Even in todays high tech battlefield, grappling continues to be an ever present aspect of warfighting. In fact, 19% of military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan reported engaging in hand to hand fighting. Furthermore, they consistently reported that grappling techniques were the most common techniques used to subdue and over power their opponents. Keep reading for the full breakdown of the most effective martial arts systems, in modern war zones.
This article is based off of some excellent data from the US Army. From 2004-2008 they regularly conducted post combat surveys (PCS) of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. These surveys examined their experiences, and allowed for open ended responses.
They were administered to personnel of all ranks, and military occupational specialties (MOS). Here are some of the key statistics, as they relate to hand to hand fighting in combat.
Hand to Hand Combat Statistics
- 19% of Soldiers reported using hand to hand techniques
- Of these Soldiers, 72% reported using grappling
- Striking was the least reported skill at 5.5%
- 30.7% of these incidents occurred during detainee handling
- 14.2% of incidents were in close combat
These statistics highlight that even in rural open environments, such as Afghanistan, hand to hand combat still exists. This makes sense as you can’t just bomb everything, especially in areas where non combatants are present. Eventually you have to put boots on the ground.
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Grappling in Combat: The Data
In this section we’ll break down this research review of the Army Post Combat Surveys. As you’ll see there are some interesting nuggets in there, including the various techniques these soldiers employed the most. If you want to read the original study, you’ll find that here.
Study Design
As I mentioned previously. This study was based on survey data from the US Army between 2004-2008. A total of 216 Soldiers, out of 1226 that were surveyed, reported using some form of hand to hand combat. This is the break down of their MOS’s.
As you might imagine, the survey data encompasses Soldiers of all ranks, with the bulk of them being junior enlisted. You’ll find the rank break down below.
As you might imagine, the Army did over 30 surveys during this time period. This represents 30 different units returning from deployments. These deployments varied in length, and location, with 87% of the respondents returning from Iraq.
Now that we have some of the basic info for how this survey was conducted. Let’s dig in to the specific information they uncovered.
Grappling in Combat: Survey Results
As I mentioned previously, 19% of soldiers reported using some type of hand to hand technique while deployed. When we drill down further, we can see that grappling was the most common system utilized. The category Weapons indicates using weapons strikes like a butt stroke or muzzle strike.
You can see that grappling is by far the most common hand to hand method. With weapons striking occurring at less than one third the rate of grappling. Interestingly enough, striking with fists, or kicks, was the least prevalent. If you really drill down you’ll see only 9 soldiers reported throwing a punch, and 2 reported using a kick.
I want to warn the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guard pullers. You aren’t going to like the next chart. In it you can see that the most common grappling technique is actually a takedown. This category would include a wide variety of techniques intended to land someone in a dominant position from standing to the ground. Think hip throw, double leg or single leg take downs.
I found it very interesting that the arm bar was the next most commonly used technique and the most common submission hold. After doing a cursory search on Army MACP arm bars, it seems they teach three different arm bars: from mount, from side control, and from closed guard.
Two of those arm bars require that you be on your back, and the other requires you be perpendicular to the opponent, face down. While no one who’s ever been stuck in an arm bar would tell you they’re ineffective. They do put the soldier in a precarious position, with limited mobility, in a close quarters environment.
I think this makes a little more sense if we consider the most common areas within the battlespace that these techniques are actually conducted. Take a look at the chart below.
Unfortunately a lot of soldiers did not specify where they engaged in hand to hand combat. Of those that did we see detainee handling, and close combat taking up the vast majority of occurrences.
Because the largest category we have is detainee handling, this presumably indicates the immediate area has been secured. You probably wouldn’t be worrying about prisoners, if you’re in an active firefight! I think doing something like an arm bar probably makes more sense if you’ve got a relatively secure area.
It also makes sense that choke holds are the next most common submission. Choke holds have the added benefit of actually incapacitating the opponent, allowing you to gain the upper hand quickly.
Now that we’ve drilled down on the data for grappling in combat. Let’s see what the key take aways really are.
Grappling in Combat: Discussion
I found this study to be very interesting. If you would have asked me what types of combat sports would be most prevalent in a war zone, I probably would have said striking (Boxing, Muay Thai, etc). As we saw in this data, it occurred 9 times amongst the 1226 soldiers surveyed.
While I have no experience with the Army’s MACP martial arts system, I did go through the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. That programs had a heavy emphasis on strikes. During that training I must have performed about 10,000 hammer fists. Even though striking was common, all the live training involved ground fighting and grappling, more akin to wrestling
As you might imagine, with most of the training being stand up, and the majority of practice being on the ground. There wasn’t a lot of technique being used. Brute strength ruled the day.
It seems like the Army has used this data to inform their hand to hand training. Quite a lot of the Army’s combatives training is based on jiu jitsu / wrestling at the basic levels. It only includes striking and mixed martial arts as you become more advanced.
This approach has the benefit of allowing Soldiers to regularly practice against a resisting opponent, with a lower injury risk. Where as you run a higher risk with full contact sparring.
If you want to increase your physical strength and conditioning for grappling, mixed martial arts, or wrestling, then you should check out this fitness program I wrote for grapplers.
Final Thoughts
I would like to see studies like this broken down with more detail. For example, I would imagine that Infantry and Special Forces would use these techniques at a higher rate than non combat personnel, or other combat MOS’s like Armor or Artillery. It’s hard to do rear a naked choke in an Abrams tank!
It would also be interesting to learn if the predominance of grappling in combat is apparent in other conflict zones, like the Ukraine, or Africa. Moreover, I’d like to see the different ways other countries train their soldiers as martial artists. While there are a lot of different ways to build a ground fighting system, it would be interesting to see other unique techniques they utilize.
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