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plan as warm-up drills, portions of circuits, or
to cap off other workout elements.
Next, the basic skills acquired during
PRT training must be placed in the battle-
field context. Combatives training should be
incorporated into any scenario-based trai-
ning event. Stand-alone, combatives-focu-
sed scenario training is impractical because
of the amount of resources required to train
an individual skill. Combatives training must
be integrated into collective training events.
Basic room clearing is an easy scenario to
envision. Commanders are not being honest
about their training status if they state that
their unit is “trained” at room clearing without
evaluating Soldiers’ ability to physically con-
trol a combatant in the room. Commanders Paratroopers assigned to 1 Battalion, 503 Infantry Regiment, 173 Airbor-
rd
rd
st
ne Brigade, put their combatives training to use during an exercise in Italy on
can place an unarmed combatant in an im- 26 September 2017.
pact reduction suit in the room and force Photo by Paolo Bovo.
Soldiers to gain control over this attacker non-combat related medical evacuations from
using combatives techniques. Detainee opera- Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2013
tions, search procedures, cuffing techniques, was sports/physical training. Here in the De-
10
checkpoint operations, vehicle extractions — all partment of Physical Education at the U.S. Mili-
these training events require Soldiers to control tary Academy, we train more than 4,000 Cadets
personnel without using lethal force. This is the per year in a series of five core physical activity
domain of the combatives program, and it is the classes that includes combatives. Survival swim-
opportunity for commanders to build the bridge ming is the only course that has a lower injury
between the skills developed during PRT and the rate than combatives. Our injury rate is below
11
tactical fight. In my opinion, it is a moral failure three percent in a course that requires Cadets to
if commanders ignore the need to train on per- fight in most of their training sessions.
sonnel control techniques that cover the contin- As in any training event, leaders must learn
gencies between willing compliance and the use to manage risk and train safely. Combatives in-
of lethal force. Basic combatives techniques give juries are primarily caused by exuberance and
Soldiers the skill set and confidence to control ignorance. Unskilled, excited fighters in a com-
ambiguous situations without resorting to vicious petitive environment either get hurt or hurt other
beatings or lethal force unless absolutely neces- people. Leaders can mitigate these risks by limi-
sary. ting the amount of sparring until a Soldier attains

MACP Risk Mitigation some basic skill and familiarity with the techni-
ques. A good guideline is to prevent Soldiers from
Finally, I will address how leaders can ma- sparring until they can demonstrate proficiency
nage risk within the combatives program. Often in the basic positional drills. This eliminates the
the biggest challenge to combatives training is misguided approach of many junior leaders of
the perception that it is somehow extremely high teaching two or three techniques and then sta-
risk. The reality is that more injuries happen du- ging a platoon tournament. Sparring sessions
ring unit sports and standard PRT than happen should be short and can be constrained to make
in the combatives program. The leading cause of