Concepts: Grappling

Grappling and ground fighting arts experienced a “boom” in the 1990; since then, it seems that everywhere you go someone is teaching grappling. This has been widely accredited to the rise in fame of grappling in the competitive arena. Even in the military, it seems as though “combatives” has become synonymous with “ground fighting.” If you need convincing, go to any of the popular search engines and type in “Military Combatives;” you will get links for a myriad of sites that show ground fighting.

This is understandable, in part due to the competitive spirit that ground fighting can build in a person. There is something about rolling around, trying to get someone into a position where they submit, that is very primal. A second reason for grappling’s popularity is that many people believe that most fights end up on the ground.  Furthermore, many ground fighting enthusiasts claim that ground fighting is the most efficient way to finish an opponent in a close-quarters hand-to-hand combat encounter. This statement is pretty broad, so the question that comes to my mind first is: What is the situation that a person using this statement might be talking about? If this person is talking about trying to subdue an unruly local national in an embassy, a detained individual, an adversary in an arena, or a buddy in a sand filled pit, they may be correct. But on the battlefield, where armor and weapons are involved, I beg to differ. Before making broad statements like this, certain aspects of the different missions and combat scenarios need to be viewed.

I think the most efficient way to subdue an enemy in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat would be the use of an available weapon. As I stated earlier, there are scenarios where one will not be authorized in using deadly force, but on the battlefield (for which I primarily created B.P.C.) one must use whatever force is necessary to save one’s life. I believe that many of the people who make the aforementioned claims or teach primarily ground fighting for military combatives aren’t properly applying its use. I am not saying they aren’t great ground fighters; some of those I have seen and met would give me a definite run for my money in that area. However, as I discussed earlier, they have not properly assessed the operational realism of today’s Battlefield warrior.

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