

Louis N. Eliopulos, author of the best-selling Paladin series Death Investigator’s Handbook, Volumes 1–3, has recently been named Chief of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Forensic Consultant Division. Eliopulos has been with NCIS since 1999.

As chief of the forensics division, Eliopulos will be in charge of the eight forensic consultants that NCIS has stationed throughout the world. These individuals are responsible for conducting forensic investigations of any crimes that involve U.S. Navy personnel. To perform this vital function, these forensic specialists respond to crime scenes all over the world, where they conduct training, examinations, investigations, and reconstructions. They also train and supervise the activities of the Navy’s Major Case Response Team (MCRT).

One of the most important duties of Eliopulos’ new office is to ensure that his personnel are cognizant of and supplied with the latest crime-fighting technology. An important tool he will use to achieve this is Death Investigator’s Handbook (DIH).

“I have used the information in DIH to solve homicides since before its publication in 1993. The book was originally conceived utilizing material I had used, created and collected to solve cases. I adapted it to use with my investigators responding to death scenes while at the Florida Medical Examiner’s Office. Police learned of these checklists and had asked to have copies. During this time I was teaching police how to investigate deaths at the Police Academy. It was during this training that I began putting together a notebook for the class to help them in their investigation. That notebook was eventually published as the DIH.

“Since its publication, it has been the basis of my lectures, instruction, and training. Many of the classes and training seminars I have conducted include a copy of DIH as part of the curriculum. In working cases for NCIS, I often contact local police departments to offer NCIS assistance on unsolved murder cases, and sometimes those local departments are less than enthusiastic about accepting assistance from the “feds.” When I walk into the departments, I try to take a few moments to look over the reference books on the police detectives’ bookshelves to see what they use. On many occasions, I will spot DIH. When I introduce myself as the author of DIH, it invariably makes them more receptive to me and other NCIS investigators.”

Eliopulos estimates that since 1993 he has trained thousands of death investigators using the methods in DIH. He usually accepts about 16 training engagements each year, to groups ranging from 30 to 300. The response to the book from these working professionals has been very rewarding to him.

For those of you who wonder how the real NCIS works, as compared to the fictional NCIS television show, Eliopulos recommends watching The Real Cases of NCIS. This series will follow the developing investigations of 13 of the real NCIS’s most interesting cases. Eliopulos will appear in two of the cases. The shows will begin in February or March of next year. It is being produced by Storyhouse Productions of Washington, D.C.

In the meantime, sharp-eyed fans of the hit CBS show NCIS might catch a glimpse of Eliopulos’ book on the bookshelf of David McCallum’s NCIS character, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, the loquacious medical examiner. To play the role, McCallum undertook an extensive study of forensic science and became somewhat of an expert on the subject. When he visited the real NCIS offices, Eliopulos presented McCallum with a signed copy of Death Investigator’s Handbook, which McCallum has read and proudly displays on “Ducky’s” bookshelf. According to McCallum, DIH has a “recurrent role” on the NCIS series.

Mark Hatmaker's Third Annual Tennessee Boot Camp: The Aftermath

Announced here in July 2008, Mark Hatmaker's Third Annual Tennessee Pugilism/All-In Wrestling Boot Camp took place November 8 and 9.

This limited attendance affair allowed the "lucky" few to endure 8+ hour days in a last man standing format. The stalwart crew withstood revolving rounds of boxing, conditioning challenges (featuring Spider-Man pull-ups and other compound hanging bar exercises from Mark's Jungle Gymnasium curriculum), shooting (lots of underhook placement), groundwork (Ground 'n' Pound and old school leg hooking being the primary themes), and lots and lots of cage work inside the Octagon.

Every single participant made it out the other side of this meat grinder with flying colors (black and blue).

A SEAL’s solution to piracy on the high seas

Modern-day pirates off the coast of Somalia have hijacked or attempted to hijack cargo ships, oil tankers, and even luxury cruise liners in recent weeks. In this book, three experts—a former commander of SEAL Team Three, a U.S. Navy combat veteran of the river deltas of Vietnam and navy special operations in the Persian Gulf, and a terrorism specialist who has been professionally analyzing terrorism and insurgency for almost four decades—provide a concise, proactive blueprint for dealing with maritime piracy head on.