UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli; they fight our country's battles in the air, on land, hand-to-hand and sea.
The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program trains Marines how to execute unarmed and armed techniques, in close proximity to another individual, across a spectrum of violence within a continuum of force.
The spectrum of violence an unarmed or armed aggressor will receive can be avoided by simply looking at a Marines belt before a situation becomes confrontational.
“The Marines get people that have never been in a fight, to Marines that have trained all their lives as fighters,” said Marine Warrant Officer Jeffery Lynch, martial arts instructor. “The MCMAP program is designed to train everyone to a point where they can handle themselves in a hand-to-hand combat situation.”
The MCMAP motto “One mind, any weapon,” means that every Marine is always armed even if a weapon is not noticeably visible.
“Fighting is a last resort and you have to be recommended by the instructors to learn the advanced techniques” said Lynch. “You can’t just train anybody off the streets how to break a person’s joints. The Marines have to be mentally fit and mature enough to receive this training.”
Although the MCMAP program may appear solely physical, the mental discipline requires Marines to also develop their minds.
“It’s not just punching and kicking. We train de-escalation, we build confidence and we train them to think before they act,” said Marine Master Sgt. Jason Van. “As the Marines progress through the program you see their confidence rise not only in the techniques, but you also see their confidence grow as a person.”
While the Marines are trained to avoid confrontation by working through the steps in the de-escalation process, occasionally a fight is unavoidable and that’s when the Marine warrior ethos kicks in to hand out an old fashioned belt butt whooping.
“When confronted the first thing we’re going to do is apologize, and then we’re going to look at their posture, intent and see if they have a weapon,” said Van. “Unfortunately it can go from zero to all go deadly force if they have a knife, a gun or you feel your life is threatened.”
As the highest ranking black belt Marine at the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, Lynch stated each Marine has their own line in the sand based on their level of training and the situation.
“The first thing is to never get into a hand-to-hand fight, we’re Marines we have weapons and we prefer to use them,” said Lynch. “However, I’ll allow them to keep coming and coming until they’re inside my grid square then it’s time to get restrained,” said Lynch.