That article is from 2007. It sort of reflects the problems the Modern Army Combatives Program had at that time. In 2009 Greg Thompson ( http://www.ussocp.com/ ) was invited to Ft Benning to 'fix' the MACP. It has been continually refined over the years to make it more relevant to the current war fight.

At the moment, our focus in the MACP is to improve it's image in the eyes of commanders. For many years the program was thought to be little more than sports jujitsu or MMA conducted by the Kung Fu boys with sleeve tattoos and five finger shoes. Commanders did not see where this played into a gun fight in full kit where your mat is made of concrete.

Currently, we focus a lot more on post/frame/hook, weapons retention, clinch fighting, and getting back on your gun as soon as possible - especially among new troops. The jujitsu/MMA stuff is still important but it is important only in as much as it creates a good base fighter. We are still training soldiers - not the next UFC champ. The good news in MACP is that it is always evolving to meet the current realities in the field. The problem we have is that in a force of around 1 million troops with many competing training priorities, it can take a while to get everyone training on the new material.

Here is the current Combatives video that tells the story:

https://www.benning.army.mil/infantr...ent/Video.html