What Happened to the Marines?
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Politics > History
May 19, 2007
Nobletraining
What Happened to the Marines?
Rivalries aside, most people agree the Marine Corp trains some of Uncle Sam's toughest warriors. Sadly, the Marines, like so many military organizations, have fallen prey to political correctness in modern times. In 2001, the Marines switched from their battle proven close combat methods in favor of a system that is designed to "subdue" rather then kill an attacker. Funny, I never thought the Marines had a problem with killing people before...And the scumbag terrorists sure don't seem to have a problem killing us. Since the Marines were first founded in 1775 at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA, Close Quarter Combat (CQC) training was heavily emphasized in their training. Although many people know about their skilled sharpshooters who fired from the rigging of ships, it is important to remember that the Marines also pioneered close combat techniques as they boarded enemy ships using rifles and swords. For over a century Marines fought in every major conflict battling pirates, guerillas, and other enemies of the United States. The Marines were tough fighters, but when the United States entered World War I, some new training would make them lethal. The First World War brought a number of changes to the Marines. The Corp grew rapidly in size and the Germans would give the Marines the nickname "Devil Dogs." To meet the challenges of trench warfare, the Marines also improved their close combat training. The man largely responsible for the new training was Anthony J. Drexel Biddle who joined the Marines as a captain at age 41. Though he was new to the military, the wealthy socialite was an experienced boxer and began to share what he knew with the Marines. He taught bayonet and close combat techniques based upon fencing, boxing and wrestling. During the inter-war years, other men joined Biddle to improve the training. Captains W.M. Greene and Samuel B. Griffith who had been stationed in Shanghai trained with British police officer William Fairbairn. Fairbairn had been in over six-hundred street fights and authored several books on close combat. He eagerly shared what he knew with the American Marines. They also learned shooting techniques from Fairbairn's best friend and firearms expert Eric Sykes. The Marines learned well, and soon Fairbairn's techniques became part of the Marines' CQC training. The Marines' close combat system would be further influenced by others during World War II, as the Marines fought in a brutal island hopping campaign in the Pacific. Marine John Styers who was a student of Biddle's took what he learned and wrote Cold Steel. Originally, a series of articles in Leatherneck magazine Styers showed Marines how to fight with a knife and a rifle with a bayonet. He showed that unarmed combat training could help Marines perform even better with their weapons. The Marines also learned from another student of Fairbairn, Army Colonel Rex Applegate. Though a crack shot, Applegate made it clear that hand-to-hand combat training was necessary part of CQC. While the Marine Corp close combat system went through a number of other changes and names, each reincarnation of the system held on tightly to the lessons and methods of Biddle, Sykes, Fairbairn, & Applegate as the concept of battlefield survival was always kept in mind. In the 1980's the system began to fall. With the rise in popularity of various martial arts, many Marines began abandoning the authentic, documented, and proven "simplistic" methods of combat in exchange for the mysteries of modern martial arts and psuedo science (aka completely unproven crap). In 1996, the Marines began evaluating their close combat training and determined that a new system would be developed to deal with Missions Other Than War (MOTW). Previously all training (even the junk in the 80's) was designed with the concept of "kill or be killed". The new system is more concerned with peacekeeping operations and non-lethal force...EXTREMELY stupid for men trained to be our frontline. The new Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) is like a piss poor combined version of Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Not only is it nothing like the battle tested techniques the Marines have used successfully for over 200 years, but by mish-moshing together two martial sports (neither of which have battlefield proven documentation) someone is going to get killed. Listen, in Iraq and Afghanistan its all about close combat and engaging the enemy in tight quarters. The Marines need a solid CQC system not a politically correct way to play patty-cake with the enemy.
For more information on Chris "Lt. X" Pizzo former soldier, cancer survivor, mercenary, barroom bouncer, educator, and hand-to-hand combat instructor, and his incredible FREE Accelerated Battlefield Combatives close-combat learning system, visit http://www.TopSecretTraining.com
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