Marine Corps Recuit Depot San Diego -- Marines are trained to be superior fighters in all situations. Whether they use their hands and feet to grapple, or their rifle to fight in close quarter combat, they are ready for everything.
Recruits of Company I, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, learned how to employ their bayonets during a Marine Corps Martial Arts Program class aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Calif., May 14.
The purpose of MCMAP is to teach recruits hand-to-hand combat techniques and instill in them the warrior ethos. Part of this training focuses on how to fix bayonets to the M16-A4 service rifle and utilize it in close quarters combat.
“Bayonet techniques teach recruits the proper control of their weapon and how to effectively use it in combat scenarios,” said Staff Sgt. Brian J. Barlock, Platoon 3201. “If recruits do not have proper control of the weapon, the bayonet techniques will not effectively work. Recruits must become familiarized with weapons retention and positive control.”
Recruits begin learning the basic MCMAP moves and then build off of skills they learn throughout the rest of recruit training, explained 29-year-old Barlock.
During the event, recruits honed the skills of a horizontal and vertical butt strokes, vertical and horizontal slashes, disrupt and offensive and defensive weapon maneuvers.
The MCMAP instructor ensured the recruits could correctly conduct each individual skill before moving on to the next one, assuring they understood the proper form.
Drill instructors monitored the company by walking through the formation as the recruits practiced the techniques. If a recruit executed the move incorrectly, a drill instructor would supervise that recruit until it was executed using the proper form.
“Every Marine is a rifleman, and every Marine trains to be a well-rounded warrior,” said Recruit Jonathan M. Ochi, Platoon 3201. “Marines deploy often and find themselves in close combat situations. That’s when the bayonet training could possibly become useful in life or death situations.”
Ochi explained the reason why he believes this skill is so important. Should he be in a hand-to-hand combat situation, and his fellow Marines’ lives were on the line, he wants to feel comfortable with his ability to stay in the fight and reach mission accomplishment without losing any lives.
Company I recruits will continue to learn more advanced MCMAP techniques during recruit training and in the Marine Fleet Force as well. MCMAP is one tool of many the United States Marines utilize to stay combat efficient and ready to fight.