I will
never be one to say that someone,
especially a soldier, can find absolutely no benefit in martial arts training. It develops many things other than "just" H2H skills.
However.
As a soldier, former infantryman, former cavalry scout, former drill sergeant, as well as a hard core traditionalist in CMA, I will say that the sportified training that most TKD emphasizes (can't really speak to what is being trained for 2ID in Korea; I was in Korea in 89-90, and the Korean soldiers I knew, including a Vietnam Veteran of the White Horse division of the ROK Army, all said that even
they thought TKD was good for nothing other than sports events and was worthless in "real" combat), and the learning of forms (although I am a
huge advocate of forms training for martial artists) are a waste of a soldier's time.
The amount of time available to the commander for training of soldiers on tasks other than those in the unit Mission Essential Task List (METL) is minimal at best. The time
must be used to the maximum benefit. The currently approved combatives training is a far cry from perfect, but it is also far and away better than what was advocated in years past.
If something new was to be introduced, TKD would not be my recommendation. Perhaps Modern Arnis or Krav Maga (though I know little about that program beyond the fact that it is rapidly turning into a profitable franchise on the West Coast) would fit the bill better. I know from my own training that Modern Arnis is learned much more quickly than some other arts, and with the unity of application of techniques (a strike with a stick has a direct translation into a strike with the hand or a cut with a blade), and would fit a soldier's needs more easily than trying to perform high head level kicks while wearing combat boots (not saying that is what they are being taught, but that
is the image that leaps to mind).
Bottom line, however, I would rather spend that extra money on ammunition to allow me to hit the range more often, and with more weapons, than learning how to punch and kick. I don't really plan on letting folks get that close to me...
