QUANTICO, Va.-Capt. Louis E. Isabelle is in the ring, pounding furiously at Staff Sgt. Clive D. Mitchell. Fending off most of the blows with his heavy gloves, the sergeant gives as good as he gets. A few feet away, about 10 other members of Isabelle’s "team" shout out repetitions as they struggle through a succession of drills designed to be not merely strenuous, but impossible: more 50-pound-weight curls, more "Korean jumping jacks," more "Australian push-ups," more contortions of other varieties than even an iron man could do in the time allotted. Buckets of sweat pour down heavily muscled arms and chests. The roar is deafening.
Boxing gloves and padded headgear are not the weapons that any Marine would choose for jobs such as hunting down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan or executing amphibious landings on hostile shores. But in the fog of war, close-in combat is always a possibility, notes Lt. Col. George H. Bristol, "starting with assault-rifle fire at maybe 10 yards and moving in to where you’re fighting with the weapon, being up in an enemy’s face and having to either smash him or take him to the ground to finish him off." Martial arts techniques of the nonlethal variety can also be invaluable in peacekeeping duty, disarming agitated civilians, dispersing angry mobs, transporting prisoners, or handing out food rations to crowds of starving people.
And for all the high-tech weaponry in today’s arsenals, the grueling physical regimen and fighting techniques taught at the Marine Corps Martial Arts Training Program, which is based at Quantico, are playing an increasingly important role in training Marines at all levels, maintaining their warrior spirit, and giving them confidence that they will be ready when called upon to fight. "A Marine Corps of well-trained tan belts," says Bristol, the director of the program, "will kick the shit out of anybody else in the world, sir!"
