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thedrifter
07-23-04, 07:11 AM
Marines play cat, mouse during stalker training
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200472214220
Story by Cpl. Ryan Walker



CAMP COURTNEY, OKINAWA, Japan — (July 14, 2004) -- Twelve Marine Corps Marital Arts Program instructors and instructor trainers completed the stalker training package taught by Hunter Armstrong, director of Integrated Combative Systems, here July 12-16.

Armstrong flew in from Sedona, Ariz., to help MCMAP instructors understand the development and evolution of human behavior and performance. This training will help MCMAP instructors enhance the close quarters fighting capabilities of Marines by incorporating the fundamentals taught by Armstrong into the MCMAP.

The fundamentals Armstrong taught were thrusting, slashing and maintaining a good stalking posture with bayonets. These fighting methods enhance the performance of the mind and body under high-stress situations, according to Armstrong.

“The integrated combative techniques are based on how and why people fight from an evolutionary basis,” Armstrong said. “The easiest way to train someone is to develop what they are already ‘wired’ for.

“We have not adapted to modern weapons on a (mental) level,” Armstrong said. “Evolutionary adaptation takes 10,000-20,000 years, and humans haven’t had rifles that long.”

During the regimented training, Marines used wooden bayonets to mimic one of the oldest weapons known to man, the spear, which was first used nearly 500,000 years ago, according to Armstrong.

The bayonet is one of the most effective ways to train Marines to develop a combat mindset. The combat mindset can be likened to a predator stalking his prey, he explained.

The predator is a cool, calm and collected hunter, who controls his emotions. These same characteristics help the Marine warrior control the fight, Armstrong said.

“These skills will enhance the MCMAP in a major way,” said Sgt. Brandon T. Millsaps, chief instructor, MCMAP Far East, who plans to incorporate a combat mindset into his MCMAP training on Okinawa.

The stalker training will enhance the MCMAP because it differentiates between combat and sport, explained Gunnery Sgt. Michael S. Burke, a second-degree black-belt instructor trainer with Plans and Operations, 3rd Marine Division.

“In MCMAP training we do things that are fun, like grappling, but (grappling) isn’t really something one would want to do in combat,” Burke said. “Grappling has its place in martial arts as a training tool.”

The more often Marines practice facing a threat, the more their minds are ready to face a threat, Armstrong said. Training is a means to develop intuitive capability.

Marines may find themselves in situations without ammunition, and, to survive, they must know to how engage the enemy with a knife, bayonet or weapon of opportunity, Millsaps explained.

“The most important thing about the training … it was practical,” said Staff Sgt. Keith A. McNeish Jr., MCMAP green-belt instructor with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. “The techniques are very efficient and effective with minimum movement and the
maximum amount of force.”


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200472214415/$file/Release0350-2004-03low.jpg

CAMP COURTNEY, OKINAWA, Japan – Staff Sgt. Keith A. McNeish Jr. (left) stalks Gunnery Sgt. Michael S. Burke during stalker training here July 14. Twelve Marine Corps Martial Arts Program instructors and instructor trainers developed the art of predatory combative techniques here July 12-16. McNeish is a MCMAP green-belt instructor with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, and Burke is a second-degree black-belt instructor trainer with Plans and Operations, 3rd Marine Division. Photo by: Cpl. Ryan Walker

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/2FC7EBB5BF5BDE5885256ED9001F57B4?opendocument


Ellie