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to know: “Do I have time for this training, how recognition, rewards, or schooling opportunities.
much will it cost, and what is the level of risk?” The Basic Combatives Course and the Tactical
A well-developed combatives training plan must Combatives Course are offered at every Army
address these concerns and avoid terminating installation. Leaders can encourage units to send
training events. Terminating training describes a NCOs to the Combatives Master Trainer Course
training event that does not account for follow- at Fort Benning, GA, to further aid their program
-on training. Commanders often assign one day and build greater expertise within the system.
on the training calendar to focus on combatives Emphasizing these opportunities and commit-
or attempt to certify the entire unit in the Basic ting to training junior leaders communicate the
Combatives Course without a follow-on training commander’s focus.
plan. These approaches will fail because termi- Secondly, the primary place to integrate
nating training events ignore the reality of the combatives training is into PRT. This ensures that
process by which Soldiers learn physical skills. it can be done routinely and that it will not steal
The stages of psycho-motor learning must be time from other training. The drill-based approa-
addressed in the training of physical skills to ch of MACP makes it very easy to integrate into a
achieve a lasting effect. PRT workout. The combatives drills could be used
To successfully build a unit combatives pro- as part of the morning warm-up before the pri-
gram that achieves lasting proficiency and ad- mary workout or integrate sparring or punching
dresses commander’s concerns, leaders must do bags into a circuit workout. The training takes
three things: very little time; why not finish off your five-mile
– Establish a unit culture that values fighting run with three two-minute rounds of sparring? It
ability; is a great workout and you are training Soldiers
to be ready to fight once they reach an objective.
– Integrate combatives training into physical The point is that combatives training is a pe-
readiness training (PRT);
rishable skill. To keep the skills fresh, it is better
– Integrate combatives training into existing for Soldiers to do a little bit every day or every
tactical training events.
week instead of a single-day training event once
Unit culture is established by the comman- every six months. It reduces the impact on other
der’s priorities. Commanders communicate their training, reduces the risks of injuries, and builds
priorities by what they routinely inspect or require better long-term proficiency. Another common
their Soldiers to do. A culture that values fighting approach to combatives training is to dedicate an
ability is created through unit competitions and entire PRT session to combatives on a weekly ba-
incentivizing performance. Competitions must sis. Unfortunately, this approach has some dra-
be held routinely and can be formal or informal. wbacks that make it difficult to sustain. First, it is
Formal competitions consist of organized tour- difficult to make the session truly PRT focused.
naments with recognized unit champions. These To fill 90 minutes of training time will likely re-
are valuable for inspiring excellence and raising quire significant instruction time. This is time that
the level of performance within the organization. is largely not beneficial for improving physical
Informal competitions can happen at any time; performance, so it undermines the PRT program.
this is the routine sparring that happens as a part Secondly, in order to feel like they gave the Sol-
of training. This informal competition builds basic diers a good workout, leaders often resort to long
competence because all Soldiers are required to sparring sessions at the end of training. While
participate, and substandard Soldiers are quickly this is a smoker, it also poses an increased risk of
revealed and forced to improve or risk losing injury, especially in the early stages of training.
respect. Lastly, commanders can communicate The better approach is to integrate elements of
their focus by incentivizing performance through
combatives training into the existing PRT training