Photo by Cpl. Sean P. Cummins Sgt. Andrew J. Tilton, a section chief withArtillery Instructors Battalion,applies the techniques to escape a choke hold during a ground fighting session at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence Oct. 30.

‘‘To be an instructor, not just here but anywhere, you generally want to take your top Marines, the ones that have the leadership and the drive — your alpha-males and females,” said Sgt. Jacob L. Braind, a martial arts instructor trainer at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence.

Marines must meet certain minimum requirements to even attend the three-week martial arts instructor course. A first-class physical fitness test score, second-class swim qualification and at least a gray belt are only a few of the conditions for participating in the course. Though, just meeting thoserequirements does not mean a Marine will make it through the course.

‘‘You’ve got three disciplines you want to work in throughout the course of the three weeks once you come here,” said Braind. ‘‘We’re talking mental, physical and character disciplines.

‘‘If you don’t have those three disciplines, it’s sort of like honor, courage, commitment: You won’t survive as a leader.‘‘

The students agree, the Martial Arts Instructor course is not for the weak-minded.

‘‘You’ve definitely got to have drive [to get through the course] and have discipline to continue to come back here,” Gunnery Sgt. John Smith, the floor chief at The Basic School armory. ‘‘If you were to go around here and ask any one of these Marines, they’re going to tell you that they’re hurting in one way or another.”

Marines can always take that hurt and, go to medical and give up. It’s a matter of being able to push through that pain, said Smith.

Despite the physical and mental stress the students endure, they remain excited and determined to become better fighters.

‘‘I’ve always wanted to improve on my fighting skills,” said Cpl. Nicholas B. Hayes, an administration clerk at the MACE. ‘‘When I got orders here I figured this was a chance of a lifetime to become a MCMAP instructor. One, it’s knowing the different types of techniques. When you see the [instructor trainers] doing these techniques you’re like a little kid seeing some new cartoon. It looks really neat. Then you start getting into it and you realize this really works.”

Even though the Marines are attending a martial arts course, fighting is not all that the course is about.

‘‘It’s a lot of fighting and a lot of learning how to fight, but there’s definitely a lot more besides that,” said Smith. ‘‘It’s really a great thing that they’re doing here. Not only are they teaching you the techniques but they’re teaching you how to be a leader, how to be an instructor, be the best Marine that you can.”

— Correspondent: sean.cummins@usmc.mil