[everyone shouting]
Hey, let's go, hey!
Let's go!
Referee: Fight!
Narrator: These Army trainees
are participating in a combatives competition
against other platoons in their company.
It's one of the last events trainees experience
during basic combat training,
where they learn to engage the enemy
from a variety of distances.
Macalah Williams: You never know what type of enemy
you're coming into contact with.
Come on!
You ain't trying to win, pink?
Then you go under, never over, with the prep hand.
Set it in and do it, right? Trainee: Yes, sergeant.
Narrator: In the Modern Army Combatives Program,
or MACP, trainees are taught fighting techniques
including strikes, takedowns,
and submissions, like choke holds.
Dean Craig: Whenever they have to close in
at that zero-meter range on the enemy,
the tools they have to build that confidence,
to be able to know what they need to do when the time comes
when someone either grabs their weapons
or they get taken to the ground,
what they can do to protect themselves.
Instructor: And then I curl the wrist.
He's already almost wanting to tap.
See how fast that is? Trainee: Yes, sergeant.
Instructor: Now draw my elbows in, and he's tapping.
You OK? Trainee: Yeah, I'm fine.
So, someone's reaction time
between you being 25 meters away from me,
it's going to be a two-second span.
So having those tools in the bag of,
OK, my weapon system wasn't up fast enough.
You know, this guy's already on top of me.
So it's just giving them that tool
to be able to know what to do with that zero-meter range.
Narrator: On top of learning combatives with their hands,
trainees are taught to fight with pugil sticks,
which simulates using a bayonet
to deliver a lethal blow.
Trainees put their combatives skills to the test
in a company-wide pugil-stick competition
as they near the end of their basic combat training.
Williams: Are you ready? Fight!
Narrator: Trainees can win in two ways.
The fighter who delivers a disabling blow wins,
or the instructor can stop the fight
and declare a winner.
Winner by submission.
We're looking for major hit areas,
like jabs to the face, the neck, or the stomach area.
So their main focus is to
maintain their fighter stance on their feet,
so that they're not letting their opponent knock them over.
Because if they can take control
and maintain control of a situation,
they'll be able to pull their self out of the situation
or dominate their opponent.
If the opponent falls, then they're disqualified
because they were unable to maintain
their fighter stance in that match.
Narrator: The platoon that wins the most fights
receives a reward.
Williams: You ain't trying to win, pink?
You ain't doing it for the platoon?
You ain't doing it for the platoon? Let's go!
Narrator: The winner of each match remains in the ring
until they're defeated by another opponent.
Narrator: One trainee lasted longer than the rest.
I'm Daniel Ruiz.
There was a lot of adrenaline rush.
And my thoughts of protecting myself
and providing a proper strike was all into my game plan.
I did a Superman punch in one of my fights.
My senior drill sergeant saw me execute,
and I was really happy I was able to hit with that strike.
It was one of my favorite strikes.
Williams: Bam, bam!
Ruiz, he has a lot of strength behind him,
and he also maintained his breathing as much as he could.
Or a lot of times he would give the first disabling blow,
which gives him the win.
And that shows us that he's not afraid
to get in there and finish the fight
and make a strike if need be.
Narrator: After his seventh fight,
Ruiz appeared to be exhausted.
Instructor: Sit down.
Sit down for a bit.
Ruiz: My drill sergeant saw me start gassing up.
He gave me motivation in order for me to push forward,
saying I had the strength
in order to overcome the obstacles.
Hey, let's go, hey!
Let's go!
Kept pushing forward until my last fight.
That's when my gas time gave up,
and that's when I started absorbing more blows.
Williams: All right.
Narrator: In his eighth fight, Ruiz finally lost.
Ruiz: It was one of the most fun experiences I've had.
I always wanted to know what that felt like,
having a crowd behind your back
cheering you up and having you keep going,
and just making myself proud.
Instructor: Think about that, Ruiz.
It took eight people to bring you, one person, down.
You have the power of eight people inside of one.
You want to know the strength of all of your team members.
We get down to showing
and recognizing the person as a individual
and what they can bring to the platoon moving forward.
Narrator: Another fighter was quickly
catching up to Ruiz's record.
With seven wins under his belt,
trainee Garcia was now fighting
in his eighth match of the day.
And with this win, he beat Ruiz's record,
securing the overall win for his platoon.
I wanted to recognize the both of them,
because they did very, very, very well.
However, the winner overall is
Pvt. Garcia.
[everyone cheering]
Narrator: Garcia's platoon will receive the honor
of having a streamer placed on its platoon flag
during the Turning Green ceremony
at the end of basic training.
For the competition,
something that keeps them going is the streamer.
It gives them the ability to say,
"Hey, we did good as a platoon."
And it builds the morale towards winning honor platoon.
Instructor: You've made it.
All right, you are now United States soldiers.
We're near our BCT portion of OSUT graduation.
So, it's called Turning Green.
This is where they become soldiers in the Army
and moving into training
on their specialized skill as a tanker.
Ruiz: It feels amazing.
A lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of tears,
a lot of work that we put in to get here.
But we just keep pushing forward
in order for us to become US soldiers
and make ourselves and our families proud.
[everyone cheering]
Trainee: Is that Gray?
Instructor: That's Gray. Trainee: Oh, no.
Instructor: Get it.
Trainee: Hey, Gray!
I'm sorry for what I said to you during combatives.
[everyone laughing]
I didn't mean it!