Sorry to burst the civilian’s bubble ("It’s better to be safe," letter, April 22), but those of us who train in mixed martial arts would tend to disagree with the brute strength and weight theory.

He apparently has never heard of the Gracie family, BJ Penn or any of the other numerous jiujitsu practitioners all over the world. Technique plays a huge part in the Modern Army Combatives Program and jiujitsu as a whole.

I have trained with dudes quite larger than I and have had no problem with submitting them or making them go to sleep. Combatives not only contains a ground aspect but striking as well. To say that strength and a superior weight advantage is overpowering a person’s technique to defend themselves is misinformed.

If MACP was a flawed system — for example, a system that could not help a 123-pound female defend herself against a larger male — then it would not be taught to our armed forces.

I agree that the battle buddy system is important, but to say that combatives is ineffective due to weight differences is preposterous. Maybe the letter writer could sit in on a combatives class and see what is really taught, maybe learn that technique does, in fact, surpass just relying on brute strength alone to win a fight.

Spc. Justin AgnewBaghdad

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