Modern military combatives programs have become a big deal over the last decade. You could almost call it a movement. Before I started transitioning from the military back in 2007, I was already teaching combatives to military personnel based on the Yudansha Fighting System. During the many years I spent teaching combatives, as well as teaching my own classes, I have had the great opportunity to train and train alongside all of the US Armed Forces and some Special Forces, and with foreign troops and special forces as well. As a martial arts instructor with a successful traditional martial arts and mixed martial arts academy for many years, here is my assessment and recommendations for our modern military martial arts programs; how to make the military programs more effective systems of learning and training to meet cutting edge, real world demands.
1. Change the Focus
The first thing that needs to be changed about the military martial arts programs is the focus. The Department of Defense as a whole needs to decide what is the purpose of combatives. Combatives programs have been a part our military since its inception, but when they military started to make official, modern versions of its programs complete with a system of testing that allows for more favorable promotion potential, the focus changed from learning combat enhancing skills to checking the block for belts, promotions and titles.
The current lack of focus within the military combative programs have come from two correctable areas. First, senior and operational leadership in the military generally frowns upon combatives programs due to the frequent injuries and consequent loss of manpower. Second, because senior leadership frowns upon the training, the instructors then water the training down instead of making it safer. Eventually instructors don't teach classes very often, because the senior leadership does not deem training to be safe and/or significantly important enough to allocate time for basic and refresher training. Training time is trumped by what commanders deem higher priority training on the training calendar.
According to one Officer of Marines, "We are supposed to have regularly scheduled training every week, and I have never had one in all of the years I served. ~ Captain USMC. The bottom line is that combatives training is not important to senior leadership. Some may argue that it is, but if it was, things would have changed a long time ago.
When I interviewed one USMC service member, I was very disturbed to hear that senior leadership has started to take a "senior" level, extremely watered down version of the course. He went deeper into details and said,
"When I became an instructor I was approached by a Major on the General's staff who asked me to test the general and his staff. When I told the Major that I would grade everyone by the book, the Major tried to coerce me into giving the General's staff a write off and certification. When I refused, they just found someone else who would do it." ~ Sergeant USMC
2. Train as You Fight
Programs should also be tailored to teach participants to train as they fight. According to one US Soldier, this is not the case at all.
"They train us like we are getting ready for a UFC competition, not for combat." ~ Sergeant, US Army. Therein is the problem, the focus has to be shifted to "Train as you Fight." According to Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest sword duelist in recorded history, "You can only fight how your practice." There are so many variables to combat that programs and instructors should do their best to include variables in the learning environment as well.
For example, if I am teaching knife training for self-defense on the streets of the inner city, that completely differs from teaching people how to fight a well trained military member in a foreign country. What happens when the enemy has on body armor just like the US military? That presents a problem in any sort of fighting because kicks and punches to a metal helmet, or stabs to the chest when the person is wearing body armor will make hand-to-hand combat just a bit more complicated. People have to be trained to recognize these differences in their environments and be able to immediately and decisively change their tactics. Some people may think this is instinctive, but I have found that even instincts are basic building blocks to be honed.
Let's expound on this point just a bit more. Generally, combative is conducted on a flat surface, Why do we have people always train on a flat surface? What about training on the side of a hill, in the sand or on wet tile and grass where footing is unsure? What about training with unconventional weapons? Currently these are called unconventional weapons, but in fact they are very conventional. There major groups of weapons that have certain characters of usefulness and "everyday"objects will fit into these major groups.
I remember in my martial arts academy, which is composed of at least 90% US service members, taking out a knife to demonstrate a training drill. I began to speak to students about how it was important to train every aspect of martial arts, not just certain things for competition. We have to be well rounded, I said. From there I asked everyone to simply block my knife attack. I went down the line, one by one, and did a basic front stab with a rubber knife and successfully stabbed 19 out of the 20 students who were there that day with one blow. From there, their eyes were opened to what martial arts is really all about; being well rounded.
3. Increase Safety
Safety is paramount to any great martial arts program. As a business man who runs a martial arts academy for a living, I can tell you that unsafe training leads to going out of business, and in the case of military leaders, a disinterest in combative programs as a whole. In my world, I would go out of business not because students would sue me, but because they can't train if they are hurt and therefore we lose money. In the military, commanders are more worried about manpower. For every service member that is hurt, that is one less person that can deploy to harm's way to defend freedom. For every service member that is hurt doing combatives training, that is one more log in the fire of degenerative combatives programs.
Over the years I have had students that hurt a lot of people, i.e. customers, that took away from the bottom line of our business. To create a safer environment, certain individuals were not paired together during training, or they were outlawed from doing dangerous techniques. In some cases our instructor staff just watched them very, very closely. Why? Because we want the dangerous students who needs to learn control, and the other students to continue their training, but to do it as injury free as possible. The focus should be the same in the military combatives programs. Instructors and leadership should want participants to train as realistically as possible, but with as few injuries as possible. Here is how you do that.
First, instructors should be taught how to conduct training in a safer manner, and I don't mean the standard military safety briefing, but injury prevention specific to martial arts techniques, how to match training partner's personalities, how to gauge the energy level of a group, when to modify training to maintain interest, etc. There is much more to safe training in martial arts than saying "be careful with your partner and drink lots of water." Instructor need to be martial artists, not martial enthusiasts.
Second, instructors must know how injuries occur, even in a slow paced training environment. They must be trained to have a deeper insight into how certain techniques work, why they work, variations, and ways to mitigate injuries for each technique being taught. Instructor even need to be taught where to stand and where participants should stand for safety and maximum over-watch of training.
4. Incorporate the 3 Phases of Combat
One thing I have always loved about my martial art, Yudansha Fighting System, a mixed martial arts system established in 1988 before MMA became popular, is that training always involves the three phases of combat, 1) striking and weapons 2) Clinch, or throwing range and 3)Grappling, whether standing or on the ground. All three of these stages must be included in training for someone to be "well rounded," because that is exactly how people trained for thousands of years. Just like stepping into any activity that requires a certain level of skill and muscle memory, any part of your training that is neglected will be exploited. In preparing to defend your life and the lives of others, minimizing training will have an adverse effect on our military service members.
Countries around the world specialize in their own military forms of martial arts and combatives training. Even civilian citizens in many countries around the world have taken to MMA as a sport. The bottom line is train hard in all areas, because people all over the world are. What happens when you meet a knife expert in some foreign country, or face off against a guy whose shins are so hard that one kick will literally snap your leg like a twig? This thing we call martial arts is serious business, so we have to train like it. MMA today has come to mean a very specific sport with its own rules, but TMA or total martial arts - is what Bruce Lee envisioned, taking everything useful about any martial art you can, and throwing away the useless, until you have a perfect system for your purposes. Furthermore, we have to have the wisdom to evolve our techniques and mindset over time; to adapt.
5. Scrutinize Advancement
I have gained great insight from training a large amount of combative trainees and instructors at all levels within the military combatives programs. I have observed time and time again, that the focus of most participants is to simply check the block, instead of training with their focus on getting better and saving lives. I have observed that people know the moves just enough to demonstrate it in a static, unrealistic environment. In fact, I prefer to say that they retain just enough knowledge to get themselves hurt. That is exactly why belt testing should be scrutinized to raise the quality across the military combatives programs.
As a professional martial arts instructor and competitor I can tell you that when I have had to defend myself in a stressful situation I never knew what techniques my opponent truly knew, or how good they were at executing those techniques. Therefore I continue to train like a madman, because that is the common sense thing to do; to prepare for anything and everything.
Military martial arts is not just self-defense but more often than not, offense - with harmful and sometimes killer intent.
If our modern US military truly understood the mental and physical training needed to have a polished killer instinct, then they would also realize that compared to most countries our combatives training is amateurish at best. Training is amateur because the mindset of training lacks the proper focus and motivation. When the mindset of training is amateur and lacking focus and motivation, the whole program cannot aspire to be greater than that ceiling.
Our service members will rise to the level of leaderships' expectations. One day during a training sessions I saw one of my seasoned instructors just dominating one of the newer students. The instructor was choking him out left and right and striking him at will. I figured I would help the less experienced student out by throwing him a rubber knife. That plan totally backfired on the less experienced student. What ended up happening was that the seasoned instructor, who was actually taking it easy on the newer student, turned up the intensity. The younger student was completely demolished in a matter of seconds by the instructor. The lesson there is obvious, we rise to the level of expectation. If a higher quality military combatives program is the goal, then the expectations within the program has to be increased. Again, that starts with changing the focus of training and integrity of training.
If the military wants to re-instill integrity in their combatives programs then the testing and promotion process should be unquestionable. There should be a general time, or credited hours for each level belt. Further, students who progress faster than others can test before that time, but they have to go through testing in front of their military unit. I don't mean sparring in front of or with peers, I mean they are literally tested, technique by technique, by their peers. Their fellow students, newer or senior to them would administer their testing, by calling out techniques for the testers to demonstrate. This form of testing leaves no room for subjective testing by instructors who allow friends, aggressive personalities, and people with influence of rank to pass and be promoted.
It would be beneficial to the military to have service members to go through peer testing, especially trainers and instructor trainers who may have never done martial arts in their life. That would completely change the focus of training and enhance the integrity. It would instantly create higher quality programs and instruction across every service's combatives programs. The Peer testing standard would dramatically increase the time that service members would want to participate in training. Instead of just a few hours of of sporadic training here and there, there would be solid continuous training until every service member could reach a professional skill level at maximum speed and effort. No cheating by service members, and no under skilled instructors, period.
6. Periodic Testing to Keep Your Belt Level
Anyone can cram information and learn techniques just to test for a belt. It is just like training for a test in an academic school. Re-certifying is a completely different ball game. Just like an upcoming Physical Fitness Test, re-certification tests (maintenance tests) would give each service member the drive to refresh and retrain consistently. It would keep the military combatives systems honest and give the programs the ability to maintain significant meaning.
It is depressing to watch seasoned martial arts instructors get completely demolished when they go live with their students attending their sessions. It is not because they don't know their moves of course, but simply because they are not training. They have taken what they believe is an the instructors role of watching class with their hands on their hips. This posture is not wrong in itself, as long as the instructor is doing some sort of training on their own as well.
Service members should re-certify once a year. Incidentally, some participants may actually move up a level during that time, but I would still recommend re-certification for those who have stayed at the same level for over a year.
Conclusion
Today, martial arts play an important role in the culture and mission of the US military forces. In order to improve the quality of the programs, and create a more well-rounded fighting force then the DoD has to change the current focus of training back to a more serious direction; training troops as they fight while increasing safety. The DoD must also train all 3 phases of combat, weapons and striking, clinching and grappling because that is what it takes to be well-rounded. Lastly, to increase the integrity of learning and advancement, advancement must be scrutinized through peer testing methods and period re-certification examinations.
Thank you very much and I hope that my training experiences with the many great and awesome leaders and troops of the US military have inspired you to make a change in your training programs today.
Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
*Capoeira Zoador
*Yudansha Fighting System (Jiu-jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing, Wrestling, Arnis)
*Caveirinha Brazilian Jiujitsu Family
* Burn with Kearns, Level 3 Master MMA Fitness Trainer
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Benjamin Moriniere is a former military officer who is currently a professional martial arts instructor and competitor in a diverse range of martial arts. He has trained thousands and thousands of people of all ages and walks of life from around the world for self-defense and competition. He is know as a progressive thinking martial artist, a strategist and a trainer of champions.
