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Blood might spill. Pain definitely will be felt.

Hair pulling and biting, however, are not permitted in class here at the U.S. Army Combatives School because they aren’t the nicest things to do to a fellow soldier.

Still, chances are the enemy you’re fighting won’t be so nice.

The combatives program is one of the hottest training courses in the Army, and you can get the training at Benning or, possibly, at your own post.

Here at Benning, the focus is on training the trainer.

under guidance from Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, combatives is supposed to be a routine part of unit training and combatives leaders here are implementing a plan to outfit every brigade-sized element with teams of soldiers who can keep their fellow soldiers’ fighting skills sharp.

All soldiers are eligible to become trainers and although classes here — which fall under the Infantry Center — are booked for months, the school accepts students on a first-come, first-served basis.

Size, shape and gender don’t determine eligibility, but students must be in good physical condition, for obvious reasons.

“The training is tough. It’s more about avoiding injury. You just got to want to do it,” said school director Matt Larsen, a retired sergeant first class who developed the program while he was in 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. “All you have to do is get your unit to send you.”

But the school is designed to churn out competent Army trainers, not ultimate fighters, he cautioned.

“People shouldn’t come to the training courses to learn to become a better fighter. We want people to come to [this] course to learn how to train soldiers how to fight,” said Larsen.

There are three certification levels at the combatives school and a fourth level is set to be tested in a pilot program this November.

Here are some basics on those levels:

• The Level 1 course is a 40-hour instructor training course that teaches soldiers how to train other soldiers in basic combatives drills and tasks. Nine thousand soldiers have completed this level.

• Level 2 goes more into the background, methodology and philosophy of combatives, focusing on the reasons behind why moves are done the way they are. Level 2 qualified instructors can supervise Level 1 instructors and referee basic competitions. About 1,400 soldiers have completed this 80-hour course.

• Level 3 is a four-week course designed to integrate fighting skills into the infantry battle drills and close-quarter battle, and train a soldier to serve as a battalion master trainer for scenario-based training. It qualifies the soldier to instruct the Level 1 course, referee post events and special rules competitions. About 300 soldiers are trained at this level.

• Level 4 will train soldiers in the management of an installation-level combatives program. Soldiers who complete the four-week Level 4 course will also be trained in how to teach the Level 2 course.

‘Part of tactics’

“Hand to hand is like where PT and tactics meet,” Larsen said.

“It’s not separate. Hand to hand really happens as part of tactics. The Level 3 guy’s job is to take whatever the unit’s [mission-essential task list] is and integrate combatives into it.

“We prefer NCOs and officers [as Level 2 instructors], of course, because they’re the ones who do the training. It doesn’t really matter, though, because he’s going to be the company trainer.”

The training facility was built out of Infantry Center funds, but units who send soldiers to train must pay for their soldiers’ TDY.

“It’s all kind of driven by demand,” Larsen said. “As long as the units want the training, the Infantry Center is going to provide it.”