Cultural Revolution: Making In-depth Language & Culture Study a Requirement for All

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Subject: Cultural Revolution: Making In-depth Language & Culture Study a Requirement for All
SCCOMarine 8/1/2008 5:03:00 PM

Career Marine Regional Studies Program (CMRS) This was the Program that I wrote about last yr that was just a concept in development at the time, it has now begun implementation. This is the program that will require All Marines E5/Sgt & Above to be assigned to study the Language, Terrain, and Culture of 1 of 17 Micro-Regions (previously 24) around the world to eventually become Regional Area Experts over a period of 6-10 yrs. Just like MCMAP, this program counts towards Promotion and is designed to shape Career Progression in the Corps. Also like MCMAP it's a comprehensive Course of Study designed more to weed out the Non-Hackers & raise the ability of the Corps as a whole than to put a Bruce Lee & UN Ambassador in every squad.

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GOP 8/5/2008 1:20:55 AM

SCCO, what do you think of MCMAP? How much time is devoted weekly to H2H stuff in an average Combat arms unit in the Corps?

Well looking at it thru the lense that it was designed for, which is a system that the USMC uses as it primary means of developing Discipline, Core Values, Aggression, Initiative, and Mental, Physical, & Emotional Toughness as well as teaching & reinforcing effective and progressive Combatives; I think it does its job.

The MarineCorps uses MCMAP & its Combat Conditioning Drills to really punish students and play alot of mental games. Its not some cursory class in kicking & punching, its more similar to a RIP(Recon) or BUD/S session than a Karate class, which builds mental toughness.

The discipline & initiative is built thru pays to be a winner type exercises, along w/ having to remain committed to the program over mths&yrs of advancement. This builds long term initiative over time b/c the advancement courses are NOT fun & sustainment must be steady & recorded btwn belts to advance and advancement goes toward promotion.

As far as Combatives, instruction always comes after the CCX drills when your dead tired. And even though the majority of the techniques are learned in the early belts & reinforced over & over in the advanced belts, the Program is Progressive.

So as you advance & master the basics thru repetition, the later belts introduce & focus on Fight Strategy, Multiple Opponents, & Advanced Combination Techniques.

Thats why I said the Program is Comprehensive and meant to be learned & reinforced over a period of yrs. Which is why alot of Orgs are now looking at it in a different light; like the article I put up on AFSOC. Its b/c MCMAP is a much more Comprehensive program than simple Combatives.

So over time the Combatives portions just becomes Muscle Memory, but internally it develops more focused, driven Marines which improves & toughens the Mindset of the Corps as a whole. Wh

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static 8/8/2008 12:38:16 AM

Hey SCO let me sidestep here for a minute and get your opinion on a few things. I am looking at ground intel as my first choice designation after TBS, and I was wondering if you had much exposure/experience with these guys and what they do. My recruiter thinks they do some pretty high-speed stuff but I haven't found too much information on them.

Also I understand that GI is pretty competitve and there is only one slot per TBS class, so I am looking at human and signal intel as my second and third choices. Eventually I would like to do a stint in counterintel but thats a ways down the road. I scored a 96 on my ASVAB which everyone seems to think is pretty hot shit, but I don't really know how that sets me up as far as quals go. I got 1190 on my SATs (old style out of 1600), and graduated college with a ~3.5 as a dual major.

I'm also planning on taking the LSATs in a few months should I get med rolled out of OCS or God forbid, DOR. I'm hoping for a decent score on those, but I'm a little apprehensive on submitting those with my packet as I've heard of people being forced into braching legal after OCS if they have high enough scores.

And do the intel guys for the Corps have chanes to go play with they JSOC and SOCOM guys? I know that its sort of a point of contention right now regarding "elite" status.

Anyway sorry to hijack. Well not really but I thought I should say it anyway.

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GOP 8/8/2008 1:06:29 AM

And do the intel guys for the Corps have chanes to go play with they JSOC and SOCOM guys? I know that its sort of a point of contention right now regarding "elite" status.

Just a guess, but I'm thinking that if the action guys need intel...that they'll take it from just about any source with actionable intelligence. Including the USMC.

SCCO, what do you think about the USMC being so over-funded and over-hyped? Also, would you say the arrogance of most young Marines has to do more with little 'pecker' syndrome, or more to do with their low IQ scores? Thanks. (kidding here)

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static 8/8/2008 1:23:44 AM

Oooooooooooh.... that hurt man.

Haha yeah the Marines and SOCOM aren't exactly best buds though. A certain Army unit comes to mind that probably gets the first call...

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GOP 8/8/2008 3:43:39 PM

Oooooooooooh.... that hurt man.

Haha yeah the Marines and SOCOM aren't exactly best buds though. A certain Army unit comes to mind that probably gets the first call...

Burn! lol.

Yeah, does this certain Army unit go by a certain color and also a certain citrus fruit? Yellow...or.... (vague huh? lol). They probably get the call first, mainly because I believe these guys are housed in the same area, are also Tier 1, and usually get the best intel on HVT's. But, let's say you are a USMC intel guy in Afghanistan. If you find out where UBL is, then you'd alert the higher ups. They would go through the proper channels and pass the intel where it needed to go (the unit who got the call would probably depend on urgency, location, etc etc). It may be CAG + Ranger, it may be SF, SEALs, USMC Recon, AFSOC or a regular Army/USMC unit.

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SCCOMarine 8/10/2008 3:45:51 PM

And do the intel guys for the Corps have chanes to go play with they JSOC and SOCOM guys? I know that its sort of a point of contention right now regarding "elite" status.

Anyway sorry to hijack. Well not really but I thought I should say it anyway.

I have personal exp' w/some Marines & ops on the Enlisted Intel side but not the Offs'. But fr/ what I know its a pretty good MOS. You'll get your hands into alot of different areas, go to some topknotch schools, & have the potential to get involved w/some good sh*t.

Now...w/that said, as far as High Speed, as an Off ' its really more Staff Level Planning & Analysis than getting your hands dirty, it really depends on your definition.

But as a Marine MAGTF Intelligence Officer you'll really have the opportunity to work WITH(keyword) some HS units as far as JSOC & SOF go, so that may be more along the lines of what your recr' may be talking about. The opportunity is definitely there just by the nature of what a MAGTF Intel O is, but you have to standout to get the HS schools & Deployments.

What I mean by the nature of a M-I-O is; over the yrs, especially the Cold War yrs, the USMC developed their Intel community a little different the other services(not talking about SOCOM). Where the other services Intel comms' really focused on the Big Movement, Large Broad Formational, Top Down, Strategic style of military Intelligence collecting and analysis. The MCIA(MC Intel Activity) really developed a Small Unit, Tactical, Ground Up style of Intel community.

Right now Tactical Intel is really in big demand in SOF JTFs & the USMC is the only one who can really supply Tactical Intel Centric personnel in large numbers & short notice until they develop their own; its a major priorty of SOCOM's right now.

As far as Counter-Intel, fr/ what I know as an Off ' you really don't get down into the mix, like a CI HET is a 6-8man team commanded by a Chief Warrant Officer. All the fun shit is on the Enlisted side.

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SCCOMarine 8/10/2008 3:59:46 PM

I think everything has its proper channels for a reason. I don't think that now w/ alot of USMC/SOF coordination I don't think you see as much ppl get as 'butt hurt' as they did B4 having to pass missions up the chain, b/c everyones kinda understanding their roles & playing their parts better than ever B4.

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SCCOMarine 8/10/2008 6:16:22 PM

Thats all good points. I was just wondering, because I sometimes find even more proof that the system isn't all that great from a pure combatives standpoint. But, if that's not it's primary point then I understand. The whole mental/emotional toughness thing makes alot of sense.

Well fr/a purely combative standpoint, its completely different fr/ any other combatives program to date.

For instance most combatives programs are btwn lets 20-50 maybe 60hrs tops. And are designed to take you fr/bare basics to advanced techniques in that time. Flooding you w/ a wealth of info in about 1-4wks of training.

If your an exp'd MA you'll brush of the simple stuff, absorb the advanced and try to work it into what you already know, whatever fits you'll keep whatever doesn't you'll discard. If you were a beginner you'll grasp the basics but the more advanced techs'll also be forgotten in a few weeks. Any Fight Strategy or true understanding of multiple techniques is lost.

MCMAP is different, it takes a Martial Arts approach to Combatives. Its, Tan-1stBlack, a 156hrs of MAIT Instruction w/another 100+hrs of MAI supervised sustainment in btwn for over a 2+yr period.

Starting w/the basics...kicks, punches, throws, chokes, locks/traps, ground techs, body hardening, etc. And slowly thru repetition proper technique becomes muscle memory. While thats happening they begin to learn & eventually understand Fight Strategy & more advanced Techniques and Combinations.

Nothing is lost b/c it becomes a part of everyday life. So I think combatives wise the Jury is still out b/c the Marine Corps still hasn't implemented the Program fully. Its going to take time to fully implement right, & not be rushed.

It took 7yrs fr/ its introduction til the point where it was integrated enough to make it a Mandatory Marine Corps Order(MCO) to have X-belt by Y-time. It takes certain amount of time to get enough MAIT's & MAI's properly seasoned & trained to an understanding level where they're not just teaching a bunch of Punching&Kicking classes.

So long story short, I really don't think there are enough Black Belt Level Marines floating around in each unit to really gauge how effective the Combatives are. Plus there isn't really much info on whats taught in the BB Courses. From what I've heard its alot of Combinations of Techniques taught in series, almost like an MA kata, but more real-time kinda like LINE.

For those unfamiliar w/LINE. It was a series of simple Strikes, Chokes, & Locks strung together into Combos that ended in a crippling or killing blow. There were 12 different Combo Series in LINE; LINE Series 1-12. B/C LINE was simple move strung together into complex series, to be performed correctly they had to be drilled in exact order over & over for hours everyday until it became a muscle memory reaction which made it very effective, but not very flexible.

But from what I heard the BB Advanced Combos are much more complex, much more flexible, & much more effective. So until the point when there's enough BBs in each unit to really implement a true daily training regimen its premature to doubt its effectiveness.

Right now there's maaaybe 3 or 4 BBs per BN. When fully implement there'll be close to 3or 4 BBs per Grunt Plt running the daily training in their Small Units. Thats when the expertise will be right there for real combat development, and thats when you can get a good gauge of the effectiveness of MCMAP's Combatives Techniques.

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SCCOMarine 8/10/2008 7:29:23 PM

That was alot of words but what it basically meant was; until the are enough Black Belt trained Marines in each unit, the Avg Marine isn't receiving adequate Technical training on a daily basis to judge MCMAPs Combatives effectiveness on Joe Marine alone. The last few yrs have been introducing it to the Corps.

But once naysayers fr/ other services go thru its courses they get it. Its a new approach to modern Military Combatives & takes hand on exp' to grasp the concept.

Its kind of like Combat Hunter, Sr Army personnel Bashed it as a waste of training time until they 1) Saw the results & 2) Sent some of their Infantry Tactics personnel to observe CH training.

Now teaching tracking & various other concepts pioneered by the Combat Hunter Program are all the rave for new Soldier training. Of course they'll change it a little, give it a new name & talk about their new program like they pioneered the sh*t. But as long as the finally get it(understand) then who cares.

But I digress, anyway. The next 5yrs will see the 1st generation in the Corps(one 4yr contract is considered a Gen.) required to be Green Belts by the time they graduated SOI turn into Sgts. My guess is a good # will be Black Belts by that time.

Thats when Skilled BBs will be able to teach at the Small Unit Level... i.e. skilled personal attention& proper instruction to the Jr Mar's. Won't that be fun.

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GOP 8/11/2008 12:06:47 AM

Sounds like the USMC has their shit together regarding combatives from what you just posted. I knew very little about it outside of training with Marines and seeing how they performed, but it seems that the military is finally doing things right (ie: frequent training instead of wk long blocks of instruction, reality based format, etc). I just hope they don't screw it up by serving the lowest common denominator which is classic military stuff from what ive heard. I have heard MACP is pretty sucky, they still do the wk long block of instruction thing. It gets old hearing the Army guys around here talk about being level 1 or level 2 combatives, and how that is somehow impressive. 3 weeks of BJJ? Wow, hardcore

I still think training consistently at a solid MMA or KM gym is the way to go regarding combatives, but the USMC seems to have a solid plan goin too.

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