Concepts: Why Combatives

“A soldier or police officer carries weapons in addition to those given him by nature; but he must not depend solely on his firearm, baton, or other issue equipment.  These are only mechanical aids and will not always sustain him.”

 — Col. Rex Applegate

During my time in the military, I have often heard, “ Why do I need combatives, if I have a gun? If it comes down to protecting myself, I’m just going to shoot my opponent.” As someone coming from the Special Ops community I’d say, “That’s damn right, if I’m in a firefight.” If only the world of a service member were that simple all the time. A direct action mission maybe, move in, kill everything in sight, and ex-filtrate, but this is a seldom the occurrence, Even then, there are times where one will have to use more than bullets, due to malfunctions, lack of ammo, need for silence, etc. Throughout the military there are a conglomerate of situations, scenarios, and missions in which service members have to carefully know the rules of engagement for their operational environments.

Thus, from these rules of engagement come the need for training in each aspect of the use of force, based on the severity and danger of the situation. Service member’s training should not just cover the policies regarding escalation of force: they also need to be trained on how to properly execute defensive or offensive tactics based on an escalating situation. They need to understand degradation of battlefield proximities and combative capabilities, and to understand operational realism. Without a proper repertoire of options and skills to use in select situations, a service member could possibly over-react, or not react in an efficient or effective way.

Normally in a combat zone, you will have a weapon, but weapons and the people who carry them are not always that reliable. In Iraq, it became quickly apparent that you aren’t always in the best situation. Even down to the 9mm Berretta that has been passed around numerous times, the magazine would seem to stick, causing feed malfunctions. I remember talking to a soldier who said that combatives were useless. He would rather have had more shooting training, which he felt was not focused on enough, because he had only been to eight shooting ranges in the 3 years that he was in the Army (spending maybe 30-40 minutes shooting each time). He also said that most of his shooting training was stationary and in the prone position.

See more in Battlefield Proximity Combat Vol. 1 book!