What form of physical combat is taught to the US soldiers?

Brian Collins

I am Mrrrican living in Australia, and do know stuff about our history and laws.

86w ago

In the US Army none really. Marines I have heard are still taught some knife strategies.

In Army ROTC we were taught how to grapple with someone who had grabbed our M16, but that was the extent of our melee combat training. I think in Army Basic soldiers are also taught how to grapple with someone who has grabbed your M16/M4. I have heard the term “Combatives” used to describe this training.

It isn’t really a martial art or anything completed though. There's also sometimes limited bayonete training.

Military Police in the US Army and Air Force are given a bit of melee combat training to make an arrest, similar to how civilian police are.

Sometimes when US troops work with a foreign Army, as part of the cultural exchange, the foreign Army teaches us their martial arts.

Here’s a Filipino Army officer teaching US Marines Pekiti-Tirsia Kali:

Some of my friends went on a cultural exchange with the Thai Army and were taught Thai melee tactics. Two Air Force cadets I knew went to Ukraine (they were also majoring Eastern European Langs Lit & Culture) and got taught some Ukrainian melee stuff.

From my perspective, and from what I have heard, these are generally viewed by US troops as a cultural exchange though.. not something actually useful. The same way an American tourist views a foreign religious ceremony.

Brian K. Price

American by birth and service

89w ago

The US Army has had a formal hand-to-hand combat program for several years.

The Army had a combatives manual, FM 21-150 (1992), but had no program to produce qualified instructors or any system for implementing the training in units other than the vague approach of leaving it to local commander’s discretion. Unit instructors inevitably ended up being whatever martial arts hobbyist happened to be in that unit and the training progressed along the lines of whatever civilian martial arts those people had studied in their off duty time. In most units there was no training at all.

In 1995 when the Commander of the 2nd Ranger Battalion [GEN Stanley McCrystal] ordered a reinvigoration of combatives training within the battalion, it didn’t take long for serious problems with the techniques in The Army’s existing combatives manual to surface. There was the general feeling among the Rangers that they would not work and that it was a waste of valuable training time.

A committee was formed headed by Matt Larsen to develop a more effective program. J. Robinson, a Ranger combat veteran during Vietnam and the head coach at the University of Minnesota wrestling program, came out to evaluate the emerging program and gave some valuable advice, mainly that a successful program must have a competitive aspect in order to motivate Soldiers to train and that it must include “live” sparing in order to be useful in growing a combative culture. The committee began to develop a program based around wrestling, boxing and the various martial arts they had experienced such as Judo and Muay Thai. Eventually, after looking at many different systems, a small group of Rangers were sent to train at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, California, made famous from their victories in the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Exploring the various training methods of the other—feeder arts—the ways they complemented each other and exposed each others weaknesses become clear. The concept of positional dominance from Jiu-Jitsu was expanded to the other ranges of combat and blended with techniques from wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai, judo to name just a few. With weapons fighting lessons from Kali and the western martial arts and the Rangers’ own experience from years in the infantry including the limited combat of that era, by September 11th, 2001 the basis of a totally integrated system of “Close Quarters Combat” had been developed and a sound foundation lain from which to learn the lessons of the battlefields to come.

Modern Army Combatives was the ultimate result and emphasizes grappling for ease of instruction and the ability to train techniques at full speed, full power with fewer injuries. The intent of MACP is NOT to develop experts at hand-to-hand combat but rather to instill in each Soldier an aggressive mindset and a willingness to close with the enemy. At more advanced levels MACP increases the use of striking techniques and a SOF variant is focused more on stand-up grappling and striking than the traditional BJJ approach of MACP.

The US Air Force largely adapted the Army’s Basic Combatives program for general Airmen training. Security Forces use a Security Forces Combatives program that includes weapons retention techniques, employment of restraints, and variations on techniques to minimize poor optics with regards to engaging suspects in close quarters. Many SOF and Airman stationed at US Army posts (TACPs, ISRLOs, SWOs, etc.) will participate in the Army Combatives program and can become certified in the Army’s instructor programs.

The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program was officially created by Marine Corps Order 1500.54, published in 2002, as a "revolutionary step in the development of martial arts skills for Marines and replaces all other close-combat related systems preceding its introduction." MCMAP comes from an evolution dating back to the creation of the Marine Corps, beginning with the martial abilities of Marine boarding parties, who often had to rely on bayonet and cutlass techniques.

In 1956, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Hayward (captain of the Judo team at MCRD) made Gunnery Sergeant Bill Miller the new Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Hand-To-Hand Combat. Miller was ordered to develop a new curriculum that a 110- or a 210-pound Marine could use to quickly kill the enemy. Miller created the program from various martial arts styles such as Okinawan karate, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Boxing, and Jujutsu. Every Marine recruit that went through MCRD was instructed in Miller's Combat Curriculum. This also included Special Operations Forces from all branches of the military and civilian entities. Later in 2001, retired Gunnery Sergeant Bill Miller was awarded the Black Belt Emeritus "for pioneering Martial Arts in the United States Marine Corps."

Eventually these different techniques evolved into the LINE System in the early 1980s. Later, the system was found to be lacking in flexibility and techniques for use in situations that did not require lethal force, such as peacekeeping operations. The Marine Corps began searching for a more effective system. The result was the Marine Corps Close Combat training Program implemented in 1997–1999. MCMAP was implemented as part of a Commandant of the Marine Corps initiative in summer 2000. Commandant James L. Jones assigned Lieutenant Colonel George Bristol and Master Gunnery Sergeant Cardo Urso, with almost 70 years of martial arts experience between them, to establish the new MCMAP curriculum.

I can’t find any good information on a Navy combatives program. It appears to be limited to those personnel (SEALs, EOD, Corpsman, etc.) that are either attached to other organizations and use their combatives programs or have a specialized combatives program of their own (such as the SEALs). (Navy combatives : adjusting course for the future)

Eric Tang

Paratrooper, Troop Commander, U.S. Army

90w ago

For the Army, we are taught Combatives (watered down BJJ with striking at higher levels):

The Marines have MCMAP:

They have levels of belts:

These belts can be worn on their utility uniforms. They also place an emphasis on training with various kinds of weapons against various numbers while wearing equipment at all levels. I think the Marines have a superior program because of that.

Bob Oneill

Undergrad degree in American History and constant reader on the subject.

91w ago

when i was on active duty, none.

not even pugil sticks in basic.

i am not sure how TRADOC justified this, except for my own uninformed speculation.

one thing that set me apart from the 18 year olds who had some form of combatives: the M1911.

i believe military protocol established that officers could carry a side arm and if i am recalling this correctly the only other group of soldiers who were issued the M1911 were Military Police.

so, maybe, TRADOC determined that MPs in OSUT couldnt fit both side arm training and pugil stick stuff into an already hectic 16 week training cycle

OSUT= One Station Unit Training: instead of 8 weeks in basic, and travel to another station for 8 weeks of MP school

TRADOC= TRAining and DOCtrine Command….

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