"Left of bang," is the term for responding before bad things happen, prior to a situation actually becoming physical. Picture a timeline with "bang" being in the center. "Left of bang" is before the punch is thrown, the gun is fired or the IED explodes. "Left of Bang" is also a book that should be read by anyone interested in self-defense, or for law enforcement officers and military personnel. "Left of Bang; How the Marine Corps Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life," is a system for locating, evaluating, and addressing problems before they become trouble. I have a whole shelf of books dedicated to spotting or identifying the signs that indicate possible trouble. On it are books such as Joe Navarro's "What Every Body Is Saying," a guide to reading body language. "The Gift of Fear," by de Becker is next to Dave Grossman's books, "On Combat" and "On Killing." There are books by Malcolm Gladwell, Rory Miller, Gary Klein and David Klinger. These authors cover a spectrum of experts in various fields such as psychology, sociology, and military and law enforcement experts. If you don't want to read a whole shelve of books then "Left of Bang," by Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley, is the one I recommend. (This is not to slight the others mentioned here; I still suggest reading them as well.) In 2006 Marine General James Mattis, commander at that time of all Marines in Iraq requested the development of a program to increase Marines' situational awareness. He wanted training that would provide troops with the ability to go on the offense before the "bang." "Right of bang" is after bad things have occurred. Responding "left of bang" increases your chances of success while reducing possible casualties. The Marine Corps War-Fighting Lab began developing the "Combat Hunter" program. "This program," the authors note, "was designed to take the best and most basic skills of observation, hunting and urban know-how and combine them to increase Marines' abilities to proactively identify threats on the battlefield." (pg 24) To accomplish this they called on numerous civilian sources. Ivan Carter, an African big game hunter, contributed to classes on improving observation techniques. David Scott Donelan, a former Rhodesian special forces soldier, designed a program for reading and understanding the physical terrain and tracking individuals and large groups. Greg Williams, a retired Detroit law-enforcement officer put together "combat profiling," skills for reading and understanding human behavior. "Left of Bang" focuses on the profiling aspect, the ability to "recognize the subtle aspects of human behavior," which occur within all cultures, "to find the enemy hiding in plain clothes." (pg 25) These are the same skills that help us locate and respond to danger prior to the "bang." After reading a book I judge it by how many pages have corners turned down – this means that page and/or the one facing it have highlighted sections. With "Left of Bang" there are only 19 pages out of 215 that don't the corners turned down. In fact, I'm going to start rereading it again. "Left of Bang" provides a logical system for locating/identifying problems and techniques for understanding, practicing and developing these skills. Buy several copies because you're going to want to give it to friends. Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama. He is the author of "The Book of Two Guns" - http://shootrite.org/book/book.html writes for several firearms/tactical publications, and is featured on GunTalk's DVD, "Fighting With The 1911 - http://shootrite.org/dvd/dvd.html Website: www.shootrite.org http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shootrite-Firearms-Academy/156608611038230?ref=ts