I was awarded the Black Belt in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program

[matt.m]

I am not sure where to have put this post. However, the Gunnery Sgt. in charge of the recruiting station in Florissant, MO and I were on the U.S.S. Kearsarge together. I was a Sgt. he was a Cpl. I trained him in the final stages of L.I.N.E. Training, which is extremely hapkido/Japanese JiuJitsu based.

Well the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) was designed in 2000 to update L.I.N.E.

Long story short he,I, and his Sgt. worked together in my basement for the last yr. I never in a million yrs. expected a dan ranking certificate. However, it was a beautiful gesture from my friend.

One of the greatest things about the True Martial Artists and U.S. Marines is this.......We are loyal to each other to a fault. Budo teaches us that.

 

[Brian King]

Congratulations Matt.

Regards
Brian King

 

[gkygrl]

Congrats Matt. Are you still an active Marine???

 

[jim777]

Congratulations and Semper Fi Matt!

 

[MBuzzy]

Congratulations! So this was your only training specifically in MCMAP?

 

[Jack Meower]

Congrats! Can you explain how MCMAP differs from LINE? I really don't know much about either. Are they based predominantly on any other martial art?

 

[Jack Meower]

Congrats! Can you explain how MCMAP differs from LINE? I really don't know much about either. Are they based predominantly on any other martial art?

Actually, you already answered that for LINE. My mistake.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Congratulations

 

[hapkenkido]

congrats matt

 

[Skip Cooper]

:asian: Congratulations!

 

[Kacey]

Congratulations!

 

[kidswarrior]

Congratulations, Marine! :asian: Truly outstanding, Matt!

Best,
-Devil Doc

 

[masherdong]

Congrats! Well deserved honor!

Also, just want to thank you and other men and women that are in the Armed Forces defending our country.

 

[terryl965]

Congrats and keep up the great work :asian:

 

[matt.m]

Congratulations! So this was your only training specifically in MCMAP?

Yes indeed my friend. By USMC standards you must be at least a Gunnery Sgt. to hold a black belt in MCMAP or 6 years whichever comes first.

However, since I am a 2nd dan in Yudo.....along with being an upper ranking belt in both Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. Along with being a prior L.I.N.E. instructor he felt I deserved it.

I told the Gunny, look man. Don't feel like you owe me anything and tried to give it back to him. His rhetoric was "You saved my bacon in Albania, this is the least I could do for you."

Again, this type of humility is what the MA's are truly all about.

BTW: Thank you everyone for your congratulations.

 

[matt.m]

Congratulations! So this was your only training specifically in MCMAP?

Yes indeed my friend. By USMC standards you must be at least a Gunnery Sgt. to hold a black belt in MCMAP or 6 years whichever comes first.

However, since I am a 2nd dan in Yudo.....along with being an upper ranking belt in both Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. Along with being a prior L.I.N.E. instructor he felt I deserved it.

I told the Gunny, look man. Don't feel like you owe me anything and tried to give it back to him. His rhetoric was "You saved my bacon in Albania, this is the least I could do for you."

Again, this type of humility is what the MA's are truly all about.

BTW: Thank you everyone for your congratulations.

 

[matt.m]

Congrats! Can you explain how MCMAP differs from LINE? I really don't know much about either. Are they based predominantly on any other martial art?

In the 40's and 50's as my grandfather described and showed me, I was Japanese JiuJitsu and Judo based. This is readily apparent if you ever watch the old WWII and Korean Marine movies that were made during the time period.

It was all throwing and locking. Then in the Vietnam War era with the Korean influence of hapkido a lot of low knee kicking like sythe and twist were added. Along with the beautiful front up raising.

When the jeep was replaced by the humvee came L.I.N.E. training. Just a more specialized update.

Now with MCMAP, it is the most specialized aspect that the USMC has ever used. It is all about combination breaking and throwing. To explain: There is one technique that is 3 parts......knee opponent to the the head, stomp kick them in the quad above the knee rotate head left/right and kneel down and break persons neck.

 

[theletch1]

The one really big difference that I've picked up between the old LINE system and the new MCMAP system is that the LINE system (which I studied) was all about the ability to eliminate an opponent and get back into the battle (that means kill the guy, folks) as every technique in the LINE system ended with a killing blow (usually a neck snap or throat stomp and the MCMAP system is much more about a range of choices from killing your opponent out right to being able to take your opponent down and locking him up to effect a capture. Since I haven't studied the MCMAP system I'll have to rely on Matt to tell me whether I'm right or not.

 

[arnisador]

In the 40's and 50's as my grandfather described and showed me, I was Japanese JiuJitsu and Judo based. This is readily apparent if you ever watch the old WWII and Korean Marine movies that were made during the time period.

I posted about that here when I taped "Tortilla Flats" on TMC and they used "Marines in the Making" (a short documentary from 1942) as filler after the film ended. They used a lot of derogatory terms for the Japanese--every one in the book--but used a great many jujutsu techniques in their training. It was actually quite interesting. Most techniques seemed to end in a trip or throw followed by a swift series of three "karate chops": to the groin, solar plexus, and throat, not always in that order. Japanese stick-fighting was also adapted.

 

[matt.m]

I posted about that here when I taped "Tortilla Flats" on TMC and they used "Marines in the Making" (a short documentary from 1942) as filler after the film ended. They used a lot of derogatory terms for the Japanese--every one in the book--but used a great many jujutsu techniques in their training. It was actually quite interesting. Most techniques seemed to end in a trip or throw followed by a swift series of three "karate chops": to the groin, solar plexus, and throat, not always in that order. Japanese stick-fighting was also adapted.

Both of you guys are right. Not only that but the K-bar and Shanai were essential tools in the advance L.I.N.E.

The Shainai was used like the hapkido cane techniques. Oh geez, our instructors always said that "If you don't mean to throw the technique then don't even bother. You'll waste energy and piss the aggressor off."

I wish more M.A. instructors kept that in mind when they were instructing the cirriculum of their perspective art."

We had a saying we followed to a T, "Pull gun, kill person, put gun away and keep going."

Same for hand to hand, I guess my experiences are different like Letch and Field Discipline. Gee in a bar a few weeks ago I had someone grap my chest telling me all about being a jiujitsu champ. I said Congrats, please let go of my shirt.

He didn't so I used a bar towel to wrap his hands and off balanced him followed by a side reap.

I love tough guys, there's always enough to go around. I look at them like crooks, "If you worked as hard at honestly doing what you needed to be successful then you wouldn't have to work as hard at being a dumbass."

I mean gee, it is all how people think of and will remember you. I also believe that your true friends don't need to be asked if they are a pal or not. Maybe I am a niave sap but it has gotten me by so far.