It seems the U.S. Army, after interviewing 900 soldiers involved in hand to hand combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, has decided to change it’s close quarters combat program to de-emphasize ground fighting.Starting next month, soldiers will focus more on stand up grappling and weapons control more useful in the urban combat scenarios they find themselves in.

I, and many others, have always felt that soldiers carrying packs, rifles, and wearing body armor do not belong wrestling on the ground. Unfortunately, I believe that some military commanders had been sold by the “UFC has proven that Brazilian Jui-Jitsu is the ultimate martial art on the planet” hype. I have spoken to many people who have fought in hand to hand combat, going back to World War II veterans, and it seems that I am mirroring their opinions, and now the opinions of the current military forces.

This is not to take anything away from Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, it’s as good an art as any – for its given strengths. But the current way it’s taught is for half-dressed or gi-clad guys in matching weight classes to fight inside a ring. IT does not take into account how to fight in armor, while holding a rifle, inside cramped hallways.

I have written about mission centric training before. The current missions of the U.S. military in the Middle East involve a lot of urban close-quarters warfare. The training needs to reflect that as accurately as possible. According to the Army, training will include, “knee strikes, clinch drills, fighting with weapons and combat equipment, and pushing terror suspects against the wall.” This is a better reflection of what is going on that a sport-oriented grappling program.

I hope that “fighting with weapons” includes knife and bayonet training. In today’s modern world of smart-bombs and cruise-missiles, edged weapon fighting might seem quaint. However, every war and police action the U.S. military has been involved with has had troops fighting in close quarters with blades.

Mission Centric Training™ is a concept that a partner and I came up with a few years ago while conducting self defense training for a numerous organizations in the Boston area. It’s a concept that many military personnel and law enforcement officers (LEOs) get, but is missed on the broader public much of the time.

The concept is this: you dedicate most of your training time to the mission at hand. The mission consists of a goal, likely obstacles, and a likely environment.

For an LEO, a goal may be to effect an arrest on a resisting suspect. Subgoals would include, not getting injured, and not injuring the suspect. Likely scenarios may include a traffic stop outdoors at night (environment). Obstacles may include cars, other people, a curb, etc. It makes sense to simulate the mission as closely as possible – low light, obstacles, resisting suspect etc.

Now the important part of Mission Centric Training is – the mission dictates the tactics. Given our law enforcement example above, does it make sense to training in neck breaking or fast-drawing a sword? Of course not. Not that there is anything wrong with those teachings, and other training can certainly make a person more well-rounded. But the idea here is, dedicate the most effort in training to the mission at hand.

In the case of law enforcement, where liability is a large concern, it doesn’t make sense to focus on military style combative tactics. Lethal empty-hands tactics do have their place in a law enforcement arsenal, but it’s just not the major focus.

For civilians, the main focus on self defense should be on effecting an escape. Civilian self defense boils down to one essential mission concept -  move from an area of less safety to an area of greater safety. Civilians are not duty bound to face enemy combatants of effect arrests. This mission concept allows civilians the tactical flexibility for everything from running away, locking oneself in a safe room, using less lethal force to disable an attacker, or using lethal force.

Civilians are most likely to encounter threats of violence in and around their car, at their workplace, and in their home. Planning tactics around these environments is essential.

Keep in mind, Mission Centric Training takes nothing away from traditional or sports martial arts practice. If your sport is MMA, it makes perfect sense to train in MMA rules, with MMA trained opponents, inside an MMA ring. If your mission is spiritual development, you choose a martial art that focuses on that. However, do not confuse either with necessary self-defense training. Cross-training is a great idea.