 The Modern Army Cabattus Program is the literal definition of martial art training that takes one of the world's deadliest fighting forces and makes it deadlier. The MMA community typically likes to put down traditional martial arts, calling them ineffective, a dance, and useless in the real situation, advocating for MMA training instead. However, the counter points to these remarks are usually, well, MMA is just a sport with supervised one-on-one battles in the controlled ring. Well, guess what? That is correct. It is a sport. Can it be used for self-defense? Oh, after freaking Lutely. But there are some missing elements that could get an athlete killed in a real altercation. You want to see what real MMA looks like outside the ring in the life of this situation? Good. The Modern Army Cabattus Program was put into place in 1995 in an effort to address what had become substandard hand-to-hand training. We're going to introduce the history of the program and how the training and competitive aspects combined to make a soldier, well, be all that they can be. Also at the end, we're going to show you a very simple training tool that you can use to intensify your training and really heighten your reactions. In 1995, 2nd Ranger Battalion Colonel Stanley A. McChrystal set out to reinvigorate the way his Rangers trained in hand-to-hand combat. It was very quickly evident that the current way of training was not only old-fashioned and ineffective, but it was also ridiculed by the soldiers themselves. Colonel McChrystal then assigned Staff Sergeant Matt Larson to establish a new program. Sergeant Larson, now dubbed the father of the U.S. Army's Modern Cabattus Program, had extensive training in the martial arts. His former student as a Marine, traveling around the world, afforded him the opportunity to train in several disciplines, such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, Muay Thai, Sambo, Judo, and boxing, just to name a few. When he started to analyze the program, he found a lot of glaring problems. Namely, there didn't seem to be an established discipline taught. You know, each instructor, teaching combat, had different martial art backgrounds and lessons often fell into a watered-down version of whatever discipline that particular instructor knew. Matt Larson himself was quoted as saying, There was a general feeling among the Rangers that the techniques would not work and that it was a waste of valuable training time. In general, Rangers would rather have been shooting, road marching, or anything else that they felt could actually benefit them. So the best place to start was to establish the foundation of the system. Larson and his committee originally considered Sambo as it had a great base of stand-up striking mixed with grappling. However, there was a lack of qualified Sambo instructors. Larson then decided on the recommendation of Vietnam-era Ranger and University of Minnesota wrestling head coach J. Robinson that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was the way to go. Rory and Royce Gracie were brought into consult with Larson and it was clear that BJJ offered the flexibility, the sensible learning curve, and the effectiveness needed for the system. As described by Robinson, I remember the Gracie's came up and we had a class with them. Royce Gracie, he was the first guy. He had 30 guys from the battalion and he went down that row and he beat each dude individually in a row. No breaks and he was barely breaking his sweat by the end. He was choking dudes out, arm bars, leg bars, you name it. He was throwing it on these guys. He was just destroying these guys and then he was like, okay, now let me show you how I did it. And that is what started the Kibata's program for the Ranger Battalion. With BJJ as the foundation, Larson continued to develop the program by bringing in what he called feeder arts. This included wrestling, Muay Thai, boxing, Judo, Sambo, Eskrimah, and other weapon and striking arts. Everything that could be added to give a soldier a full rounded and a purely mixed martial arts system that could be used in real close quarter combat. And with that, the modern Army Kibata's program was born. Hey guys, don't forget to pick up your own colors of combat t-shirt. We've got a brand new collection, 22 designs over multiple different martial arts. That way you guys can wear your art with pride. So get your own now. Check out the link in the description, artofwendouge.com slash store. Now here's where the approach gets interesting. Training in the martial arts in the Army is not about the actual martial arts. It's about the setting, the reaction, and control. Literally, the most important things taught here are the exact scenarios missing for making UFC Style MMA a complete self-defense solution. There are four levels to the program and training focuses on context of war. In modern day warfare, the context includes a lot of urban combat, building sweeps, and close quarter confrontations. This means that today's soldier has a higher likelihood of hand-to-hand combat. Even with tactical weapons and armor, a soldier that isn't ready to respond is at risk for serious injury. The most important thing about the Capata's program, since Sergeant First Class Carl Lawler, is that it teaches soldiers to have the willingness to close the distance with the enemy. You know, we can shoot guys from three meters away, but once we get man-on-man contact, some guys get lost as to what to do there. Training is about subduing a threat as quickly as possible. It's not always about killing the enemy, but controlling them until help arrives. The Army's mantra on this is a truth bomb in the world of self-defense. Rule number one on who wins is the guy whose friend shows up with the gun first. So that leads up to the first levels of training, which is basically to break any apprehension a soldier may experience and teach them to be proactive, even while taking punishment. Level one is a 40-hour or a week-long course, and the soldier is taught basic jujitsu moves. The entire purpose of this level is to break hesitation habits. A lot of new recruits have never been in a real fight before, and they don't have the experience of reacting to being hit. Someone who gets hit for the very first time may want to turn and run away, and in combat, that could spell the difference between life and death. So in order to pass this level, the soldier has to achieve the clinch. They have to defend themselves against an instructor wearing boxing gloves and comes in swinging, and they have to endure four rounds of this, getting hit in the face and the body, with intensity and contact increasing in each round. The kicker? The soldier can't hit back. No striking. It's all about breaking hesitation and taking control. In order to complete each round, the soldier must weather the storm and place the instructor in one of four clinches. The rear clinch, the modified seatbelt clinch position, double under hooks with body lock, and the wall, in which soldiers control their opponents up against the wall with one under hook-in. It's a small taste of what real hand-to-hand combat would be like in real life. Level 2 operates at a higher intensity, involves more rolling, introduces trainees into competition, and implements the two-on-one drill. The two-on-one drill teaches soldiers to work together. The two trainees work together in a simulation to subdue and control enemy combatants. The enemy then lashes out and attacks until he's put into a position of restraint and submits. It builds crucial tactical teamwork. Level 2 also includes a bracket-style tournament day for soldiers to engage in the competitive structure. Think about that. Soldiers can go from knowing no combat skills to competing in less than three weeks. On the last day of Level 2, combative students get to wear high-impact blower suits and start fighting with Kylie Styx and other weapons to prepare them for Level 3. Levels 3 and 4 are more rigorous, and they prepare the students to become instructors themselves. Sparring is rougher, and includes more strikes, allowing the soldiers to flesh out and find their fighting style within the construct of the combat training. Both levels include 160 hours of mat time over the course of four weeks. Now, with the exception of a few mobile training units in Level 3, both courses are taught at Fort Bending, Georgia. Level 3 graduates may begin teaching Level 1 students, and Level 4 instructors can teach both levels 1 and 2. Additional certification and specialized training is required in order to teach Level 3 and 4. Now, before we look at the tournament part of this program, if you find any value in this video at all, I invite you to visit our channel. We have a lot of historical and martial art breakdowns, and we'd love to have you come as a regular guest, so please explore and enjoy our content. Now, the tourney portion of the Army combatist program starts to show us colors of MMA. The soldiers are put through this competition as a means to pressure test what they've learned, and to work their way through progressively harder rounds. There are basic, standard, intermediate, advanced, and then scenario-based portions. The early rounds are grappling, resembling, you know, BJJ or collegiate wrestling matches. The semifinals and finals follow more akin to unified MMA rules. Excerpts from the rulebook state, strikes are introduced at the intermediate competition level. Fighters can use open hand strikes to the face, closed fist strikes to the body, kicking with the foot and shin, knee strikes from the waist down, takedowns, ground-fighting techniques with chokes and joint locks, shoulder, elbow, straight ankle, and straight knee to submit their opponents. Advanced competitions allow for closed fist strikes, kicks with the feet and shins, and knee strikes below the head. At this level, competitors can use takedowns to a dominant body position, ground-fighting with chokes, joint locks, which includes shoulder, elbow, straight ankle, and straight knee, and muscle manipulation to submit their opponents. Then we have scenario competition, and that's where soldiers really can test their training. Scenario competitions allow for closed fist strikes, elbow strikes, head butts, kicks with the feet and shin, and knee strikes below the head, all while in full tactical combat gear and weapons. This is where we transcend the limits of the UFC style fighting, and I want to highlight the mention of fighting in full tactical gear. Now, I've doubled the BJJ in grappling, and after a few minutes of that, in shorts and t-shirt, it can be exhausting. In the scenario competition, soldiers are required to wear all components of the Army Combat Uniform as outlined in the manual. This includes military boots, the proper tactical vest, helmet, and any additional personal protection gear. The red and blue belts seen in some of these clips are strictly for point assignment in the tournament and are not actual ranks, much like WKF karate tournaments. Sometimes, in the scenario of fighting, soldiers will be allowed to use the shock knife. Now, the shock knife is a plastic training weapon with a built-in stun gun. Sometimes, these are marketed online as self-defense tools, which I would caution relying on, but as a training device, they're awesome. Training with plastic and wood knives is one thing, but the psychological effect from the crackle and anticipation of the shock really elevates the training and triggers that don't touch me reaction. Now, I have this one. We covered it in the previous episode, and I won't lie. When this touches skin, it hurts like s***. So, any school that likes to do knife drills, I highly recommend picking up one of these. This one is from Guard Dog, but you can find different varieties and prices online. So, that was just a quick introduction to the Modern Army Combatters program or what I would consider real-life MMA. Now, I want to make it very clear that I am not dumping on the UFC or sport MMA. I have sparred MMA fighters, toughest opponents ever and in great fighting shape, but in the end, it is still a sport. These are incredible athletes spending years training, but they are training for a one-on-one fight in a controlled room on level ground. No weapons, no weather, no life and death scenarios. Can they defend themselves? Oh yes, absolutely. But self-defense isn't the focus. You know, a 300-pound linebacker isn't trained to fight either, but I bet they'll be able to hold their own. The goals are very, very different. You know, a soldier is not going to spend multiple rounds trying to wear down and size up his opponent. Confrontations need to be over in seconds. They have to be able to create space so they can use their rifles or to control the opponent if they can't. The Army Combatters program takes all those missing elements and then grains them into a soldier using an MMA structure. At the very least, soldiers can become conditioned and used to high-pressure combat situations and develop some basic fighting skills. Now, many soldiers do choose to continue on to expand on their training. So why do I call the Army Combatters program better than MMA? Well, take an MMA athlete, take all that time and hard work, dedication, and pressure testing that makes them the formidable opponent that they are, and apply all that effort into the real tactical fighting the Combatters program teaches and add guns. They play for keeps for real life. No tap-outs. The only tap-in that will happen is a double tap. Now that is the American Warrior not to be trifled with. And as a fun fact, this program has been successful enough that the United States Air Force used it as a foundation to build their own combat program in 2008. If any of our viewers have gone through the Army Combatters program, I would love to hear your feedback below in the comments. You know, we always value first-hand experience, so I'm really curious to know what you thought. Now, if you like this, wait until you see how the Marines train with their own Marine Corps Marshal's program, including their own unique belt ranking system.