Hand-to-Hand Combat and the Use of Combatives Skills: An Analysis of United States Army Post Combat Surveys from 2004-2008

Abstract

Despite technological advances, hand-to-hand combat remains a persistent aspect of the contemporary operating environment (Wojadkowski, 2007). To develop a more detailed understanding on the use of hand-to-hand combat, the researcher analyzed 30 Post-Combat Surveys administered to US Army Soldiers from 2004 to 2008 after their return from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. 216 out of 1,226 Soldiers (19.0%) reported using hand-to-hand combat skills in at least one encounter. The Soldiers descriptions indicated that hand-to-hand combat occurred in a variety of tactical situations and that the most common skills employed were grappling techniques (72.6%), followed by the use of weapons (e.g., rifle butt strikes; 21.9%); with striking as the least reported skill (i.e., punching and kicking; 5.5%). These results further reinforce that hand-to-hand combat remains a relevant demand and the US Army should continue such training with an emphasis on grappling skills practiced across a variety of performance settings.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 19, 2014
Accession Number
ADA612103

Entities

People

  • Peter R. Jensen

Organizations

  • United States Military Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Army Training
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Environment
  • Iraqi-War
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Training
  • Riot Control
  • Security
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Military Academy
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation