Memorizing TTPs won’t save you; fighting under resistance will.
Baghdad Checkpoint
The gunner let loose a long burst of machine-gun fire through the windshield of a speeding car. Days earlier, two Rangers had been killed nearby when a “pregnant” woman detonated a suicide vest at a checkpoint. No one was taking chances.
The driver kept coming. He rammed the metal guardrail the Rangers had turned into a makeshift defensive position. The sedan hit with tremendous force, flipped over the Soldiers’ heads, and landed upside down behind them in a billow of dust, wheels still spinning.
The machine-gun team stayed in place to cover the intersection. Three more Soldiers moved to the overturned car. Seeing muzzles pointed at their faces, the three men inside raised their hands and clumsily poured out the window. Once they were on their feet, the Soldiers began searching them and tying their hands behind their backs.
One Soldier had his rifle on an assault sling so he could use both hands. He was counting on his teammate’s cover. As he started to search the third man, the suspect got unruly and tried to get his hands on the slung rifle.
Not wanting to shoot what he thought was an unarmed man, the Soldier drove hard into him, pinning him against the wreck. The suspect still fought for the weapon. The Soldier clamped the wrist, fed his own hand over, and locked the figure-four—a reverse bent arm bar, or kimura, exactly as he’d done a thousand times on the mat.
“The added weight of my body armor and equipment only made it that much easier to break his arm,” the Soldier said later.
Once the enemy was subdued, a pistol was found hidden in his clothing, and three AK-47s were in the car.
Lessons Learned
Combatives is for every Soldier. Traffic control points, detainee searches, CQB, any Soldier can be in a hands-on fight with almost no warning.
“Live” training pays off. He could execute a kimura in real time because he had done it against fully resistant partners, not walk-throughs, not just drills.
Equipment doesn’t change the fight’s fundamentals. Body armor, helmets, and kit change leverage and fatigue, but the positions and finishes are virtually the same.
TTPs (Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures) don’t win fights; fighters do. Memorizing search procedures, cuffing methods, and other TTPs can put you in an advantageous position when a fight starts, but unless you can actually fight under resistance, position alone won’t win the struggle.
