Audiobook: Combat Ready

Combat Ready: Mastering Force-on-Force Training is a powerful, experience-driven guide to the most realistic and practical methods for preparing for combat, crisis, and confrontation. Written by David Burnell—a veteran, tactical instructor, rescue diver, and founder of the Urban Warfare Center—this book takes you deep inside the philosophy, psychology, and technology of modern force-on-force training, where warriors, law enforcement officers, and protectors of all kinds learn to think clearly and act decisively under extreme pressure.

Burnell shares the evolution of stress-based tactical realism and the principles that make it life-changing, from the establishment of the Urban Warfare Center after 9/11 to today’s cutting-edge use of Paintball systems, rubber projectiles, and enhanced simulations. You’ll learn how controlled chaos builds confidence, how stress inoculation reshapes performance, and how tactical decision-making, leadership, and communication are forged through consequence-based training.

Through detailed chapters on scenario design, OPFOR (opposing force) development, law enforcement applications, medical integration, stress reduction, and after-action reviews, Burnell delivers a blueprint for building safe, lawful, and practical training programs that produce calm, capable, and ethical professionals. His firsthand accounts and real-world lessons provide technical instruction and deep insight into the mental and moral dimensions of readiness.

Combat Ready also looks toward the future—examining how Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and biometric analytics are revolutionizing how we prepare warriors and first responders. Yet at its core, the book reinforces a timeless truth: technology can simulate the fight, but only disciplined humans can master it.

Whether you are a soldier, law enforcement officer, instructor, or civilian protector, this book will challenge your thinking about readiness. It will teach you how to turn stress into strength, uncertainty into confidence, and fear into focused performance.

Key Lessons and Takeaways

* The origins and evolution of force-on-force training

* How to design and lead safe, practical tactical scenarios

* The critical role of OPFOR and how to train them for realism

* Techniques for stress inoculation, performance tracking, and AAR mastery

* Integrating medical, rescue, and interagency response into scenarios

* The future of tactical training through VR, AI, and adaptive analytics

Train hard. Think clearly. Lead well.

Combat Ready: Mastering Force-on-Force Training by David Burnell is more than a manual—it’s a mindset. It’s a guide for anyone who must perform when everything is on the line.

Be prepared. Be disciplined. Be Combat Ready.

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

Get full access to David Burnell at davidburnell.substack.com/subscribe