Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- With individual pride on the line, recruits of Bravo Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, prepared to battle each other during Pugil Sticks III, Feb. 2. This event allowed recruits to apply different Marine Corps Martial Arts Program techniques they learned in recruit training.
Pugil Sticks III consists of the Bayonet Assault Course and sparring session that simulates close-quarters-combat between two people.
The course is comprised of different obstacles ranging from shallow trenches to crawling under barbed wire and tunnels, and once completed, the recruits gear up to battle each other with pugil sticks.
Helped by fellow recruits, the competitors suited up in protective gear and waited for their turn to charge into the fighting hole. Each recruit wore a helmet and padded protective gear on his body and wielded a two-sided padded stick for their weapon. When it was their turn to fight, recruits yelled their name and weight to ensure each pair of fighters within 10 pounds of their weight.
An instructor refereed each fight and waited for a “kill blow” from one of the recruits to declaring a match winner.
The recruits used the MCMAP training they learned throughout training, which helped familiarize them with the proper way to execute each move while in hand-to-hand combat situations allowing the warriors to continue in combat situations when they run out of ammunition or their weapon jams.
“You never know what to expect in close-quarter combat. Anything can happen while you’re on a deployment or out on a patrol. We prepare, train and take on the unpredictable challenges,” said Recruit Merle D. Stout, Platoon 1026. “Combat action is more than just being on the battlefield in a fire fight; it can be close hand-to-hand combat like we experienced today.”
The exhaustion recruits feel during this exercise strengthens their endurance since exhaustion comes into play in a battlefield.
“During the (simulated) battle of hand-to-hand combat using pugil sticks, I became fatigued by using all of my energy, which is something you can face on a combat deployment,” said Stout, a Bangor, Mich., native. “When you’re tired and fatigued, you have to push through it. It doesn’t matter how bad the pain feels or burns, because even though this is just a simulated fight, it can be the real thing on a combat deployment.”
Everything that has been taught throughout recruit training has a purpose, which recruits will take with them throughout their Marine Corps careers.
“Marines train for the unexpected,” said Sgt. Jordan G. Kinal, drill instructor, Platoon 1026. “A Marine must be able to defend himself and the brothers to his left and right.”