LINE ( combat system ) 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 : These parameters are viewed as the most likely conditions that a combat Marine / 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 ( CRB ) at Quantico , Virginia . All techniques were demonstrated for and deemed medically feasible by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner ( given a single attack opponent ) and a board of forensic pathologists from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology ( AFIP ) in 1991 . LINE was replaced by the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program ( MCMAP ) 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 ( but are not limited to ) : US Army Special Forces : The LINE System was adopted in 1998 by U . S . Army Special Forces at the Special Forces Qualification Course ( SFQC ) . Primary instruction took place during phase II and was remediated in phases III and V at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . LINE was replaced by the Modern Army Combatives Program ( MACP ) in October 2007 . In 2007 the Chief of Staff of the Air Force read an article in the Air Force Times about Airmen training in the LINE system and ordered a review of all hand - to - hand combat in the Air Force which resulted in the Air Force adopting a program based upon the Army Combatives Program .