Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego -- For many recruits learning the hand strikes of Marine Corps Martial Arts Program comes fairly easy. However, often times, learning to utilize legs as striking weapons proves to be a bit more challenging.
Recruits of India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, learned various lower body strikes such as the front kick, round kick and vertical knee strike as part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Calif., Aug. 29.
Recruit, Vincent A. Leon, Platoon 3215, explained he believed the class was essential for a recruit like himself because he had limited knowledge in self-defense and was only familiar with basic hand strikes.
Anderson said the MCMAP lesson was the first time he had been taught how to use his legs for hand to hand combat. He added learning the leg strikes was challenging because the movements required balance and flexibility.
“I’ve only been in one fight in my life, and in it, I only used my hands. I believe learning to use MCMAP leg kicks is important because in a combat situation the person who knows the most techniques and performs them the best wins the fight.”
Drill instructors watched the recruits practice each move with keen eyes in order to ensure their recruits had correct feet position and form. Recruits performed each technique approximately 25 times with a partner before practicing a different leg strike.
“You can’t be a one trick pony,” said Recruit Nicholas M. Anderson, Platoon 3215. “I feel I progressed as far as learning new skills and getting the proper technique down.”
Anderson said although he is a martial arts enthusiast and has seen countless videos on how to perform various martial arts techniques, learning to apply them with sound technique was difficult.
“I’ve watched a lot of videos, but they don’t show the details,” said Anderson, a Grand Rapids, Mich., native. “Having an instructor walk you through step-by-step helps you learn important fundamentals, such as not interlocking your hands on a vertical knee strike. There is so much to MCMAP. It takes discipline, and you can’t just be strong, you have to be smart too.”
As the recruits practiced their final repetitions it was clear they were much more comfortable with performing leg kicks than what they had initially started at. While the recruits still have much more to learn in MCMAP such as break falls, chokes and counters to chokes, they now have one more weapon in their arsenal for hand-to-hand combat.
“I know this is just the basics,” said Anderson. “But you can’t be a Marine and not know MCMAP. If you don’t have it, you’re missing a big part of being a Marine.”