In Combat, Marine Put Theory to Test, Comrades Believe describes an instance of hand-to-hand combat in Iraq:
Around 12:15 p.m., Cpl. Dunham’s team came to an intersection and saw a line of seven Iraqi vehicles along a dirt alleyway, according to Staff Sgt. Ferguson and others there. At Staff Sgt. Ferguson’s instruction, they started checking the vehicles for weapons.Cpl. Dunham approached a run-down white Toyota Land Cruiser. The driver, an Iraqi in a black track suit and loafers, immediately lunged out and grabbed the corporal by the throat, according to men at the scene. Cpl. Dunham kneed the man in the chest, and the two tumbled to the ground.
Two other Marines rushed to the scene. Private First Class Kelly Miller, 21, of Eureka, Calif., ran from the passenger side of the vehicle and put a choke hold around the man’s neck. But the Iraqi continued to struggle, according to a military report Pfc. Miller gave later. Lance Cpl. William B. Hampton, 22, of Woodinville, Wash., also ran to help.
As Marines’ martial arts training aims to make the tough tougher explains, the Marines have finally integrated unarmed martial arts into their training:
The tan belt is the first of 10 rungs on the new Marine Corps martial arts training ladder. For the first time, all 172,000 active-duty Marines, from the commandant on down to the newest recruit, must earn tan belts — and by no later than 2003. And all are encouraged to progress to higher belt levels throughout their careers.The tan-belt course includes 27.5 hours of instruction in 49 killing techniques to be used on enemies who are too close to stop with bullets or grenades. Among them are bayonet thrusts, knife slashes, “vertical stomps,” choke holds (and how to break them), leg-sweep throws, eye gouges, and more.
From my perspective, 27.5 hours isn’t much time to drill 49 “killing” techniques. A typical jiu-jitsu blue-belt probably has 200 hours of training — and relies on the same half-dozen moves to submit an opponent.
This sounds straight out of jiu-jitsu class:
The urge to say, “I quit” must be considerable during a drill called “bull in the ring.” Today’s variant has a passing resemblance to college wrestling, only with eye gouges, face rips, and other unsporting techniques.The unlucky “bull” has to grapple with seven other Marines in rapid succession, for several minutes each, starting each time from a seated, back-to-back position. By the time the bull faces the third opponent, exhaustion has set in — with four more fresh adversaries to go. The others cheer the bull on before and after they take him on.
“You’ve got a whole lot of heart, staff sergeant,” one calls out. There is also some coaching: “You’ve got to get underneath that jaw or you’re not getting any pressure on the carotid.”
And I may have to integrate this into class, just for kicks:
Occasionally an instructor will toss a “weapon of opportunity” within reach — a (plastic) knife, say, or a rock — to give whichever grappler can grab it first a chance to finish his adversary quickly.
But let us return to the original narrative:
A few yards away, Lance Cpl. Jason Sanders, 21, a radio operator from McAlester, Okla., says he heard Cpl. Dunham yell a warning: “No, no, no — watch his hand!”What was in the Iraqi’s hand appears to have been a British-made “Mills Bomb” hand grenade. The Marines later found an unexploded Mills Bomb in the Toyota, along with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers.
A Mills Bomb user pulls a ring pin out and squeezes the external lever — called the spoon — until he’s ready to throw it. Then he releases the spoon, leaving the bomb armed. Typically, three to five seconds elapse between the time the spoon detaches and the grenade explodes. The Marines later found what they believe to have been the grenade’s pin on the floor of the Toyota, suggesting that the Iraqi had the grenade in his hand — on a hair trigger — even as he wrestled with Cpl. Dunham.
None of the other Marines saw exactly what Cpl. Dunham did, or even saw the grenade. But they believe Cpl. Dunham spotted the grenade — prompting his warning cry — and, when it rolled loose, placed his helmet and body on top of it to protect his squadmates.
The scraps of Kevlar found later, scattered across the street, supported their conclusion. The grenade, they think, must have been inside the helmet when it exploded. His fellow Marines believe that Cpl. Dunham made an instantaneous decision to try out his theory that a helmet might blunt the grenade blast.
Cpl. Dunham died of his injuries — eventually — but he has been recommended for a Medal of Honor. He saved the two other Marines — and the Iraqi, until he got up and another Marine shot him down.
Normally, a modern grenade is lethal out to five meters and causes 50% casualties out to 15 meters.