By Sergeant First Class William C. Clark From the Spartans to the Japanese ered child abuse. They learned hand-to- times. But hand-to-hand, fencing and Samurai to the Soldiers of the Ameri- hand techniques based on the economy close-weapons training were not merely can Revolution, training of motion, unmatched swordsman- hobbies for Soldiers who fought using has helped produce more capable, con- ship and skills that made the Napoleonic tactics — they were vital for fident Soldiers, and combatives remain Samurai some of the most formidable survival. Cavalry charges and massed crucial to the training and development warriors of all time. In addition to their formations, paired with the use of fixed of the successful warrior. warrior skills, the Samarai practiced , direct-fire artillery and flint- In ancient Sparta, combatives budo (the warrior way), a belief system lock firearms, made hand-to-hand or were instrumental in the training and that gave them a calm and confidence edged-weapon conflict highly probable. It development of the warrior school, the in battle. Totally committed, they had was crucial that the forces had training agoge, which children began at the age an intense faith that their training and and experience in those areas, as well. of 7. Children of the agoge were forced skills would not fail them. From the Pacific campaigns of to fight using a style of and The Spartans and the Samurai World War II, the Korean War and submission locks called . had an edge — it was their training, the occupations that followed each, They fought with spears, sticks and their commitment, and their faith in Soldiers and Marines returned with swords in brutal fashion, honing their themselves and their doctrine. Simply not only exposure to but also in some warrior’s confidence and producing an put, they possessed a “warrior’s mind.” instances extensive training in, the indomitable mindset that seared the In the 234-year history of the U.S. . was brought back to tiny Greek state into the pages of his- Army, hand-to-hand training has re- the U.S. in large volume first, followed tory thousands of years ago. ceived varied attention, usually based closely by Okinawan- and Japanese- In the modern vernacular, the on the degree of personal interest of style . word “spartan” is a synonym for aus- those who had influence over training. After the Korean War, Soldiers and tere, hard or strong. Spartan warriors Early in our military history, “hand Marines brought back several Korean and their exploits became legend, and fighting” was practiced by George martial-arts styles later employed their dedication to military excellence Washington’s forces at Valley Forge by the Republic of Korea’s army in continues to be emulated by warriors to supplement the Napoleonic warfare a combatives program fostered by around the world. drills that Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von General Choi Hong Hi. Hi supervised During the Shogunate period in Steuben taught the . the publication of manuals and the Japan, the sons of the professional Throughout these early days of our implementation of the new program military class, or Samurai, were taught military history, morale and competi- with an old name: tae kwon do. He had bujitsu (warrior arts) under vicious tiveness were fostered by and a manual sent to his friend in the U.S., conditions that today would be consid- wrestling contests, among other pas- Jhoon Ree, who began teaching and

20 Special Warfare promoting tae kwon do as a sport and Boxing, and wasn’t even the best fighter among his as self-defense at his schools in Texas kickboxing follow a strict set of rules, brothers! He was successful because and other states. including referees for enforcing Mar- he and his brothers trained realisti- During the and the quis of Queensbury-style fight formats. cally; they relied on techniques that Cold War era, the U.S. occupied bases There was no way to prove which style worked in routine live . Royce in Thailand and throughout the Indo- was the best, most deadly or most and his brothers had developed a true china region, including the Malay Ar- efficient. That is, not until 1993 and warrior’s mindset. Live fighting was the chipelago, thereby exposing servicemen the debut of the Ultimate Fighting norm for Royce; it was not the norm to muay thai kickboxing; kali/escrima, Championship and a man of diminu- for his opponents. Royce had logged Philippine martial arts that emphasize tive stature named Royce Gracie. The thousands of hours participating in stick and sword fighting; and , original UFC showcased real one-on- live sparring, but his opponents’ hours Malayan martial arts that use strikes, one arena fights with limited rules. of live, full-contact sparring could be throws and bladed weapons). Muay Gracie demonstrated that the - counted on a single hand. His fam- thai kickboxing was particularly bru- ant who exhibited superior technique ily had perfected transitions between tal. It includes the familiar techniques and confidence, not necessarily brute techniques, just as Soldiers perfect of Western boxing but also includes force, was most likely to prevail. their transition from their primary trips, the use of knees and elbows, and The years since the UFC first aired weapon to their secondary weapon on shin , with bouts often ending in have shed light on the realistic applica- the range. To Gracie, fighting was like . This all-out type of fight- tion of martial skills in hand-to-hand clockwork. America was watching. ing drew large crowds at stadiums contests. Gracie’s many fights and wins In 1995, Gracie was a cult hero, and in small clubs. Demonstrations against bigger, stronger opponents who undefeated in the UFC. At that time, of weapons skill in the region featured were skilled in styles that did not allow within most Army units, there was a weapons like escrima sticks and vari- for realistic training opened people’s lack of confidence in the techniques ous edged weapons in blade-wielding eyes and made them reconsider their the Army taught, in the light of these dances. They featured common and training practices. Today, many have MMA contests. The Army lacked quality concealable weapons used with grace embraced the “new” mixed martial control of its instructors, there were and logical flow. Many servicemen arts, or MMA, approach to training first no program supervisors and, most found these displays to be efficient, made popular in the U.S. by Bruce Lee importantly, there was no sustainable, captivating and exotic. During and in the 1960s. MMA requires that train- train-the-trainer instructor-certification after the war, returning Soldiers and ing be well-rounded, focusing on skills program. As it always had been, train- immigrants from the region brought from multiple disciplines of combat-like ing was driven from the bottom, by an with them these styles of martial arts. , striking, trapping, in-fight- interested, mixed bag of trainers. The Overall, from the mid-1940s to the ing, takedowns and defense. situation led the commander of the 2nd early 1990s, the practice of martial arts It favors live-contact sparring and drills Ranger Battalion to reinvigorate the proliferated in the U.S. and around the over rigid forms and traditional ceremo- martial-arts training within his com- world. Tae kwon do and judo became nies, more like training under a high- mand. The Modern Army Combatives Olympic sports; schools sprang up school wrestling coach than under Mr. Program, or MACP, was the result. across the country with instruction in Miyagi from The Karate Kid. Those tasked with developing and styles from around the world. Today, Over the last 15 years, the Army implementing the MACP encountered there are thousands of schools teach- and the Marine Corps have spent more serious issues: Most of the Rangers ing karate, , ninjutsu and judo in time on the subject of combatives within the battalion seemed to feel that small towns and big cities. Some credit than they did during the previous 219 the techniques taught in FM 21-150, for that boom can be given to Hollywood, years. The main reason is that every- Combatives (September 1992), were which embraced Bruce Lee, David Car- one else in the world does, too. MMA is unrealistic or simply wouldn’t work. radine, , Steven Seagal, the fastest-growing sport in the world: The fact was that in accordance with Jean-Claude Van Damme and others UFC events, when televised, are out- FM 21-150, combatives were rarely in films that cast the actors as elite watched in the U.S. only by the NFL. taught outside basic training. The Soldiers, fighters and all-around heroes. Other professional sporting events reason most often cited for that lack Box-office receipts, along with enroll- such as basketball, NASCAR, baseball of training was that units with lim- ments in gymnasiums and martial arts and hockey all receive much lower rat- ited training time, whose battle focus studios, show that Americans aspire to ings when they are telecast in competi- was on “real” warrior skills, such as be strong and confident like their heroes. tion with UFC events. , road-marching and common- The perception that martial artists UFC events routinely break box- core tasks at skill levels 1-3, could not are all but invincible in a fight against office records, and they have taken waste their time with combatives. Giv- dozens of opponents and that they place in many states, as well as in en the vague combatives curriculum can train themselves to superhuman England, Ireland and Germany. Fur- and a field manual that had not been levels of performance has become ther, MMA events hosted in Japan significantly altered since the 1960s, it a popular idea in the U.S. After all, have packed more than 93,000 people would have been hard to disagree. there was no real forum for disproving in arenas. All this focus and popular- The new MACP incorporated the notion that a martial artist could ity is due to the simple fact that Royce techniques brought together from knock a man out by accurately apply- Gracie put himself on the line in an multiple disciplines and training input ing nerve pressure, or that Joe Blow arena. Sharing the same edge that the from well-known martial artists such kun do was the ultimate martial art, Spartans and the Samurai did, he won, as Gracie; J. Robinson, head coach of whose practitioners could rip out your again and again, just as his family had the Minnesota wrestling program and still-beating heart. been doing for more than 80 years. He former Iowa head coach; and muay

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smack down Ruben Arriaga of 5th Group All-Army Combatives Team TKOs his opponent to win third place in the light heavyweight at the 2008 U.S. Army Combatives Tournament, Oct. 5, 2008, in the Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith Physical Fitness Center at , Ga. U.S. Army photo. thai kickboxing coaches Manu Ntoh, to hesitate when faced with the op- Advanced technologies have been incor- David Rogers and Greg Nelson. MACP portunity to kill the enemy. Grossman porated in ranges like the Zussman Vil- included training with edged and cites some specific examples: “During lage, near , Ky. That range has impact weapons derived from escrima, World War II, as many as 80 percent of the realistic sights, sounds and smells kali and silat. Combatives training had riflemen chose not to fire their weapons of war. Rocket-propelled grenades now been standardized, revamped and at an exposed enemy, even if it meant shoot across the road with a whistle made realistic. Live sparring and train- that they might be killed. Many chose and explode in a shower of sparks, and ing was possible without the fear of ex- instead to fire their weapons in the air, scenario-based role players are armed cessive serious injury that came from a to posture by mimicking the actions of with immediate-feedback weapons, such lack of qualified supervision. The MACP war, or to busy themselves with sup- as paintball guns or sim-munitions. is now producing a trained and com- plies at the moment of battle.” Gross- That realism in training is the concept of petent instructor cadre, which is the man cites a survey of muskets recov- “stress inoculation.” core of any workable training program. ered after the battle of Gettysburg that Similarly, MACP includes sus- MACP is part of the answer to a serious indicated nearly 90 percent of those tained physical contact. These live- training problem within the Army, but weapons had not been fired. sparring drills prepare Soldiers the it is a baseline, not a catch-all. In response to that kind of informa- same way that pop-up ranges do. When Lieutenant Colonel Dave Gross- tion, psychologists and behavioral sci- the real stress-inducing situation is man’s book On Killing discusses the entists have helped modify the way we presented, the Soldier is armed not evolution of combat training and cites train as Soldiers. Computerized, pop-up with some half-forgotten techniques examples of the compulsion of modern ranges are now used to help condition once glossed over by an instructor but Soldiers, predominantly from the U.S., Soldiers’ response to fire on an enemy. with a system that has been reinforced

22 Special Warfare through repetition. He has been in that ball team. signed to give the regular Army Soldier stressful position many times and is Unfortunately, within Special a base from which to work; it is not more comfortable in it. When incoming Forces, the flavor-of-the-week approach an end state. Infantry Soldiers don’t students at the JFK Special Warfare to combatives training is still alive and carry secondary weapons or operate in Center and School’s NCO Academy well. Groups award contracts for teach- one- or two-man elements in semiper- are asked, “How many of you have ing combatives to local providers who missive environments, as SF Soldiers ever been punched in the face in a real may never have worn full kit in their life. are so often called upon to do. It is only fight? Go ahead, count grade school,” Combatives contracts are sometimes logical that we should develop TST for more than 70 percent of the students’ diluted by pairing combatives with other the SF operational environment, to be hands invariably go up. The follow up training, such as rock climbing or spe- used in accordance with their unit’s question is, “Of those who raised your cialized fitness programs. That causes tactics, techniques and procedures. hands, how many have more than five the contract arbitrator to look at things Such a program is already in ex- minutes of actual fight time over the like snazzy facilities rather than at the istence; it is called the Special Opera- course of your life?” Half the hands go qualifications of the combatives provider tions Combatives Program, or SOCP. down. “Ten minutes?” With few excep- and their program of instruction. Greg Thompson, Royce Gracie’s senior tions, most all of the hands go down. Within the SF Qualification black belt, a contributor to MACP’s MACP training incorporates many Course, committees and detachments development, and a combatives teacher fundamental aspects of fighting into include combatives training, but what to many elite special-operations units, a standardized format and has been is the training standard? By what point developed his TST-based instruction made doctrine by the U.S Army In- in the SFQC should a new candidate based on nearly 10 years of after- fantry School. MACP Level III and VI be qualified at MACP Level I? If candi- action reviews. SOCP complements the certification is issued by the U.S Army dates are exposed to the MACP Level I MACP; it addresses SF-centric tasks Combatives School at Fort Benning, curriculum, does their next exposure not covered in the MACP. It is being Ga., or through mobile training teams pick up where the previous committee implemented by some advanced-skills from the school. Attendance at the left off? Do they reiterate and cement committees at SWCS and ideally will school is scheduled through the Army the previous techniques, skip way become the baseline annex to MACP. Training Requirements and Resources ahead to Level II or start on a totally The Spartan warrior was supreme- System, and certification is recognized different training path, such as Israeli ly confident in a fight — any fight — in a Soldier’s records. pistol-disarming techniques, whether using a sword, spear, dagger The program has been embraced because that committee’s combatives or fist. He had that confidence because across the Army; it even provides a guy likes Krav Maga? he had been there a thousand times competitive venue in the U.S. Army The SWCS NCO Academy has before; he had felt the of an op- Combatives Tournament, held every fall incorporated MACP training, and so has ponent pin his neck to the ground and at Fort Benning. Competition has been the Special Operations Medical Training knew from experience that if he only purposefully engineered into MACP; it Battalion, but are their programs sus- relaxed, concentrated on breathing, allows Soldiers to test the viability of tainable at their current level, or are they turned his to the side and lifted techniques against an opponent who functioning only because of the cadre the opponents ankle he would easily gives no quarter. Fighting exposes members who happen to be there? We free his neck. people who are new to it (and if you’ve should apply a standard of implementa- The Samurai was able to man- done it for a total of 10 minutes or less, tion that quantifies levels of exposure to age his fear when confronted by more you’re new to it) to a unique aerobic/ the MACP curriculum in sequence. than one armed opponent because anaerobic experience and quite a bit of In regard to combatives, SF lacks he accepted the fact that he would be stress. It leaves the majority of combat- a standard for task-specific training, cut as inevitability, he had trained for ants almost completely exhausted after or TST. Depending on the group to it a thousand times and remembered only a minute, regardless of how much which they are assigned, Soldiers will the bruises he had suffered from the weight they can lift or how fast or how become familiar with different subject- wooden training swords. Without hesi- far they can run. matter experts and different takes on tation, he moved forward — whether Competition introduces unique TST. Things like cuffing techniques, he won or lost, it wouldn’t be because stressors like performance anxiety, vehicle-extraction techniques, weap- he wasn’t prepared. self-doubt and fear into the equation. ons retention and recovery, fighting When we standardize combatives Of course it isn’t war, but it’s as close in kit, and restraining compliant and programs and integrate them into the as you can get without biting off ears noncompliant subjects may or may not curriculum of the SFQC, we will do a or poking out eyes. When it comes to be taught, and they certainly are not major service for the Soldiers of Special this type of training, egos should be standardized. Will TST be addressed in Forces. Let no soul cry out, “Had I the checked at the door, for the betterment the group’s Special Forces Advanced training ...” of the force. The U.S. Army Combatives Urban Combat Course, if they get it Tournament and smaller unit tourna- before they deploy, or by the group’s ments like it foster general interest, combatives committee, if it has one? Sergeant First Class William as well as unit and individual pride. By the time a Soldier arrives at his C. Clark is an SF weapons sergeant Bragging rights go to the command group, he should have been at least assigned to the JFK Special Warfare that produces champion 10K racers briefly exposed to TST. There is no and touch-football or softball teams, cure-all when it comes to the fluidity of Center and School’s NCO Academy. but when it comes to the business of combat; still, we can establish a base- He was previously assigned to the 1st warfare, you’d rather have the guys line to give SF Soldiers a standard on Battalion, 7th SF Group. who can beat the crap out of the soft- which to base their TST. MACP is de-

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