Bob Kasper's Tactical Knives

Bob Kasper had that rarest of qualities among self-defense instructors: real-world "street smarts," as opposed to the much more common "dojo smarts." A former Marine and student of personal-defense pioneer Charles Nelson, Kasper had picked up his experience in close-quarter self-defense the hard way: on the street, where it really counted. As a Marine Corps–designated close-combat subject matter expert, he helped create the Corps' close-combat knife curriculum. For a period, he also worked for Kelly McCann's highly regarded training company teaching military and government students how to survive while deployed to high-risk areas of operation.

While equally adept at close combat, firearms, and knife fighting techniques, Kasper had a special interest in knives. That lifelong passion, combined with his hands-on experience, made him the perfect candidate to write the "Street Smarts" column for Tactical Knives magazine. For five years (from January 1997 until January 2002), Kasper filled "Street Smarts" with his own unique perspective on staying alive in the world's most dangerous environments. He also penned several features on fighting knives for the magazine. Now, for the first time, all his Tactical Knives writings have been compiled under one cover so that a new generation of knife enthusiasts and self-defense students can benefit from his practical, real-world advice on selecting, training with, using, and defending against any type of edged weapon.