 This course is physically demanding. It's important because you give your soldier another tool, another asset. In the world of conflict, you're making lethal soldiers. Preparing for every scenario is critical when a soldier puts their life on the line down range. And hand-to-hand combat is the focus for participants in the Combatives Master Trainer course. A grueling, month-long program that certifies its graduates to train other soldiers to defend themselves in close quarters. Being an NCAA, it's what you do is you train and you lead soldiers from the front. If I can teach them, you know, prior to them going to a deployment down range and if they ever get into a situation, hopefully it will save their lives. The course, which is taught by master trainers from Fort Benning, Georgia, focuses on the physical aspects while also stressing strategic elements. We've got our limited advance going from there. With the soldiers going through tactical drills like patrolling an area and clearing rooms with simulated enemy combatants and civilians, all part of a program that's designed to teach soldiers regardless of their experience or size. In a perfect world, we like to say, it'd be great to have your biggest and strongest guys up front. But in all actuality, our soldiers come in multiple sizes. This is not for the combat arms at MOS, it's not for the infantrymen. This is for the dental assistant, radar specialists, people that aren't on the front line that still have a necessity for this type of training. And while a majority of the course was taught by the trainers from Benning, part of the schedule involved learning from a well-known mixed martial arts professional, as former UFC and Bellator fighter Josh Koscek joined the class as a special guest instructor, getting to know the soldiers and using his experience in the octagon to teach the students some unique moves. In the combators program for the Army, there's a lot of similarities when it comes to mixed martial arts. You know, a takedown is a takedown, a defense to a takedown is a defense to a takedown. The difference between what I do, it's a sport, you know, we're in there fighting and we're getting paid to fight and compete. These guys, it's life or death, so there is no sport when it comes to combators. For more information on the course or the nation's first division, check out the big red one on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.