[Roguish Lawyer]

[continued]

Asian Arts

In developing MCMAP, the Marines “borrowed from established systems that were already out there,” Bourgault said. Some of these systems, such as Chinese kung fu, are thousands of years old, he said. MCMAP borrows from systems developed in many Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and Thailand, he said.

Most were designed as ways for unarmed civilians to defend themselves against armed adversaries. In contrast, MCMAP “is a weapons-based martial art,” Bourgault said. “Usually, we prefer that our Marines use weapons in combat. Our motto is ‘one mind, any weapon.’

“If you can shoot your enemy, then shoot him. If you can’t do that, stick him with your bayonet, butt stroke him with your rifle butt, ram him with your rifle barrel,” Bourgault said. “If you can’t use your rifle, use your knife.

“If you can’t do that, find something—a weapon of opportunity. As I look around my office, I see a stapler, a coffee mug, a pencil holder, a phone cord. If I had to, I could use any of those to kill you.”

Marines also learn to kill with their bare hands, if necessary, said Bourgault. Pressure applied to certain points along an opponent’s neck, for example, can cut off an opponent’s air supply. A swift, violent twisting of an enemy’s neck can break the spinal cord.

Even if you have a loaded rifle, you may not be in a position at times to use it against an enemy, noted Sanders. “If an enemy charges you from an unexpected direction, you may not have time to swing your weapon around,” he said. “Also, you may have to kill an enemy with minimal noise. Or you may need to subdue an opponent with non-lethal force.”

Unlike some traditional martial arts, MCMAP does not involve intricate, dance-like movements or attention-getting techniques—such as breaking tiles with your bare hands—Bourgault said. “Everything we teach is directly related to combat,” he said. “Nothing is for show.”

Because the training is designed to prepare Marines for combat, sometimes injuries occur. During one session, for example, a second lieutenant was accidentally hit on the side of his head, sending a trickle of blood down his cheek. Slightly dazed, he was taken aside for first aid.

To minimize injuries, training is monitored closely. In bayonet training, Marines fight each other with wooden rifles with blunt ends. Thrusting drills are conducted at slow and medium speeds, one, two and three assault steps from the target. Performances are critiqued thoroughly by instructors.

Throughout the training, if a student has received a disabling blow, he or she is taught to hold out both hands to the opponent, back away and say, “Stop.” A Marine who has reached the limits of his or her tolerance may also “tap out” by tapping on the opponent, on the mat or ground or saying, “Stop.”

All Marines are required to complete the training, Bourgault explained. “The requirements are exactly the same for women,” he said. “There are two dozen women in Echo Company, and they do as well as the men.”

MCMAP is the most recent form of close-combat training for the Marines, but they have engaged in hand-to-hand fighting since their earliest days. During the Revolutionary War—armed with cutlasses, muskets and pistols—they swarmed from ships of the Continental Navy to capture enemy ships at sea. In those days, training was informal at best.

In the early part of the 20th century, the Corps began a more organized approach toward combat training, teaching marksmanship, bayonet skills, boxing and wrestling. The service encouraged competition between athletic teams of shooters, boxers and wrestlers.

In the 1930s and later, during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Marines stationed in the Far East increasingly encountered Asian martial arts and included some of those elements in their training.

In the 1980s, the Corps adopted the Linear Infighting Neural-override Engagement, or LINE, system of combat. LINE was a standardized system of close-quarter fighting designed to be taught to company and battalion-size units.

Like many of its predecessors, however, LINE was a system of unarmed self-defense. Not all Marines were required to receive it.

MCMAP—weapons-based and aimed at all Marines—is designed to change all of that, Bourgault said.

To conduct the training, two levels of instructor cadres have been created. The first—martial arts instructor, Military Occupational Specialty 8551—must be a corporal or above who successfully completes a MCMAP course. A MAI can train Marines to one level below the belt that he or she holds. In other words, a MAI who wears a green belt can train Marines to the tan and gray belt levels.

The second level—martial arts instructor trainer, MOS 8552-must be a sergeant or above to attend the MAIT course at Quantico. A MAIT can train Marines as MAIs and qualify ordinary Marines to hold a belt at one level below the one that he or she holds.

Much of the schooling is low-tech, done on exercise fields such as LZ 6, as military training has been conducted for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Now under construction at Quantico is a $1.3 million MACE facility, with space for classrooms, offices, weight room, matted area, showers and laundry, scheduled for completion next summer.

The Marines in 2002 awarded a $3 million contract to Allied Industries, of Jamestown, N.Y. The contract called for Allied to put together 264 platoon-sized martial arts training kits for the Marines, according to Allied’s business operations director, Gregg Bender.

Each kit, assembled on three large pallets, included “all kinds of training tools,” such as helmets, pugil sticks, leg and arm guards and groin protectors, Bender said.

To further encourage enthusiasm for martial arts among Marines, the Corps is developing a MCMAP combat sports program similar to its boxing, wrestling and marksmanship teams. In this program, combat sports teams would compete in striking, grappling and wooden bayonet fighting.

Bourgault said the program is proving to be popular among Marines. “These guys joined the Corps because they wanted to be tough,” he said. “They wanted to be really elite. This program gives them a chance to do that.”