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The Modern Army Combatives Program has seen multiple revisions in the past several months. The program went from a four-stage training curriculum with Combatives Levels 1-4, to a three stage with Basic Combatives Course, Tactical Combatives Course and Combatives Master Trainer Course. With newly educated master trainers finally making their way throughout the Army, Soldiers are beginning to see and feel the new curriculum.
Soldiers from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command’s 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery and Air Force civilians attended a Tactical Combatives Course Feb. 2 to 12 on Ramstein.
The changes in the MACP came after a review of the previous curriculum and its applications to the Army as a whole. After careful review, changes were deemed necessary to make the program more applicable to combat scenarios, said Staff Sgt. Donald Thatcher, 5-7 ADA master combatives instructor.
“Soldiers were taking the old Level 1 course and going straight into martial arts like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is great for competitions but not so relevant on the battlefield,” he said. “People got too wrapped up in the competitive side of things and started to forget that this program fulfills a very real need in the military: to destroy your enemy.”
Changes and lack of training for some became evident on the first day of the class, when students were asked to perform techniques they should have learned in the Basic Combatives Course. Members who attended Combatives Level 1, not BCC, found themselves needing additional instruction.
“I went through (Combatives) Level 1 about two years ago, but I remembered everything pretty well,” said Sgt. Nicholas L. Harrell, patriot missile launching station enhanced operator maintainer assigned to A Battery, 5-7 ADA. “Some of the things we didn’t learn that the guys who went through BCC did are some take-downs and the knee strikes. A few of us needed help on those.”
As the two-week course continued, students continued to learn techniques not previously taught until Combatives Level 3. They learned how to detain someone, place them in handcuffs and pull them from a vehicle. Everything taught in TCC is designed to apply to a tactical situation, Thatcher said.
“The purpose of this course is to teach Soldiers techniques that could potentially save their lives in a tactical situation, and the course always goes back to that fact,” Thatcher said.
“There were some techniques that were removed from the course, because they were deemed ineffective or couldn’t be done while wearing body armor.”
The students also got their first taste of live practical application and trained against each other with strikes.
“Students in this class are training these techniques against each other while striking during their live practical application exercises,” Thatcher said. “Being hit by your opponent forces you to recognize your mistakes and correct them, or risk being hit again.”
The TCC students completed the course by taking a final test covering most of the techniques taught throughout the class. As more members of the
KMC become certified in combatives, Thatcher said he hopes it will increase interest in future courses.
“I believe combatives is one of the greatest programs the Army has to offer,” he said. “It teaches resilience to our Soldiers, it embodies the Army values and it provides real lifesaving skills.”
