Once a Marine Always a Marine

On Friday February 23, 2007, aJujutsupractitioners.
70-year-old man exemplified the motto of theIn seconds of his arms locking around the
Marine Corp League, "Once a Marine, Always athug'sesophagus and throat, the would be
Marine." When three thugs boarded a tourist busin theterroristbegan to choke on his own spit and
Costa Rican city of Limon armed with a gunand knivesdropunconscious. This technique is even
they must have thought the twelvesenior citizensmoredevastating if the person employing the
onboard were easy prey. They weredead wrong. Andtechniqueis taller then their opponent, because it
I mean D-E-A-D.takeslittle effort to take someone off their feet,thus
After witnessing a 20 year old terrorist put agun to amaking the strangle work that much quicker.
female passenger's head, Allen Clady, aformer MarineAnother good reason to strangle the thug from
made his move. The senior citizengrabbed a hold oftherear like this was because the punk was armed.
the thug and strangled the muchyounger thug withWhile the thug did fire two shots off into theair before
such force that he broke hiscollarbone and killed thethe gun jammed, the moment Clady hadhis hands on
man. This prompted theother senior citizens on the busthe thug's throat he immediately hadcontrol of the
to beginfighting back and the other two assailantssituation. When the bus driverdrove to a local Red
runoff the bus.Cross clinic, the gunwielding maniac was declared
So, how could a 70-year-old man could take on,and kill,dead. Thanks to
a much younger armed opponent? Theanswer lies inClady's swift action, only the gunman was injuredand
his old-school Marine Corptraining.the tour group returned to their cruise shipand safety.
The Marines recently introduced a new systemWhen asked if anyone on the bus would be
forclose quarters combat called the Marine Corpschargedwith a crime. Local Police Chief Luis
Martial Arts Program (MCMAP). This new sissysystemHernandezsaid, "They were in their right to
is supposedly for peacekeeping operationsin urbandefendthemselves." It is clear that the chiefunderstand
areas and theoretically allows for awide variety ofthat the police cannot be everywhere,and that
situations where a Marine needsto use non-lethal force.stopping a criminal is not a crime.
Prior to the development of this new crap thatwillIt takes an example like Allen Clady to remindeveryone
undoubtedly get more than one leather necksent homethat with the right training anyone canfight back. What
in a body bag, the Marines used morelethal techniqueshappened on that tour bus wasclearly a life and death
originally developed by Majorsituation and Allen
Anthony Biddle.Clady chose life. Those animals did not care whothey
His techniques standardized close combattechniqueshad to hurt to get what they wanted and Mr.
for the Marines and were based onboxing, wrestlingClady attacked to prevent people from being hurt.
and fencing. In addition,This just goes to show you that swift decisiveaction
Captains W.M. Greene and Samuel B. Griffithsharedcombined with good solid training can savethe
what they learned about martial arts fromday...regardless of age or physical fitness.
William Fairbairn while stationed in China.While Allen Clady has not spoken publicly aboutthis
Being a former Marine, Allen Clady learned theincident at the time of this article I canalmost guarantee
Corp's old (and real) style of close combatthat he was not trying to be a
thatemphasizes taking down an opponent hard,"hero". He was simply protecting people whoneeded
fast,and permanently. It is most likely that Cladyoverhelp, and is a credit to both hisgeneration and to the
took the thug from behind with a "Japanesestrangle".Marine Corp. Too manypeople willingly would have
The forefather of the sporting "rearnaked choke" asbecome victims, buthe stood up and went into battle
seen in MMA competition today,this simplistic andmode. He was notacting like hero he was acting like a
deadly old-school stranglewas very popular amongman.
military trained martialartists and pre-WWII Judo and