Marines sharpen their skills in hand-to-hand combat.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold

Moving in formation at a double-time pace, the Marines of the Basic School's Echo Company--sweating in the early morning sun--formed a circle on helicopter Landing Zone 6, a training field at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. They stacked their M16 rifles and turned their attention to the instructors in the center of the field.

The Basic School is where recently minted second lieutenants learn the finer points of being Marine officers, and the men and women of Echo Company were here to begin their training as part of the new Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, known as MCMAP.

MCMAP is an effort to put a sharper edge on the Marines' ability to fight hand-to-hand. The program is a new form of martial arts, a blend of many Asian systems, including kung fu, tae kwon do, karate, Thai boxing, jujitsu and judo, plus bayonet and knife-fighting techniques.

As part of MCMAP, the Marines are acquiring a new bayonet that is more useful for knife fighting than the current version. (related story p. 70)

According to Gen. James L. Jones, the former Marine commandant who established the program in 2000, MCMAP is "a natural extension" of the Corps credo, "Every Marine a rifleman." Like marksmanship training, he said, "this program provides our Marines with additional tools that they can use on the battlefield."

Everybody Trains

All 173,000 active-duty Marines and 58,000 reservists--everybody from the commandant down to the newest recruit, male and female alike--are required to receive the MCMAP training. Like many Asian disciplines, the MCMAP training enables Marines to earn the right to wear a progression of different-colored belts, including tan, gray, green, brown and six degrees of black.

By October 1, all Marines were supposed to complete at least the lowest level of instruction, qualifying them to wear a tan belt, said Maj. John M. Bourgault, deputy director of the Martial Arts Center of Excellence, a division of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico. MACE, which conducts martial arts classes at the Basic School, also coordinates the spread of the program throughout the service.

"We're almost there," he told National Defense. "There are a few cats and dogs in remote locations who don't have access to instructors. But not many."

The training now is part of the curriculum at the Marine boot camps at Parris Island, S.C., and San Diego, as well as the Basic School. Classes also are being conducted at Marine garrisons across the United States and around the world.

In addition, instructors are being dispatched to isolated units in places like Camp Babylon, Iraq, and the Marine security detachment at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Classes are being...