The U.S. Military; often looked at as Americas finest. We see them everyday on the television defending America from terror abroad. They are skilled in fighting in all forms and fashion; right down to hand to hand combat. Aren’t they? Many veterans today who have had the opportunity to see the core training of today’s military aren’t so sure that today’s soldiers are fighting smarter and not harder. This article is about martial arts in the military and how today’s military could possibly be trained to be killed instead of being trained to kill. Many see Hand to Hand combat training as the core of being a soldier. Hand to hand combat is the most primitive form of combat; it is also the core exercise for building aggression and “Warrior Spirit”. Let’s face it who wants to have an Army of “mam-bi pambi’s”; who are too scared to engage the enemy in close quarters if necessary. It’s no secret anyone can shoot the enemy from 800 meters away; but if all a soldier is trained to do is shoot at distant targets they won’t know what to do when the enemy catches them off guard or in ambush.

Hand to hand training is the center of a warrior. It is the root of what makes the warrior who he or she is. The warrior or soldier is stripped of everything but what they were born with and then taught to protect themselves in the worst situation possible…WAR. Unarmed combat training brings out the very best in soldiers. The aggression, heart, determination and the will to survive are brought out to peak levels. It is with the skills and fundamentals learned in Hand to hand that soldiers also learn to apply in other aspects of soldiering.

Many enthusiasts who are in the martial arts outside the military and who have interest in the military often wonder,”What type of hand to hand is taught?” I can say from experience that the concept of Hand to hand has changed dramatically since my days of service. When I arrived to Basic training in July 1996 the Army hand to hand combat was silly, to say the least. Drill Sergeant was teaching us by all means what appeared to me as Tae Kwon Do and greco Roman Wrestling. This is not what a soldier needs to be learning. The techniques were just not practical. As the years passed and America’s now most popular sport began to develop; the Ultimate Fighting Championship had a great affect on the training being taught to soldiers. Due to popularity of the 18- 34 male populous; the Army began to develop it’s hand to hand program to mirror the sport. Not only was it great exercise for Physical Training; it was great for recruitment as well.

I recently went out to Barnes and Nobles to look at the selection of martial arts books. I came across the book H2H Modern Army Combatives. as I looked through the book I noticed that the entire contents of it were mixed martial arts techniques. There were double leg take downs. Double leg take downs are techniques that when done on hard ground will cause injury to the person executing the technique. One of my favorite techniques was the soldier clinches with his adversary then grasps the adversaries head. The soldier then falls to his back with the enemy on top and in his guard. These are not techniques that are going to help a soldier survive a hand to hand confrontation. The last thing a soldier wants to do in close quarters combat is injure him/ her self or be on the ground and especially on their backs. Unarmed combat is a SURVIVAL skill. It is a last stitch effort to regain a weapon and survive. There are no weight classes, time limits, rounds or rules and therefore mixed martial arts techniques are poor choices to train soldiers in.

I knew that the Army was headed for disaster with combatives when in 2004 in the Zabul province in Afghanistan I was in the 3rd Special Forces, leading a cordon element with 10th Mountain soldiers on a raid. I had several of the roads going into the target village sealed and blockaded by 10th Mountain Division soldiers. I was personally overseeing one check point when I noticed two of my subordinates had a vehicle stopped and were attempting to extract the occupant. The occupant struggled, and that is when the young Private leaped into the air wrapped both legs around the rather small Afghan and pulled him to the ground on top of him. I quickly ran over and ripped the confused Afghan man off from him. I immediately restrained him and then asked what the private was doing. His reply was,”Combatives Sergeant!”. He explained to me that he was trying to ,”Tap him out”. I was furious at the level of ignorance displayed while on duty by this soldier. Someone in his unit had trained him to react this way. Not only was it completely wrong for him to react that way; it was deadly. His partner was not pulling security either. His counterpart was cheering him on.

A combative program should be complete. It should augment the unit S.O.P.s. Combatives should be practical efficient and simple to learn. Combatives are a last stitch effort and should not be treated as a game. Although many generals love the idea of non lethally submitting the “Bad guy”; and they love the way they can market mixed martial arts training to the 18 to 34 crowd. Unarmed combat is dirty ugly and mean. Unfortunately although it is great the military is spending more time training in unarmed techniques. They need to train the right principles and techniques. This is combat not a sport. I am afraid that the state our troops are in now leaves them trained to be killed, and not trained to kill. Commanders wake up!

hand to hand combat