Get ‘combative’ on base with hand-to-hand courses

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christian Coleman
  • 355th Medical Operations Squadron
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  While assigned as the Army Special Operations Action Officer at Joint Special Operations Command in 2001, then-Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal recognized deficiencies in the Army's close-quarters combat training. He tasked an enlisted Army Ranger martial arts expert to revamp the program.

Beginning in his own Ranger regiment, Sgt. 1st Class Matt Larsen's ideas soon became what is now known as the Modern Army Combatives Program, which is being taught service-wide.

The program is broken down into four levels, the first two of which are now available here for D-M personnel. So far, more than 220 D-M Airmen have participated in MACP courses, conducted at the Navy/Marines Reserve Facility, located just north of the Wilmot gate.

Formal instruction is held Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-8:30 a.m. and open mat time Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for all military and approved civilian personnel.

Those beginning levels consist of mostly ground fighting, which is advantageous because a majority of the world population has no formal ground-fighting training. This means that the majority of potential enemies a servicemember could face would be defenseless when a fight ends up on the ground.

When conducted properly, sparring in MACP qualifies under the American College of Sports Medicine's guidance as a "typical aerobic exercise," it meets ACSM's "exercise frequency" requirements, and it burns roughly the same amount of calories as running at a seven-minutes per-mile pace.

If you'd like to take advantage of the new, creative and inexpensive way to improve your physical health, acquire self-defense skills, and prepare yourself for deployment, contact Senior Airman Christian Coleman (228-4926), Senior Airman Ryan Goodwin (228-2773), or Staff Sgt. Jason Ikeda (228-0006), or visit the Davis Monthan Combatives Facebook page.