AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - The morning of Aug. 8 started out like previous days for Marines participating in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor Course at the Regional Detainment Facility here. They started the day with the usual body hardening techniques, but then, their day changed.
The 21 Marines in the class got their first taste of the Shamrock Drill, a drill designed by fighter Ken Shamrock to help prepare for three, five-minute rounds in the octagon.
"The Shamrock drill has been in the curriculum since I can remember," said Sgt. Shane Dietlin, Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "It is a tough drill that challenges Marines to work through their pain."
The drill consisted of five stations set at 25-yard intervals, and the Marines had to jog back to the beginning after finishing each station to catch their breath. They then had to sprint to the next station.
When the instructors said go, the Marines dashed to the first station and quickly laid down on their backs and performed 50 sit-ups. Once finished, the Marines then sprinted to station two and performed 50 pushups before heading back to the starting line. Then came what the instructors call, the hardest part of the entire drill, the sprawls.
"It's like [the instructors] said when they were explaining it," said Cpl. Jose Felix, administrator, S-1, Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "You basically run into a brick wall. You have a certain pace and momentum from the first two stations. Then you have to stop and fall on the ground, losing that momentum."
For the sprawls, Marines kicked their feet out from underneath them and caught themselves with their hands. In addition, their hips touched the ground while their hands held their upper body off the ground.
"[Sprawls] is where students go 'Wow,this is harder than it looks,'" Dietlin said. "It takes so much strength to keep your upper body from hitting the ground."
After completing 50 sprawls, the Marines went further down the course and performed 50 mountain climbers. They then moved to the final station where they used a combination of strikes consisting of rear- and lead-hand punches, horizontal fist and horizontal elbow strikes, knee strikes, as well as lead and rear leg strikes on their buddy who held a foam shield.
After the Marines completed the first set of the drills, they went to the beginning to run through each stage two more times doing 40, and then 30, repetitions before sprinting one final time to the starting line.
"It was tough but it was also a good experience," Felix said. "It lets you know where you're at with your stamina, and it makes you push yourself to the finish. You're tired through the entire drill and you come to listen to your buddies for motivation to get through."
On average, the drill is completed between 33 and 35 minutes with most of the students finishing in that time range, Dietlin thinks they are right where they should be.
"I've seen better, but I've also seen worse," Dietlin said. "This is a pretty good group of Marines who have come to rely on each other to get through the drill."
But this was just the beginning of these Marines' day. After the drill, they grappled each other as well as the instructors, and of course, they took a quiz about what they learned so far.