geez..it was bjj when I went through basic..now TKD?? Army having a hard time picking, lol.

From my understanding, they've always had a hard time, not sure what my buddies that just recently signed up went through, but far as I know my dad just boxed at West Point for 4 years.

West Point has a combatives requirement and you are also required to do boxing or wrestling...I'll have to double check my reference on that though.

What other US Army units do they teach BJJ to? I remember seeing in a documentary that the Army Rangers learn it, but I didn't know of any other unit that gets taught that.

And as for the TKD part, I wouldn't think it would be so bad if it were taught properly. But the belief that TKD would be taught in a practical and combat smart manner would be wishful thinking at it's best.

It's Korea. It's ruled by the Kukkiwon. And the Kukkiwon has apparently determined that Olympic medals are the point of Tae Kwon Do.

As far as BJJ goes...Good lord it doesn't matter. They're going to get a two-day course in whatever one way or the other. That amounts to ZERO.

I have a problem with something as ridiculous as Tae Kwon Do being FUCKING MANDATORY!!

Well, alrighty then.....just curious, that's all.

Or Canada.

But seriously....as bad as it is, there are worse systems you could use. Did someone say SCARS?

I really do hope someone cans this because this is just another case of some korean fucknut being too nationalistic KOREA OWNS OMG and shoving TKD down someone's throat.

I do not hate Koreans. But I have ran across a few who have their head inflated a bit too much with TKD ****. If I try to explain how I do like MAs but not what TKD is like and he calls me "anti martial arts" and goes on and on about how HKD and TKD are thousands of years old. BULLSHIT. There is kimche older than those arts, and kimche is actually good, and even if they were thousands of years old it doesn't matter! Hell, it would make it worse. Its an OBVIOUS RIP OF SHOTOKAN! And the TRAINING METHODS SUCK (That I am aware of). If there are guys doing it like Kyoukoshin fine. But jeez... so fucking obvious.

Someone ship out Asia to show these twats how its done. PLEASE. If they think tappy taptap pivot chambered roundhouses are gonna be worth a damn thing except making you trip or get laughed at they're in for a rude awakening.

Nihilanthic,
If these people are going to be in Korea anytime soon, I can direct them to someone who will "skool th3re fukkin a$$e$" about this stuff.

My good friend Byon Song Shik did Taekkyon, Kyoktoogi (which I thought was just sparring), and picked up some wrestling skills from GIs.

When I first met the guy he said something like, "Tae Kwon Do...*waves hand and squints eyes*...It is for the children. Not...Shiljaechok...practical."

I saw that guy (at 150 MAYBE) manhandle a 245 lb man in the clinch. He would be happy to teach people what Korean martial arts are all about.

And if you bring a girl along, he'll be really happy. He was the freeking Korean Bishop Don Magic Juan.

Few and far between.

Osiris,
I'm going to say this once...


THERE IS NO HOPE FOR TKD IN KOREA.


If TKD has a chance it is with people like you, who care about whether or not it works. You'd have to understand Korea to understand what I'm saying. You just...look...

In Korea, you make sure that the older person always wins.

In Korea, you DO NOT argue with the master, who is of course interested in winning medals.

In Korea, athletics are looked down on...until the Olympics that is. Otherwise, muscular development is a mark of the working class.

Originally posted by Rising Phoenix
[B]What other US Army units do they teach BJJ to? I remember seeing in a documentary that the Army Rangers learn it, but I didn't know of any other unit that gets taught that.

While the Rangers did have some BJJ mucky-muck come out and do some instruction, I am unsure of the current status of such training. I have said it before in this forum and in others that what civilians don't fully grasp (or may simply be completely unaware of) is that special operations units have big budgets, and depending on who is in charge of organizing training (and their relative influence on the folks that hold the purse strings), damn near anything can be contracted out...

The current Army combatives program consists of a manual with some 22+ chapters. One is on striking, while 4 or more cover ground fighting of one kind or another. The SFC that was in charge of the new program is a big grappling/submission advocate, therefore it made its way into the manual. In his defense, he did state over at E-budo that the groundfighting training was less to teach soldiers to roll with and submit the baddie, and more to provide them an orientation on how to turn a bad situation (going to the ground) into a less bad sitution. As The Wastrel can attest, much of Army training consists of mere orientation and familiarization, not mastery. The idea is that by being familiar with a particular situation, the soldier can figure the rest out with the experience and training he has in his "tool box."


And as for the TKD part, I wouldn't think it would be so bad if it were taught properly. But the belief that TKD would be taught in a practical and combat smart manner would be wishful thinking at it's best.

Any HTH training must take into account the encumbrance of flak jacket/body armor, boots, helmet, load bearing equipment, ammunition, water, and (apparently empty) primary weapon. Somehow I don't see TKD fitting that bill... Just not enough content that, without significant modification, is applicable to those constraints.

While the Yiliquan I have been basing my combatives instruction on has required very little modification to communicate the techniques to the soldiers, I will be the first to admit that there is plenty that would require a good bit of tweaking to make work while wearing full "battle rattle." Ultimately (and I hate to admit this), what a soldier uses and what a martial artist uses are two different animals. I have thought several times of creating a military focused Yiliquan curriculum, but I don't believe that I know enough about what I am doing to do such a thing at this time (so I stick with the combatives curriculum, and expand on the techniques therein based on what I already know to be simple and effective).

Just one more thing soldiers have to worry about...

Originally posted by Yiliquan1
Any HTH training must take into account the encumbrance of flak jacket/body armor, boots, helmet, load bearing equipment, ammunition, water, and (apparently empty) primary weapon. Somehow I don't see TKD fitting that bill... Just not enough content that, without significant modification, is applicable to those constraints.

While the Yiliquan I have been basing my combatives instruction on has required very little modification to communicate the techniques to the soldiers, I will be the first to admit that there is plenty that would require a good bit of tweaking to make work while wearing full "battle rattle." Ultimately (and I hate to admit this), what a soldier uses and what a martial artist uses are two different animals. I have thought several times of creating a military focused Yiliquan curriculum, but I don't believe that I know enough about what I am doing to do such a thing at this time (so I stick with the combatives curriculum, and expand on the techniques therein based on what I already know to be simple and effective).

Just one more thing soldiers have to worry about...

I understand your point, Yilliquan.

The reason I said that about TKD, though is because, when you get down to brass tacks, the art focuses primarily upon raw striking, and raw power to a certain extent, which IMO is a good basis for combat.

It would be unnecessary, and stupid, to get too technical when teaching TKD as a combat system.

I can also understand why you might think it would be useless to a soldier, having to carry all that kit. Especially the way TKD will likely be taught to the military.

I run into the same problem with my job as a police officer. I wear a flak jacket, and I carry about 15lbs of gear on my duty belt. Also, most of my fights are extreme close quarters, so the flashy kicking aspect of TKD is quite redundant.

However, I do think that it's base in punching and kicking is a great foundation for training in another combat art, or at the very least doesn't leave a man completely defenseless.

That's why I cross train with MT and JKD. It seems to help complement my TKD where it is weak when I have to use it on the streets.

**** THIS. **** IT **** IT **** IT.

How the **** are you supposed to do a spining-back-nut-fluffer-540-kaigogi kick wearing a tac vest with 6 full magazines and 2 canteens, in BDU's and a Kevlar??@@??#

fARRGGGJRFFFF!#Q@!#!!())!

They need to go back to teaching Judo and boxing.

Hellfuckingyeah.

If Judo and Boxing were such a great combination from the start (and I'm not saying they're not), then why did the US military see fit to scrap that system?