Combatives FM 21-150 Figure 4-1, Vital Targets.

Combatives is a term popularized by the US Army for hand-to-hand combat training. It now encompasses various hybrid martial arts, which incorporate techniques from several different martial arts and combat sports. Unlike combat sports, such systems usually have limited sport application and often focus on simple techniques for use in self-defense or combat. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (550x678, 56 KB) Summary Figure 4. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (550x678, 56 KB) Summary Figure 4. ... The United States Army is one of the armed forces of the United States and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Combatives FM 21-150 Figure 4-1, Vital Targets. ... Hybrid martial arts (also known as hybrid fighting systems) refer to martial arts or fighting systems that incorporate techniques and theories from several particular martial arts. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... A combat sport is a competitive sport involving the use of punch, kick, throw, joint locks, and/or a weapon for attack and defence. ... Self defense refers to actions taken by a person to defend onself, ones property or ones home. ... “Fights” redirects here. ...

As defined by US Army FM 21-150 Combatives:

Hand-to-hand combat is an engagement between two or more persons in an empty-handed struggle or with handheld weapons such as knives, sticks, and rifles with bayonets. These fighting arts are essential military skills. Projectile weapons may be lost or broken, or they may fail to fire. When friendly and enemy forces become so intermingled that firearms and grenades are not practical, hand-to-hand combat skills become vital assets.

Military history

Military organizations have always taught some sort of unarmed combat for conditioning and as a supplement to armed combat. Among the samurai of Japan, such combatives were known as Bujutsu (jujutsu, tantojutsu, bojutsu and so on). Like weapon arts such as kenjutsu, yarijutsu and naginatajutsu, these often were adapted in later stages to cultural or sport forms such as kyudo, judo, aikido or kendo. Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... Bujutsu (武術) are the traditional Japanese martial arts. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A Tantō (短刀) is a Japanese blade or small sword. ... Bo or BO may be: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (AAR reporting mark BO) Belarus, FIPS Pub 10-4 and obsolete NATO digram (BO) Bouraq Indonesia Airlines IATA code(BO) Bo is the evil aspect of Voodoo practice Bo is a common Scandinavian forename (male) meaning to live or stay and... Kenjutsu ), meaning the craft, art, or science of the sword, is a Japanese martial art that uses a specific methodology to teach the use of the katana (Japanese sword). ... several yari, including one hafted with a simple crossbar straight yari head with saya Jumonji yari head use of yari in mock combat Yari (槍) is the Japanese term for spear, or more specifically, the straight-headed spear. ... A samurai wielding a naginata Naginata (なぎなた, 長刀 or 薙刀) is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in Japan by members of the samurai class. ... A full draw, called kai. KyÅ«dō ), literally meaning way of the bow, is the Japanese art of archery. ... Judo ), meaning gentle way, is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budō) and combat sport, that originated in Japan in the late nineteenth century. ... Aikido ), translated as the way of harmonious spirit, is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budō) developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. ... Kendo ), or way of the sword, is the martial art of Japanese fencing. ...

Even through major technological changes such as the use of gunpowder in the Napoleonic wars, the machine gun in the Russo-Japanese War and the trench warfare of World War I, hand-to-hand fighting methods such as bayonet remained central to modern military training. Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] Ottoman Empire[5] French Empire Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Karl... Combatants Russian Empire Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov† Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo Strength 500,000 Soldiers 400,000 Soldiers Casualties 39,518 killed; 158,600 wounded; 74,000 POW [1]; unknown Chinese civilians 47,387 killed; 173,425 wounded； unknown Chinese civilians... Trench warfare is a form of war in which both opposing armies have static lines of defense. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The US Marine Corps OKC-3S Bayonet A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon. ...

Sometimes called close combat, Close Quarters Combat, or CQC, contemporary American combatives was largely codified by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes. Also known for their eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, Fairbairn and Sykes had worked in the British armed forces and helped teach the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) [1] a quick, effective, and simple technique for fighting with or without weapons in melee situations. Similar training was provided to British Commandos, the Devil's Brigade, OSS, U.S. Army Rangers and Marine Raiders. Fairbairn at one point called this system Defendu and published on it, as did their American colleague Rex Applegate. Fairbairn often referred to the technique as "gutter fighting," a term which Applegate used, along with "the Fairbairn system." In practice, such military systems are the fruit of dozens and even hundreds of dedicated instructors and personnel, known and unknown. Military Usage Close Quarters Combat, or CQC, is used to describe an up-close military hand-to-hand fighting system, also known as combatives. ... William Ewart Fairbairn (1885-1960) was a soldier, police officer, and exponent of hand-to-hand combat methods for the Shanghai police between the World Wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901. ... Born Eric Anthony Schwabe, Eric Anthony Sykes (1883-1945) is most famous for his work with William E. Fairbairn in the development of the eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife and modern English combatives during World War II. First working with an import/export company selling weapons in Asia, he joined... Diagram of F&S Fighting Knife, taken from FMFRP 12-80, Kill or Be Killed, by Rex Applegate, who worked extensively with Fairbairn. ... The armed forces of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown[1], encompasses a navy, army, and air force. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other meanings of the term, see melée (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Commando (disambiguation). ... Shoulder sleeve patch of the 1st Special Service Force. ... The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency and was a lineage precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as for the Special Forces and Navy Seals, who have traced their lineage back to... Official force name 75th Ranger Regiment Rangers Other names Airborne Rangers Army Rangers U.S. Army Rangers Branch U.S. Army Chain of Command USASOC Description Special Operations Force, rapidly deployable light infantry force. ... Marine Raider insignia The Marine Raiders were elite units established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare, particularly in landing in rubber boats and operating behind the lines. ... Defendu is a modern martial art developed by William E. Fairbairn. ... Colonel Rex Applegate (1914-1998) worked in the Office of Strategic Services where he trained allied special forces in close-quarter combat during World War II. In 1943 he wrote Kill or Get Killed, still considered the classic textbook of Western-style hand-to-hand combat. ...

Other combatives systems having their origins in the modern military include Chinese San Shou, Soviet Bojewoje(Combat) Sambo (martial art), and Israeli Krav Maga. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Krav Maga (Hebrew קרב מגע: contact combat) is a martial art, at first developed in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. ...

The prevalence and style of combatives training often changes based on perceived need, and even in times of peace, special forces and commando units tend to have a much higher emphasis on close combat than most personnel, as may embassy guards or paramilitary units such as police SWAT teams. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Commando (disambiguation). ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ... This article is about Special Weapons and Tactics. ...

De-emphasized in the United States after World War II, insurgency conflicts such as the Vietnam War, low intensity conflict and urban warfare tend to encourage more attention to combatives. The general discipline of close-proximity fighting with weapons is often called Close Quarters Battle (CQB) at the platoon or squad level, or Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) at higher tactical levels. The current Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) replaced the Marine Corps LINE combat system in 2002. The US Army adopted the Modern Army Combatives (MAC) program with the publishing of the 2002 field manual (FM 3-25.150), written by Matt Larsen. MAC draws from systems such as Brazilian Jiujitsu, Muay Thai and Kali which could be trained "live" and can be fully integrated into current Close Quarters Battle tactics and training methods. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... An insurgency, or insurrection, is an armed uprising, or revolt against an established civil or political authority. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Low intensity conflict (LIC) is the use of military forces applied selectively and with restraint to enforce compliance with the policies or objectives of the political body controlling the military force. ... Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with MOUT. (Discuss) CQB, sometimes CQC, is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle or Close Quarters Combat, and refers to fighting methods within buildings, streets, narrow alleys and other places where visibility and maneuverability are limited. ... Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. ... MCMAP logo The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) is a combat system developed by the United States Marine Corps to combine existing and new hand-to-hand and close combat techniques with morale and team-building functions and instruction in what the Marine Corps calls the Warrior Ethos.[1... The United States Marine Corps as part of its basic training teaches its recruits Marine Corps LINE Combat system. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Matt Larsen demonstrating a straight ankle lock Matt Larsen (born ?) is an American Combatives instructor best known for a complete rewrite of the United States Armys combatives program. ... Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), also known as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (GJJ), is a Brazil by the Gracie family during the mid-20th century. ... Sauki Muay Thai (IPA: [/muai32 32/]; Thai: ) (Thai Boxing) is the Thai name for a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Cambodia (where it is known as Pradal Serey), Malaysia (where it is known as Tomoi) and as a similar style in Myanmar... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Modern Army Combatives program (MAC)

Main article: US Army Combatives School

In 2001, Matt Larsen, then a sergeant first class, started the US Army Combatives School, located on Fort Benning. Students are taught techniques from the 2002 version of Field Manual 3-25.150 (Combatives), also written by Matt Larsen. The regimen focused on small, easily repeatable drills, in which practitioners could learn multiple related techniques rapidly. Matt Larsen demonstrating a straight ankle lock The US Army Combatives School was founded in 2000 by then Sergeant First Class Matt Larsen and is located at building 69, Fort Benning, Georgia. ... Matt Larsen demonstrating a straight ankle lock Matt Larsen (born ?) is an American Combatives instructor best known for a complete rewrite of the United States Armys combatives program. ... Sergeant First Class insignia Sergeant First Class (SFC) is the seventh enlisted rank in the U.S. Army, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant, and is a non-commissioned officer. ... Matt Larsen demonstrating a straight ankle lock The US Army Combatives School was founded in 2000 by then Sergeant First Class Matt Larsen and is located at building 69, Fort Benning, Georgia. ... Fort Benning is a United States Army base, located southwest of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama It is part of the Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. ... U.S. Army Field Manuals are published by the United States Armys Army Publishing Directorate. ...

For example, Drill one teaches several techniques: escaping blows, maintaining the mount, escaping the mount, maintaining the guard, passing the guard, assuming side control, maintaing side control, preventing and assuming the mount. The drill can be completed in less than a minute and can be done repeatedly with varying levels of resistance to maximize training benefits.

The Combatives School teaches four instructor certification courses. Students of the first course are not expected to have any knowledge of combatives upon arrival. They are taught fundamental techniques in a series of grappling drills. The basic techniques form a framework upon which the rest of the program can build and are taught as a series of drills, which can be performed as a part of daily physical training. While the course is heavy on grappling, it does not lose sight of the fact that it is a course designed for soldiers going into combat. It is made clear that while combatives can be used to kill or disable, the man that typically wins a hand-to-hand fight in combat is the one whose allies arrive with guns first.

Subsequent courses build upon the framework by adding throws and takedowns from wrestling and Judo, striking skills from boxing and Muay Thai, weapons fighting from Eskrima and the western martial arts, all of that combined with how to conduct scenario training, refereeing the various levels of Combatives competitions. Ancient Greek wrestlers (Pankratiasts) Wrestling is the act of physical engagement between two competitors competing for a physical advantage. ... Judo ), meaning gentle way, is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budō) and combat sport, that originated in Japan in the late nineteenth century. ... Professional boxing bout featuring Ricardo Domínguez (left, throwing a left uppercut) versus Rafael Ortíz Boxing, also called pugilism (from Latin), prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing) or the sweet science[1] is a sport and martial art in which two participants of similar weight fight each other with... Sauki Muay Thai (IPA: [/muai32 32/]; Thai: ) (Thai Boxing) is the Thai name for a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Cambodia (where it is known as Pradal Serey), Malaysia (where it is known as Tomoi) and as a similar style in Myanmar... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

There are several reasons that the combatives course is taught:

• To educate soldiers on how to protect themselves against threats without using their firearms
• To provide a non-lethal response to situations on the battlefield
• To instill the 'warrior instinct' to provide the necessary aggression to meet the enemy unflinchingly

Civilian instructors

The very things which make combatives well-adapted for military training (simplicity, ease of use, modest physical demands) also make it suitable in many ways for civilian self-defense, and the world's military forces train thousands of combatives instructors every year. Frequently emphasizing their law-enforcement, corrections or military background, many combatives instructors also offer training to law enforcement agencies, the military, private individuals, security guards or companies. Regulated in the United States much as private tutors, health clubs, private gun shops or private security agencies, some combatives systems are expanding into other markets and niches worldwide. A security guard or security officer, is usually a privately and formally employed person who is paid to protect property, and/or assets, and/or people. ... A Private Military Company (PMC) is a for-profit enterprise, sometimes a corporation or a limited liability partnership, which provides specialised services and expertise related to activites formerly associated with the state. ... Modern indoor gymnasium with pull-down basketball hoops. ... // A Federal Firearms License, or FFL, is a license that enables an individual or a company to engage in a business that pertains to the production of firearms and ammunitions or the interstate and intrastate sale of firearms. ... A security guard is a private person who is employed to protect property and people. ...

Criticisms

Combatives is frequently criticised by a variety of people for a number of reasons. Active soldiers or military personnel look down on civilian practitioners as posers or "wanna-bes" or assert that the modest techniques it introduces are inadequate for real-world battlefield conditions. Traditional martial artists may object to it for its acultural and amoral lack of any spiritual aspect for self-improvement. Other martial artists may object to the "bullshido" of macho marketing as "McDojo" chicanery, which preys on the gullible and insecure. Although a wide variety of people may have trained individual military units, usually these trainings are supplemental to standard military training, and this is not necessarily made clear to potential students, including commercial or law-enforcement agencies. A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... Look up Wannabe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... McDojo is an example of McWords applied to martial arts and a pejorative term used by some Western martial artists to describe a martial arts school where image or profit is of a higher importance than technical standards. ...

Books of interest

• Combatives : FM 3-25.150 Commercial reprint of 2002 US Army manual. ISBN 1-58160-448-3
• Basic Field Manual: Unarmed Defense for the American Soldier. FM 21-150, War Department, June 1942.
• Get Tough! by William E. Fairbairn, 1942. Details basic commando techniques. Reprint ISBN 0-87364-002-0
• Kill or Get Killed by Rex Applegate, 1943, 1954, 1976. Widely redistributed within the USMC from 1991 as FMFRP 12-80. ISBN 0-87364-084-5
• U.S. Army Hand-to-Hand Combat: FM 21-150, June 1954.
• US Army FM 21-150, 1963.
• Combatives Field Manual FM 21-150, 1971.
• In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets by Richard Strozzi-Heckler. 3rd edition ISBN 1-55643-425-1
• FM 21-150 Combatives: Hand-to-Hand Combat, US Army field manual, September 1992. ISBN 1-58160-261-8
• Fleet Marine Force Manual (FMFM) 0-7, Close Combat, USMC, July 1993.
• Close Combat (MCRP 3-02B), USMC, February 1999. Commercial ISBN 1-58160-073-9

William Ewart Fairbairn (1885-1960) was a soldier, police officer, and exponent of hand-to-hand combat methods for the Shanghai police between the World Wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901. ... For other uses, see Commando (disambiguation). ... Colonel Rex Applegate (1914-1998) worked in the Office of Strategic Services where he trained allied special forces in close-quarter combat during World War II. In 1943 he wrote Kill or Get Killed, still considered the classic textbook of Western-style hand-to-hand combat. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ...

External links

• US Army Combatives School
• US Army FM 3-25-150: Combatives
• Excerpts from 1942 War Department FM 21-150
• E-Budo forum on US Army FM 3-25.150
• International Close Combat Instructors Association
• United States Combative Arts Association

Articles

• TRADOC Public Affairs
• Association of the U. S. Army
• Army Times
• Army Times
• NCO Journal
• USASOC
• Ft. Benning Bayonet
• Ft. Leonard Wood Guidon
• Ultimate Grappling Magazine
• Kansas State University
• On The Guard, Newspaper of the National Guard (Page 8-9)