How Long Should It Take to Get a Black Belt in Military Martial Arts

How Long Should It Take to Get a Black Belt in MCMAP?

How long it should take to get a black belt is an interesting question in any martial art, let alone in the military.

In Karate or Kung Fu, we are talking four to five years.

Click ont he cover for the truth!

Back in the forties it would take a year. Maybe less, maybe more. And this was for Karate, Japanese styles, and any other style that had a belt system.

Then Kenpo came along and they started selling black belts on what is referred to as ‘car contract’ sales approaches. That way they could keep students longer and make more money.

The actual contract was designed in Kenpo Karate by a dane instructor from Arthur Murray dance studios.

Which brings up the original point of this article, how long should it take to get a black belt when you are studying a military style, like MCMAP, or the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.

Well, in a commercial school at the local McDojo strip mall school, at two hours a week you would put in 100 hours in a year, 400 hours in four years.

The marines, or the army or navy, in their basic training, have you 24 hours a day for up to four months. Four months would be 120 days. At one hour a day every day, using old standards before the car contract system came in, most people could earn a black belt in that time.

Of course they might have to do with a little less parade ground drilling, and look at training in how to survive with hand to hand on a battlefield, but it is definitely possible.

And, you would have to overcome certain considerations that the military might have.

For instance, they want you to take courses on leadership, and go up in the ranks before they teach you more martial arts. Which is sort of silly, because it’s like saying you shouldn’t learn how to survive hand to hand combat unless you have been around for a while.

And, they would have to revamp some of their training methods; put in more kicks, change the structure of their training so that empty hand fighting better aligned with weapons, and so on.

Most of all, they would have to consider that soldiers aren’t fodder, but that every soldier should have higher and higher training, that every soldier should have the highest possible chance of surviving on the battlefield.

All this done, wouldn’t it be wonderful if a recruit could go into basic training and come out, 120 days later, a bona fide and deadly black belt?

About the author: Al Case has 50 years in the martial arts, and is the author of Fixing MCMAP: How to Make the Marine Corps Martial Arts into a True Martial Art. Check out his incredibly quick and efficient Black Belt Course at MonsterMartialArts.com. You can do this course in the privacy and comforter of your own home.

http://www.amazon.com/Fixing-MCMAP-Making-Martial-Program/dp/1503181812/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1415995791&sr=8-15&keywords=mcmap

Fundamental Flaw in Marine Corps Martial Arts

Oops, did we do that?

There is a flaw in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP), and it is a doozy. It’s a lollapalooza..it’s even a killer!

The flaw is very simple: to test for some of the belts you need to take non-martial arts related courses, and you need to be promoted.

Now, the non-martial arts related courses usually refer to leadership courses.

And the second part of this flaw: To be tested a person needs to be promoted.

On the surface these two items aren’t overly alarming, until you examine what actually happens.

These two things reserve the martial arts for the elite, upper echelon, and is thus not for the enlisted man.

Think about it. The boot gets a taste, then he has to jump through extra hoops to enhance his ability on the battlefield. Not fair.

And, here is the terrible news: the martial arts, and this goes for just about any martial art, Karate, Kung Fu, etc., and not just MCMAP, build a person up, and they increase his responsibility, and they make him a better leader, and they expand his moral compass, and they just make darn, better persons.

So with this fatal flaw the Marine Corps are actually stifling those gains, those abilities. In essence, by making a person take leadership courses and get promoted before they test them for advanced belts, they are limiting such things as responsibility and leadership.

It is so very odd that these people don’t understand that the martial arts inherently make better people.

And, one is forced to ask a rather brutal question: are the officers trying to stay elite at the cost of their troops?

And, here is the real kicker: If what I say here is true, then could it be that the Devil Dogs Fighting Discipline is not really a Martial Art? But just a sport designed to kill without the benefit of such things as increased ethics and responsibility!

Fortunately, there is good news here. There is a rumor that this flaw may have been set aside, either in part of whole, and this would be good news.

And, the fact that one can download MCMAP in it’s entirety does enable one to go through the program ‘unofficially’ on their own.

And, it is true that people who have studied disciplines such as Karate, Taekwondo, and so on, can be recognized for their achievement. The recognition comes late in the belt ranking system, more in the form of a recommendation for the military fighter to avail himself of other disciplines than MCMAP. But it is a start.

About the Author: Al Case has written a two volume work analyzing the Marine Corps Martial Arts. It is called ‘Fixing MCMAP,’ and it is available on Amazon. It is recommended for soldiers wishing to get the most out of their military martial arts training, or for martial artists who wish to get an unbiased and in depth look at the Marine Corps Martial Arts.

A Scary Reason to Study Marine Corps Martial Arts

It couldn’t happen…could it?

Here’s a reason to study MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) that I never thought of.
I like to read conspiracy theories, I actually subscribe to ‘Before It’s News,’ check out people like Alex Jones, and veer my life towards a survivalist bent.

A friend of mine said, ‘You know, when the bankers destroy the world, you’re going to be fighting the US Marines.’

I blinked.

First off, banksters don’t want to destroy the world, they want to control it. What’s the good in owning something that’s all broken?

But, that said, one of those banksters (I forget which one) actually said, ‘It’s cheaper to kill a million people than control them.’

Yikes!
Double yikes, because the country is owned by the banksters, and you know those guys wouldn’t hesitate to ‘Send in the Marines.’

So the military might actually, in the extreme, in spite of the constitution, be used to ‘put down rebellion,’ ‘control mobs,’ and so on.

And the marines are part of the military, and even if the marines aren’t used against the people other military branches study Marine Corps Martial Arts.

So my wacko friend actually had a point.

Would the marines break the constitution and come to your home town and kick some serious civilian ass? I really think that’s far fetched, but everybody thought Kent State could never happen, let alone Waco or Ruby Ridge.

So the point is, whether you get into the Marine Corps Martial Arts or not, it might be handy to know what they are, how they work, and so on.

Knowing the fighting style of people that are trained to kill would certsainly jack up your current martial art.

Anyway, you never can tell when that cop who’s got rhoid rage has been militarily trained, and maybe in MCMAP. That security ‘expert,’ fresh out of the USMC and highly excitable, pushing people around at the sports event, he might have been trained in MCMAP.

Mind you, I don’t think the marines are our enemy, else I never would have written the Fixing MCMAP book. But it behooves you, in this odd and changing world, to know all the fighting skills you can, and especially if they might be the discipline that is used against you in dire circumstances.

Check out ‘Fixing MCMAP’ at AlCaseBooks.com, or just go straight to Amazon.

What a Platoon of Taliban Did to a Lone Marine…

Atrocities Committed on a Lone Marine by the Taliban…

A platoon of Taliban were on patrol one day, when they spotted a lone marine standing on a large boulder.

“Quick!” shouted Mohammad to two of his jihadists, “There’s only one devil dog, so go kill him!”
The two soldiers ran for the boulder, yelling threats and shooting their rifles in the air.
The marine jumped off the boulder and disappeared from view.
The two Taliban ran behind the boulder, and suddenly the air was filled with screams and gunfire. Then there was silence.
“You five,” commanded Mohammad, “Go find out what happened!”
The five Taliban ran to the boulder, yelling that God was with them and shooting their rifles in the air. They circled behind the boulder, and suddenly the air was filled with screams and gunfire. Then there was silence.
Mohammad turned to the rest of his command and screamed, “Go find out what happened!”
The Jihadists all yelled that they were ready to go to Paradise and shot their rifles in the air and charged the boulder. They ran around behind the boulder, and suddenly the air was filled with screams and gunfire.Then there was silence.
Mohammad pulled out his radio and started to call for more troops when a lone Taliiban soldier crawled out from behind the boulder. He was beaten half to death, bayoneted several times, had many bullet wounds, and was near death, but he managed to call out to Mohammad… “There were two of them!”

Okay, no booing, this is a good one. And if you want to find out why the marines are so tough, maybe even try to be tough like them yourself,  then head over to ‘Fixing MCMAP.’

 

Why I Chose MCMAP…

MCMAP is for People Who Want to Kill

The reason I chose the marines (MCMAP – Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) to pick on for my latest martial arts book is interesting.

First, the Marine Corps isn’t a McDojo with trophies in their window, they are men dedicated to killing.

Second, on inspecting MCMAP I could see that they had fallen into some of the traps Martial Arts systems fall into.

The basic techniques are drawn from boxing, not Karate or kung Fu or some other martial art.

The grab art techniques were out of order, and selected for reasons that go against the grain of self-improvement.

The relationship of techniques was not well addressed.

Don’t get me wrong, the thing works, and well, and especially in view of the fact that they are training a bunch of fellows that are often short a clue.

But it could be better.

It could be a real martial art where people actually suffer enlightenment.

And one of the questions I entertained, as I tweaked and rearranged MCMAP, was whether the marine corps would want enlightened troops.

On one hand, the soldier would be smarter, he would be prone to analyze, and intuitively, any situation.

But would he follow orders and go into the guns of the enemy?

Man, that was the $64,000 question.

And I think the answer would depend on the quality of leadership, and the information passed down to the grunt.

If a fellow went through MCMAP, and did become enlightened, he would have to be educated as to the value of the mission before charging forth. It would take smart leaders to do that, and the mission would have to make sense.

An enlightened man is as willing to put his life on the line as an unenlightened man. Maybe more so.

But he’s not stupid.

The fellows at the Alamo likely knew they would die, and just to buy a little time for their fellow Texicans to make up an army. They made an educated and enlightened decision.

And, should MCMAP take hold and begin transforming today’s modern marines, they would have to make the same enlightened decisions.

And I think the fellows in charge are going to have to be smarter, and communicate in a complete and thorough manner, their mission goals.

Anyway, it is a conjecture, but it is backed up by the fact that armies of the east have engaged in this type of martial arts training for millennium.

You can pick up ‘Fixing MCMAP’ on Amazon, or here… http://marinecorpsmartialarts.wordpress.com/marine-humor/

Guaranteed, whether you are a martial artist or a marine, or a marine to be or whatever, you will find the work scholarly and effective. After all, it is based on the martial arts of a very unique group of killers.

Where Do You Go to Find the Best Martial Arts

Your Best Martial Arts for Dedicated Survival…

The Best Martial Arts. Let’s see, a McDOJO with lots of karate trophies, an MMA training camp for the UFC, a traditional Karate school, a…none of the above.

If you want to find the best martial arts you have to look for the people who would be using them i the most dangerous situations. And that wold be the marines.

I know, the marines mostly use rifles, but their MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) has as its motto, ‘One Mind, Any Weapon.

They train in a variety of weapons, in a variety of situations (from kill the sucker to simple restraint), and they are more serious than the guy down the street who is enrolling students.

Further, you won’t find a surplus of padding to fool the senses, you won’t be next to a ten year old child, you don’t have to worry about your mother crying if you go home with a boo boo.

What you will find, in the extreme, how to kill somebody as quickly and efficiently as you can with anything near to hand, or just with your bare hands. And, in the less than extreme, nifty joint locks and such for controlling the unruly without sending them to the undertaker.

Now, that said, there are a few things that can be (look over my shoulder in trepidation) fixed. Whew! nobody heard me, so I’ll say it again. There are a few things that can be set right with the program.

The strikes are more boxing, and don’t utilize certain body mechanics, and lead to effortless power. The grab arts are a bit out of order, and don’t take into account certain potentials, freestyle needs a more gradient approach, there is some confusion as to the relationship of empty hand fighting methods versus fighting methods using weapons. And so on.

HOWEVER, that doesn’t make the marines fighting system bad. It just means there are a few things you can do to tweak if for more understanding, faster learning, and so on.

Now, this is what you do. You google the marines fighting system, MCMAP, Marine Corps Martial Arts PRogram, etc., and download it for free.

Yep. Free. Don’t you love the sound of that word?

Then you order ‘Fixing MCMAP,’ by Al Case. And you pay for it…Boo Al! Oh, it’s not too expensive? Okay. No boo. Just a shrug and don’t go to McDonald’s this afternoon. Better to learn the most efficient way of tweaking the most dangerous martial art in all the military, which means probably the world.

Then you go through the manuals, side by side. See what he’s talking about, do the system with a few tweaks, and, voila, you are deadlier than a marine with foot fungus!

okay, just joking. You won’t get foot fungus. But you WILL get a state of the art, modern, tak it to the death martial arts system that is supported by the few, the proud…the marines.

Here’s the URL for Fixing MCMAP. For googling the official MCMAP manuals from the marines you’re on your own.

http://www.amazon.com/Fixing-MCMAP-Making-Martial-Program/dp/1503181812/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1415995640&sr=8-15&keywords=mcmap

Have a great work out!

Publication of ‘Fixing MCMAP!’

Publication of ‘Fixing MCMAP!’

Announcing the release of FIXING MCMAP!
I just finished the two volume set called
Fixing MCMAP
And…since you guys are the newsletter,
I’ll be making a special offer to you
at the bottom of this newsletter.

MCMAP stands for
Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.
It is actually a good program in a lot of ways,
but,
as with any new martial art,
it fell into a lot of the traps
that new martial arts make.
In Fixing MCMAP I fix those problems.

I take out the boxing and put in martial arts drills,
I rearrange the grab arts,
I fix a lot of misconceptions,
present the house forms,
set up a VERY comprehensive format
of freestyle drills,
and a lot more.

And,
here’s the thing,
when I finished the books,
I realized that if I was to be taught the martial arts
from the ground up,
in these modern times,
this is what I would want.
This is the arrangement of drills and techniques
that make the most sense for me.

It’s combat oriented,
it’s got the best and simplest forms,
the techniques are arranged precisely and in order,
it leads to other martial arts,
the freestyle arrangement REALLY makes sense.
Now,
that said,
I am curious what the military will think about it.
On one hand,
I have improved things.
On the other hand,
i’ve made hints and statements
that might be taken in opposition to the military interests,
things about the mental attitude of a warrior,
and so on.

Still,
I am happy with this work,
very happy,
and I know that even if people disagree with me,
they will be thinking about what I have said.
Who knows,
maybe they will come up with something more effective.

That is matrixing, you know,
understanding the art so that you can create it on the moment.
It doesn’t mean everything will be the same.
I’m very curious as to what kind of variations on my work
people will come up with.
In my ignorant pride I think I’m the best,
but,
you know,
Bruce is just waiting to be born again,
some guy is working on a system that will change the way people think,
and so on.

So…we’ll see.

But,
that said,
right now Fixing MCMAP is the latest and the greatest.
It is cutting martial arts,
and cutting edge military martial arts.

Heck, it is GOOD!

Now,
it is a complete system,
but I always tell people that they should get
the original MCMAP,
they can find it on the net for free,
and download it.
then lay that course next to my Fixing MCMAP
and see what shakes loose.

Okay,
you want a deal.
The deal is that the books will be published paperback
within a couple of days.
They will be $15 a piece,
a total of $30.

BUT,
for the guys on the newsletter,
Go to this address,

http://marinecorpsmartialarts.wordpress.com

and you can get the download versions
for $20.

And,
you guys know that i make these deals,
leave them up for a week or two,
and then have to take them down.

And I do have to take them down.
When I finish the KINDLE version,
which takes a couple of weeks,
the Kindle people insist that 
I not sell the books in download fashion on the net.
It’s in their rules.

So you have a week or two
to take advantage of this deal.

BTW, the site you are going to is still under construction,
so I am open to any suggestions as to how to better it.

Now,
here’s the URL again

http://marinecorpsmartialarts.wordpress.com

So go there,
let me know if anything doesn’t work,
and have yourself a GREAT WORKOUT!

Al

http://marinecorpsmartialarts.wordpress.com

The Bigger Picture of the Martial Arts

Let me make a few martial arts connections here…

The secret of the martial arts
is that it gives you the discipline
to create more awareness.

This awareness occurs when you transform your art
from obsessing on things like explosions
and finding the silence in your art.
Loose-tight.
Tightening just the fist.
Becoming aware of the space of your body
and how different moving the space of your body is
from moving your body with muscles.

How long does it take to earn a black belt?

In Tai Chi I used geometry.
I became aware of the geometry
my hands made in each motion
and I focused my awareness
on being aware of my hands
throughout each geometry.
A curve,
an arc,
a transitioning spiral from one movement to the next,
staying aware as I did so.

Now, here’s the funny thing,
it all depended on not having corners in my motion,
not jerking,
or otherwise going unaware
in my motion.

The constant awareness
through each motion
became THE biofeedback device
that drove me forward.

As I did this,
as I accomplished more awareness
strange things happened.
I became aware of the various motors
that my body was composed of.

The motor of air to energy (chi)
separated by the diaphragm.
This lead to an understanding of how the body works
that isn’t anywhere in western culture,
and which understanding is obscured
by poorly defined Chinese terminology
when it is understood at all.

The motor of potassium and salt,
which define the cells of the body.
This led to a complete understanding
of such things as nutrition and diet,
that is available nowhere else.
Did you know that you can change
the nutritional values of food
merely by understanding this factor
and doing certain things in your martial exercises?

The motor of the brain
and how it has virtually nothing to do
with real thought.

Now, to be very forthcoming,
you need to get the basic elements of the martial arts functioning.
This means a complete understanding,
not just doing…but understanding why you are doing,
of such things as breathing, relaxing, grounding your weight, and so on.
Coordinated Body Motion, not spoken of at all by other martial arts,
is key to this process.
Then,
you have to understand concepts in specific arts you practice.
In aikido you have to create the same size sphere as your partner.
In Karate yoou have to reach intuition of movement.
In Tai Chi you can travel through the door
by creating geometries of energy,
and then using those geometries to make your awareness pure,
so that it never breaks.

And, you have to do these things,
understand the tradeoff between these concepts from art to art,
and how to Coordinate all of the concepts.

That is how you forge yourself through the martial arts.
And most martial arts merely have you ‘monkey see monkey do,’
never explaining the connections here,
how every thing is related and dependent.

Never explaining that the arts aren’t different,
only separated by people who don’t understand
how they fit together.

Kenpo and Aikido,
for instance,
share the same concepts,
but they are misaligned
and so appear to be different.
And the same is true for all arts.
Wing Chun and Karate.
MMA and Tai Chi.
Krav Maga and MCMAP.
All just different and dumbed down slices
of the one big and true art
that is the properly aligned and fit together of all arts.

Anyway,
didn’t mean to rant,
I tend to get excited that way.

I’ll be signing books at the Martial Arts Museum
in Burbank on OCT 18.
Hope to see you there.

Here’s an URL if you are interested in
checking out the Tai Chi Chuan aspect of the martial arts.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/five-army-tai-chi-chuan/

Have a great work out!
Al