Robert Humphrey, a Marine rifle platoon commander in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima, had seen the worst the world had to offer. But to him, the lesson was not only the cruelty of war, but also the ethics of the warrior. The Japanese had twisted the moral code of “Bushido” into a philosophy of hate and intolerance. In contrast, Humphrey’s experiences inspired him to write a creed, for American warriors then and forever more: “Wherever I walk, everyone is a little bit safer because I am there. Wherever I am, anyone in need has a friend. Whenever I return home, everyone is happy I am there. It’s a better life!” In the global war on terror, America’s warriors have to apply that ethic to an enemy that has arisen from yet another culture, with a code of warfare of his own. In our new Counterinsurgency (i.e., “COIN") Field Manual we are adapting tactics and training to better enable individual soldiers and Marines to perform COIN operations. The new training will include powerful cross-cultural conflict resolution skills; wider ranges of armed and unarmed martial arts capabilities, and have at its core a strong ethics element.

The U.S. Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) is such a program. MCMAP is an ethics-based combatives program consisting of three main elements: (1) character (Ethical Warrior training), (2) mental (military skills and mindset training), and (3) Physical (martial arts and combat conditioning).  Full Article