LINE is a close quarters combat system, derived from various martial arts, used by the United States Marine Corps between 1989 and 1998, and then from 1998 through to 2007 for the US Army Special Forces. It was developed by retired combat-arms Marine Ron Donvito. Officially, the name stands for Linear Infighting Neural Override Engagement; this is, however, a backronym coined during the project's inception.
Design
The system was designed to be executed within specific and stringent combat-oriented conditions:
all techniques must not be vision dominant; techniques may be executed effectively in low-light conditions, or other impaired visibility conditions
extreme mental and physical fatigue
usable by the Marine / soldier while wearing full combat gear
proper execution of the techniques must cause death to the opponent
gender neutrality; must be usable by—and against—either gender
These parameters are viewed as the most likely conditions that a combat Marine or Soldier would face in close-range combat, since most close combat engagements were likely to occur at night or under reduced visibility, while the Marine was fatigued and wearing his combat load, and when facing asymmetrical odds, such as a numerically superior force. These requirements meant that many flamboyant techniques, exotic kicks, or movements requiring extraordinary feats of strength or agility were excluded from consideration under the LINE system. Techniques like classic judo "hip throws", for instance, were excluded because of the possibility of entanglement on a practitioner's war-belt. The system's techniques were designed to be easily learned and retained through repetition. The requirement and demands that the system be drilled, repeated, and constantly revisited has led to some criticism since the primary users - military and special operations personnel- often have enormous demands upon their time, and as a consequence often lacked the ability to maintain high degrees of proficiency in the techniques.
History
USMC: LINE was adopted by the Marine Corps in 1989 at a Course Content Review Board at Quantico, Virginia. All techniques were demonstrated for and deemed medically feasible by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner and a board of forensic pathologists from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 1991. LINE was replaced by the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program by Marine Corps Order 1500.54, published in 2002, although it had been actually dropped in 1998, as a "revolutionary step in the development of martial arts skills for Marines and replaces all other close-combat related systems preceding its introduction." Military combatives instruction programs—and the contracts awarded for it—are undertaken through a system of competition, in which the systems are compared by review boards, and presented by individual subject matter experts. Review boards may, from time to time, choose one system over another, based on the changing needs of the Marine Corps or other military service. In the case of LINE Combatives, the system was repeatedly reviewed and approved for training by many units over more than two decades. LINE Combatives continues to be one of only two systems reviewed and consulted upon by specially tasked and appointed boards of military medical examiners. The LINE Combatives system is presently sought by advanced students, officers, and military personnel throughout the special operations, high risk law enforcement, government agency, and private contractor industries. Units trained include :
