Just got this in my email. A guy took the time to do this. It's
very humbling when someone takes the time to review your
work.
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I don't know him personally, but I can tell one thing from
looking at his Web site and DVD: Demi Barbito doesn't know
the meaning of "half-assed."
I have been interested in firearms and martial arts for a good
portion of my life. My firearms training has far outpaced my
martial arts training, which has been piecemeal and, I'm
sorry to say, decidedly half-assed. I began with kung fu San
Soo in the mid-80s; started my firearms training in earnest in
the Marine Corps; and had my latest foray into MA studying
kickboxing in a mixed martial arts studio. Over the years, it
occurred to me that firearms and martial arts did not have to
be mutually exclusive--Chuck Habermehl's video Entry
Team Combatives, for example, addresses the possibility
that an armed operator may need to take someone to the
ground, yet if memory serves, firearms aren't central to his
solutions--but there seemed to be no place to study a
firearms-integrated martial arts "system." Until now.
Demi Barbito, director of the Center for Self Preservation
Training (CSPT), has, in classic "Of course--it's so obvious!"
style, effectively incorporated firearms into mixed martial arts
training. Just as a martial artist can use a knife, stick or other
hand weapon, he or she can also add firearms to the fighting
"toolkit." Likewise, a gunfighter can add empty-hand martial
arts techniques to his or her repertoire. And if you're like me,
you can stand to study in both areas at the same time. I will
be visiting CSPT in the near future; until then, there's Fire
Power.
I am particularly critical about training videos, because I
know how little effort is usually put into a typical firearms or
martial arts training tape, and how little additional effort is
needed to make one that stands out. Most cost $40 and last
about 30 minutes, and the quality is usually abysmal: shot in
one take during a regularly scheduled class with an old VHS
camcorder, poor lighting and worse sound.
The first thing that appealed to me about this DVD is that it
encompasses two hours of material for its $39.99 (plus
shipping) price. In the training-video niche, Lenny Magill
leads the pack in video quality, setting the standard that other
producers should strive to meet (but seldom do, to the
detriment of the genre). Although Fire Power isn't quite up to
that level, it comes damn close. This is a quality production,
standing head and shoulders above all the overpriced, badly
shot commercials for someone's training facility. It's even
more impressive that Barbito wrote, directed, edited and
scored it himself.