"Semper Fu?"

March 8, 2001 9:12 AM

"Semper Fu?" - In a bid to hone the "physical and mental discipline" of recruits and better prepare them for the rigors of peacekeeping missions, the Marines adds martial arts to the curriculum.
posted by kevincmurphy (7 comments total)

Urso calls civilian instruction "schoolboy martial arts." To make it safe for
children, instructors have taken much of the "martial" out of the arts. In
most civilian schools, that means no gouging or hitting below the belt.

Marines won't be trained to play by those rules. They will literally go for the
jugular, taking anatomy classes that point out choke points for killing an
enemy.
That's just great...more of, "I used to be a marine, I can kill you with my little finger."
posted by samsara at 10:18 AM on March 8, 2001

Samsara, no real Marine would say "used to be". Once a Marine, always a Marine.

I had this drilled into me over one summer by the drunken fellow across the block who sat out on his porch roof hollering it to the entire neighborhood. ;-)

Anyway, the article correctly notes that special forces have used martial arts as part of their training for some time. I'm a little skeptical that the rules of engagement for peacekeeping will put individual Marines in too many situations where they can use the fighting techniques, but I think the mental discipline part of it has a good deal of merit.

Ultimately, though, I have reservations about using the Marines in peacekeeping. They'll always be the fastest and easiest to deploy, but I'm not sure the skill base is really all that compatible.
posted by dhartung at 10:53 AM on March 8, 2001

Anybody else watch the video attached to the article? My favorite quote:

"So is it far Eastern? I don't know... I think it's as American as apple pie."

Uh, yeah... American as apple pie. And that account of a muddy tired group of marines reciting Frost at the end of the article... that was touching...
posted by lpqboy at 11:08 AM on March 8, 2001

That's just great...more of, "I used to be a marine, I can kill you with my little finger."

You get a lot of that?
posted by thirteen at 11:11 AM on March 8, 2001

Nah, mostly referring to movies. Which reminds me of a scene in Working Men, "There are certain sacred things on this earth that should never be messed with, one of them happends to be another man's fries."Haven't seen it in awhile...
posted by samsara at 11:25 AM on March 8, 2001

well it only makes sense for the military to be familiar with the President's favorite form of combat.

dP
posted by darkpony at 11:31 AM on March 8, 2001

"Semper Fu" is a wonderfully clever link title.
posted by werty at 7:14 AM on March 9, 2001