Matt Larsen
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Matt Larsen is an American Combatives instructor known as "The Father of Modern Combatives" for his complete rewrite of the United States Army's combatives doctrine and establishing the US Army Combatives School. He was also the author of the U.S. Soldier's Creed
[edit] Military service
Larsen enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman in 1984. He was soon stationed overseas in Tokyo, Japan with the Marine barracks at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. During this time Larsen began training in the martial arts, with Judo, Shotokan Karate and boxing. He continued his training in martial arts when he was transferred to Okinawa with the 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment, training in Shobayashi Shorin-ryu with Eizo Shimabukuro and continuing his Judo training and also trained Kali in the Philippines. During this time Larsen fought in the Japan Karate Association's All Japan Karate Championships, Muay Thai fights in Thailand and even fought a bare-knuckle fight against the Republic of Korea Marine Corps Taekwondo champion and was also on the 3rd Marine Division's boxing team. After several years as a Marine, he reenlisted for the United States Army, working his way into 75th Ranger Regiment, where he would stay for the next 14 years.
Initially assigned to 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Larsen parachuted into the Torrihos/Tacumen airfield during Operation Just Cause and was also involved in Ranger operations during the Gulf War. He began getting more involved in combat sports when he served as the president of the 1st Ranger Battalion's practical shooting club. When he was reassigned to 2nd Ranger Battalion where he started a practical shooting club as well. He soon found himself as the non-commissioned officer in charge(NCOIC) of Combatives and Close Quarters Battle (CQB) training for 2nd Ranger Battalion, where he took the training he received achieving black belts in several martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu-jitsu with Royce Gracie, and merged them into a single, effective, fighting style. As the program grew more elaborate, he became the NCOIC of Combatives and CQB training for the entire 75th Ranger Regiment.
With his service in the Ranger Regiment, he had become established as the United States Army's Combatives subject matter expert. When the opportunity to shape the Army's Combatives program came, he transfered to the Ranger Training Brigade, which was in charge of developing the Combatives doctrine at the time. During this time, he refined his training methods and began putting together a comprehensive training manual. Larsen was asked to move to the 11th Infantry Regiment to design a Combatives instructor training course for their cadre. As the 11th Infantry Regiment would soon have a more rigorous training regimen, taught by the Army's subject matter expert on Combatives, the proponency for Combatives doctrine moved with him.
His ideas were well received at the 11th Infantry Regiment and he found himself with an old warehouse that he began transforming into a combatives training facility. Within a short time, the school had become successful enough that units from around the Army began sending their Soldiers. Several new courses had to be developed in order to continue teaching beyond the initial course, with the idea of building programs within these units. Eventually the school was recognized by the Army as the US Army Combatives School. In 2002, the training manual that he had been working on since his time with the Ranger Training Brigade was published by the Army as Field Manual 3-25.150 (Combatives).
After retiring from the Army, he spent several months working as a private contractor in Afghanistan and Iraq before being rehired by the Army as a civilian employee to be the Director of the Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) and the Commandant of the US Army Combatives School, (USACS) at Fort Benning, Georgia.
