You know, we are close allies with the Israelis, and they have a pretty decent hand-to-hand combat system in place called Hisardut. As a soldier, I would prefer a more tried-and-true system (such as Hisardut, or Ler Drit, the military variation of Muay Thai). Don't get me wrong, BJJ and TKD are very good for exercise, but let's face it, they have little application on the battlefield. The high pretty kicks of TKD are useless, as we aren't going to be kicking someone off of tank-back (as horses are obsolete) and BJJ... well if I see someone shoot on a fellow soldier of mine i'll be sure to monkey stomp his ass.. BJJ is good for one vs. one hand-to-hand combat, but as a soldier, I'll let you know that there is no way I'm going to kick back and wait to see who the victor is. There is a reason why we are the greatest military force on the planet, and doing things like implementing BJJ or TKD for all-intensive "combat" purposes doesn't do anything to cement this position we have achieved with our military. That, and it doesn't really help that we're taking anyone and everyone in the armed forces nowadays, so we are getting a lot of whiners who will get away with whining about the training anyways....

Krav Maga's a pretty good combat system. I wonder why the US military hasn't considered using that?

As a Korean American, former military BRAT :-) and Korea-trained TKDist I will offer my twenty won (since 2 won will get your coins tossed onto the street).

1 - Tae Kwon Do, Korean or otherwise is a SPORT not a combat effective art that a fully gripped soldier could use in battle. The training wastes the precious little time these men and women have as it is.

2 - The assertion that "REAL Tae Kwon Do" or "traditional TKD" as I have heard it called is any better is silly. The sport was born a sport around 60 years ago. If you want to try a martial sport, I love TKD and highly recommend it even though I haven't competed since 1993. It has given me fitness, agility, an outlet for competitive spirit. If you want to defend yourself and you have already learned TKD, compliment it heavily with another type of training...soon...now. Yes, some of the Korean TKDists can fight. So can some of the American TKDists. If you were lucky enough to have a Master in your schools upline who was former Korean Military when the system was conceived, they still may implement joint locks, and close quarters hands, that were taught as part of military hand to hand and were integrated with TKD training. I was lucky enough to have that and I have successfully used training I received in TKD in some situations. But I certainly never used a spinning arial maneuver that the Kukiwon/WTF instructors will dutifully try to pass along. Most of what i have used for defense would not be recognizable as TKD because it was supplemental training. I did not realize these facts until the last few years trying to find a school here in FL, USA. I finally found a school that supplements TKD with BJJ and boxing. But I am getting off subject.

3 - Tae Kwon Do as a mandatory combat class is a waste of tightly budgeted tax payers money. We have enormous numbers of soldiers with families on welfare because the military "can't afford" to pay them enough. Yet we are contracting instructors for mandatory TKD? I understand that these budgetary decisions are handed down from the DOD and you can't just redirect funds for Mandatory Gym and Recess to payroll, but please write your congressman. Starting salaries for enlisted personnel has hovered only a couple maybe five thousand a year above poverty level for well over a decade. Waste waste waste.

4 - As far as a cultural exchange, I hate to say that Yiliquan1's portrait of the boozing, whoring GI is a characature based in truth. A majority of the people that would be required to take TKD would not glean any of the intended benefit. There is a reason for anti-american sentiment in Korea beyond political. I was often told that my mother was a whore lookin' for a quick trip to the states by ignorant GIs and their kids (my peers). Those loud few paint a negative and I daresay inaccurate picture of Americans for the host country. Unfortunately, they are the ones carousing downtown Song Tan and I Tae Won. And regretabley, there are far too many Koreans looking to make a quick dollar who cater to that crowd feeding their negative perception of Koreans. The social atmosphere from both sides is far too counter-productive for a one hour a week TKD class to offset.

5 - I hope to GOD that no one is getting a black belt out of one hour a week.

All around this is a bad idea.

Vindication...Kerochiman...Haksaeng...way haksaeng Irago Hashimnikka? Hangullo ssemyon dweyo.

Wastrel, Miyanhamnida. Na nun Hangukmal moteyo (in case you can't tell by my romanization). I haven't spoken fluently since I was a kid and even if I could speak now as well as I did then, I would speak with the vocabulary and deferential tone of a 14 year old at best. However, if I understand what you are asking: I believe we are all continually students of our respective arts and are never so good or so widely knowledgeable that we can't learn at least one thing from everyone. That is why "Haksaeng." If that is not what you were asking then maybe I should have called mom and asked her. Then at least I coulda faked it :)

No. You read correctly. Bullshido ay huanyong hamnida.

Originally posted by The Wastrel
This is obscene. I was in the 2ID when this program was implemented. Not only that, I was recruited as one of my company's instructors...EVEN THOUGH I HAD VIRTUALLY NO TKD EXPERIENCE.

As far as they were concerned, CMAs and Taekkyon were the same thing. Of course, then I would get these dorkos complaining that it was nothing like what they learned at John Cletus' All-American Tae Kwon Do Karate, Peoria, IL.

HMM. BROTHER I SHARE YOUR PAIN. I'M CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF THE 2ID TAEKWONDO TEAM AND THE WAY TKD IS BEING TAUGHT WITHIN OUR DIVISION IS DURING PT AND THE CORRECT INSTRUCTION ISN'T BEING GIVEN I'M PROBABLY ON OF THE ONLY PEOPLE WITHIN OUR TEAM OF INSTRUCTORS WHO SHOWS THESE SOLDIERS WHY THE'RE DOING WHAT THEY DO. THE TAEKWONDO PT IS REALLY A BIG INFOMERCIAL TO GET PEOPLE TO COME TO THE CLASS AT NIGHT....

HAKSAENG.... BOY I TELL YOU I THINK YOU AND ANYONE ELSE WHO UNDERESTIMATES TAEKWONDO OR ANY OTHER MARTIAL ART (OUTSIDE OF GRAPPLING) FAILS TO REALIZE THAT IT ISNT THE ART BUT IT'S THE PRACTITIONER OF THE ART THAT MAKES IT EITHER WORK FOR HIM / HER OR CAUSES IT TO FAIL THEM. AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. I'VE BEEN HERE IN KOREA FOR A LITTLE OVER THREE YEARS AND WHAT I'VE SEEN REGARDING THE TRUE FORM OF TAEKWONDO HAS INDICATED TO ME THAT THERE IS A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE THAT HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY KEPT FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD DUE TO EITHER CULTURAL ASPECTS OR BECAUSE SOME OF US "WESTERN" FOLKS WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND THSES SECRETS...... ESPECAILLY IN THE US TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO BEGIN TRAINING IN THE MARTIAL ARTS AS A WHOLE ARE AFRAID OF GETTING HIT AND ARE IN MY OPINION AFRAID OF HARD WORK. THATS WHERE THE TRADITION COMES IN. YOU BUSTED YOUR ASS IN CLASS AND DURING SPARRING IF YOU FUCKED UP YOU GOT HIT. BUT DUE TO THE LOVE OF MONEY AND NOT THE PASSING OF KNOWLEDGE FROM TEACHER TO STUDENT IS WHERE IDIOTS LIKE YOURSELF MAKE THE MISTAKE OF UNDERESTIMATING ANOTHER SYSTEM. (HEY DAWG THE GRAVEYARD IS FULL OF PEOPLE WHO MADE THE SAME MISTAKE YOU'RE MAKING)

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO ALL MARTIAL ART TAUGHT IN THE STATES IS THE ART NEEDS TO RETURN AND THE BUSINESS NEEDS TO GO AWAY.....A REAL GOOD INSTRUCTOR ISN'T ONE YOU'LL FIND IN THE YELLOW PAGES BUT THROUGH WORD OF MOUTH.

THE SMALL AMOUNT OF TRAINING I RECIEVED IN THE SOUTHERN PRAYIN MANTIS SYSTEM WASN'T PAID FOR WITH MONEY BUT WITH HARD WORK. IN ORDER TO BECOME A STUDENT I HAD TO CHANGE MY WAY OF THINKING. NOW A DAYS ANYONE WITH A DOLLAR CAN TAKE LESSONS.

THESE KWON'S KICK 'EM UP SCHOOLS NEED TO TAKE A PERMANENT VACTION BECAUSE USUALLY THE KNOWLEDGE IS WATERED DOWN AND OBVIOUSLY MISINTERPRETED. BUT HEY WHO CARES AS LONG AS THEY'RE MAKING MONEY OR HAVE A BUNCH OF CHAIN SCHOOLS LIKE MC DONALDS RIGHT?!

DAMN!!!!!!!!

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BRINGING BACK A THREAD THAT HASN'T BEEN UP FOR ALMOST A YEAR, AND WHAT THE HELL KIND OF POINT YOU MAKE.

GO POST IN A TOPIC THAT IS STILL UNDER DISCUSSION SO OMEGA CAN TELL YOU TO STFU.

AND FIX YOUR KEYBOARD YOUR CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN.

Geez.....

TKD for the army= one more reason to have to be able to shoot good

Krav Maga was explicitly designed for the military by a military officer who started off with boxing and wrestling (similar to the judo/boxing thing brought up earlier by others).

It's separated into military, municipal (police), and civilian.

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BRINGING BACK A THREAD THAT HASN'T BEEN UP FOR ALMOST A YEAR, AND WHAT THE HELL KIND OF POINT YOU MAKE.

GO POST IN A TOPIC THAT IS STILL UNDER DISCUSSION SO OMEGA CAN TELL YOU TO STFU.

AND FIX YOUR KEYBOARD YOUR CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN.

Geez..... HEY WISE ASS 1)I'M NEW TO THIS SITE 2)I'M A 2ID SOLDIER 3)I'M TIRED OF SO CALLED SELF PROCLAIMED KNOW IT ALLS LIKE YOU COMPARING STYLES ("MY STYLE IS BETTER THAN YOUR STYLE") YOU GUYS SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF CHILDREN....GROW THE **** UP AND GET A LIFE.........

I bet the Wastrel has never even been to Peoria.

TKD for the army= one more reason to have to be able to shoot good

1NCE AGAIN IDIOTS LIKE YOU WHO THINK THAT A PUTS ALL HIS FAITH IN FIREPOWER. THE ARMY MUST BE AS WELL ROUNDED READY TO FACE ANY ENEMY ON ANY BATTLEFIELD. WHEN YOU LEAVE OUT THINGS LIKE HAND TO HAND COMBAT IN ANY FORM (TKD INCLUDED) **** LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO JESSICA LYNCH HAPPENS

YOU FIGURE IT OUT............ :qright5:

:icon_salu
I bet the Wastrel has never even been to Peoria.
AND I BET YOUR ASS HAS NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES

MEXICO DOESN'T COUNT