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http://www.armytimes.com/issues/stories/0-ARMYPAPER-2972810.php
Combatives become commonplace
Army weaving hand-to-hand skills into its formal combat training
By Michelle Tan - mtan@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 15, 2007
The Modern Army Combatives Program got its informal start 12 years ago when a squad of Army Rangers from 2nd Ranger Battalion started learning mixed martial arts.
Today, the program has spread throughout the service, hitting Army posts worldwide and drawing widespread attention.
It became service doctrine in 2002, has its own schoolhouse at Fort Benning, Ga., and, as part of a two-year plan that began in October 2005, every soldier receives formal training in the hand-to-hand fighting system.
“The program grew because of demand from the Army,” said Matt Larsen, a retired sergeant first class and former Ranger who wrote the formal program of instruction for the combatives program. He is now the program’s director. The program will continue to grow, he said, because “it really works, especially now that we have feedback from the battlefield.” Larsen said he has hundreds of stories from soldiers who put their combatives skills to the test in combat.
So far, more than 19,000 soldiers have completed the Level I combatives course, more than 3,100 have completed Level II, almost 700 have finished Level III and more than 145 have completed Level IV, the most advanced of the program’s four levels.
Much of the higher-level training takes place at Fort Benning, but soldiers are training in Levels I and II across the Army, and the combatives school sends mobile training teams to teach Levels III and IV on other posts.
On Oct. 12-14, an estimated 200 soldiers will gather at Fort Benning for the third annual all-Army combatives tournament. Many of this year’s fighters competed in post-level tournaments to get to the all-Army event. Before last year, only Fort Benning had a full tournament, Larsen said. “In 2007, seven or eight different competitions around the Army have [had] the advanced rules,” he said.
The advanced rules allow fighters to strike and hit their opponents, similar to Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading mixed martial arts sports association. Fighters are more limited in what they can do in the preliminary and intermediate rounds.
Fort Knox, Ky., took it one step further. During its post-level tournament April 27-29, fighters in the finals fought in a 6-foot-high, UFC-style steel cage. It was the first tournament in the Army — and likely the U.S. military — to stage its final bouts in a cage instead of a boxing ring.
The decision to incorporate the cage was approved by Maj. Gen. Robert “Bob” Williams, commander of Fort Knox and the Armor Center, who said the cage brought realism and safety to the fights.
Troops in Iraq, for example, who end up in hand-to-hand combat situations are likely to encounter them in the cramped quarters of an Iraqi home, he said.
Since August 2006, more than 900 soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., have been certified at Level I, and more than 350 at Level II, said Sgt. Jeff Yurk, the noncommissioned officer in charge of combatives for the 82nd Airborne Division.
The growth at Fort Bragg happened because Yurk sold combatives to unit leaders, he said. One challenge was educating the leaders about combatives, Yurk said.
“People think a lot of soldiers are getting hurt doing combatives,” he said. “This is not only a way to teach these soldiers hand-to-hand fighting, but the mental benefits — it makes them better NCOs. It makes them better leaders.”
Soldiers at some Army posts are using combatives to better their communities and even to further their educational goals.
In July, city officials from Clarksville, Tenn., went to Fort Campbell, Ky., for help with its growing gang problem, said John Renken, who runs the combatives program at Fort Campbell.
“We’ve taken the Modern Army Combatives Program and we’re starting to train to help kids get off the streets,” he said. “The goal is to keep them here as long as possible and surround them with positive male influence and get them off the street,” Renken said.
The program is popular, with about 40 kids in the class now, he said.
“The coolest thing is, this is the kind of stuff the [combatives program] can really influence,” he said. “They can make a difference that far outweighs the Army.”
At Fort Riley, Kan., soldiers who train in combatives also get college credits from Kansas State University. soldiers enrolled at KSU can get certified in combatives and earn two to four credits while doing so.
Larsen predicted the Army combatives program will grow.
In the next year, he said, Level III and IV instructors will have an additional skill identifier so they can be better managed by the Army.
His goal is to give every soldier the chance to train and the chance to compete, and the urban combat soldiers are engaged in today makes combatives that much more important, Larsen said.
“When you enter an 8-by-8 room, it’s not a marksmanship contest,” he said. “It’s a fight.”
Combatives become commonplace
Army weaving hand-to-hand skills into its formal combat training
By Michelle Tan - mtan@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 15, 2007
The Modern Army Combatives Program got its informal start 12 years ago when a squad of Army Rangers from 2nd Ranger Battalion started learning mixed martial arts.
Today, the program has spread throughout the service, hitting Army posts worldwide and drawing widespread attention.
It became service doctrine in 2002, has its own schoolhouse at Fort Benning, Ga., and, as part of a two-year plan that began in October 2005, every soldier receives formal training in the hand-to-hand fighting system.
“The program grew because of demand from the Army,” said Matt Larsen, a retired sergeant first class and former Ranger who wrote the formal program of instruction for the combatives program. He is now the program’s director. The program will continue to grow, he said, because “it really works, especially now that we have feedback from the battlefield.” Larsen said he has hundreds of stories from soldiers who put their combatives skills to the test in combat.
So far, more than 19,000 soldiers have completed the Level I combatives course, more than 3,100 have completed Level II, almost 700 have finished Level III and more than 145 have completed Level IV, the most advanced of the program’s four levels.
Much of the higher-level training takes place at Fort Benning, but soldiers are training in Levels I and II across the Army, and the combatives school sends mobile training teams to teach Levels III and IV on other posts.
On Oct. 12-14, an estimated 200 soldiers will gather at Fort Benning for the third annual all-Army combatives tournament. Many of this year’s fighters competed in post-level tournaments to get to the all-Army event. Before last year, only Fort Benning had a full tournament, Larsen said. “In 2007, seven or eight different competitions around the Army have [had] the advanced rules,” he said.
The advanced rules allow fighters to strike and hit their opponents, similar to Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading mixed martial arts sports association. Fighters are more limited in what they can do in the preliminary and intermediate rounds.
Fort Knox, Ky., took it one step further. During its post-level tournament April 27-29, fighters in the finals fought in a 6-foot-high, UFC-style steel cage. It was the first tournament in the Army — and likely the U.S. military — to stage its final bouts in a cage instead of a boxing ring.
The decision to incorporate the cage was approved by Maj. Gen. Robert “Bob” Williams, commander of Fort Knox and the Armor Center, who said the cage brought realism and safety to the fights.
Troops in Iraq, for example, who end up in hand-to-hand combat situations are likely to encounter them in the cramped quarters of an Iraqi home, he said.
Since August 2006, more than 900 soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., have been certified at Level I, and more than 350 at Level II, said Sgt. Jeff Yurk, the noncommissioned officer in charge of combatives for the 82nd Airborne Division.
The growth at Fort Bragg happened because Yurk sold combatives to unit leaders, he said. One challenge was educating the leaders about combatives, Yurk said.
“People think a lot of soldiers are getting hurt doing combatives,” he said. “This is not only a way to teach these soldiers hand-to-hand fighting, but the mental benefits — it makes them better NCOs. It makes them better leaders.”
Soldiers at some Army posts are using combatives to better their communities and even to further their educational goals.
In July, city officials from Clarksville, Tenn., went to Fort Campbell, Ky., for help with its growing gang problem, said John Renken, who runs the combatives program at Fort Campbell.
“We’ve taken the Modern Army Combatives Program and we’re starting to train to help kids get off the streets,” he said. “The goal is to keep them here as long as possible and surround them with positive male influence and get them off the street,” Renken said.
The program is popular, with about 40 kids in the class now, he said.
“The coolest thing is, this is the kind of stuff the [combatives program] can really influence,” he said. “They can make a difference that far outweighs the Army.”
At Fort Riley, Kan., soldiers who train in combatives also get college credits from Kansas State University. soldiers enrolled at KSU can get certified in combatives and earn two to four credits while doing so.
Larsen predicted the Army combatives program will grow.
In the next year, he said, Level III and IV instructors will have an additional skill identifier so they can be better managed by the Army.
His goal is to give every soldier the chance to train and the chance to compete, and the urban combat soldiers are engaged in today makes combatives that much more important, Larsen said.
“When you enter an 8-by-8 room, it’s not a marksmanship contest,” he said. “It’s a fight.”
