Photo By Cpl. Daniel Eddy | Spc. Daniel Waybright (top), a paralegal with Company B, Division Special Troops...... read more read more
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BAGHDAD — A soldier fights to breathe. Sweat is beading off his face. The pressure in his head and face builds as the carotid arteries supplying blood to his brain are being squeezed shut. It’s difficult to see and difficult to think. He sees no hope, and can fight no longer. Desperately, he taps. He and his opponent reset, to roll again.
Learning chokes, arm bars and dominant positions, which can give a soldier the advantage if a similar situation occurs in combat, were taught in the Basic Combatives Trainer Course offered to Soldiers with 1st Armored Division, United States Division – Center, Oct. 19-27 at Camp Liberty, Iraq.
During the 40-hour train-the-trainer course, part of the recently revised Modern Army Combatives Program, soldiers practiced with each other for four hours each night to ensure they were able to perform the techniques properly. Soldiers need to be comfortable and confident enough to execute the moves they learned in class in an actual fight.
“I enjoy this [training] because [having been] a platoon sergeant and [having been] deployed, I see the need for hand-to-hand combat,” said Steve Dugan, a retired Army sergeant first class and level 4 tactical combatives instructor with Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions and an Enterprise, Kan., native. “Not that soldiers will engage in hand-to-hand combat all the time, but they need that and they should be trained in the area. I firmly believe in [this] training program”
Unlike most civilian mixed martial arts programs, the intent of the course is to teach soldiers fighting techniques to be applied in a deployed and hostile environment. As such, the instructors emphasize building the confidence to close with an opponent or enemy in the middle of a fight. One drill used to accomplish this is the “achieve the clinch” exercise.
During the clinch drill, level 2 or higher combatives certified soldiers who volunteer to be “punchers” don 16-ounce boxing gloves and prepare to unleash a barrage of heavy blows on the approaching students.
During the exercise a soldier must close the distance with the puncher while fighting through strikes. Once he is in close, the student must achieve the clinch, immobilizing his opponent’s arms, thus stopping his punches.
Ideally, the soldier will close the distance confidently and aggressively, something they must do in a real fight, taking as little damage as possible, said Justin South, a level 4 tactical combatives instructor with Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, and a Salt Lake City native.
“We give them the tools to [take someone down],” said South, a staff sergeant and drill sergeant in the Army Reserve. “[The course utilizes] realistic [scenario-based] training compared to a lot of other martial arts. That’s what gives them the confidence in case they have to use the training in a real fight.”
The other element of training which helps build the Soldiers’ confidence is rolling. Rolling consists of more than 30 minutes of almost non-stop grappling each night of training.
This allows the Soldiers to use what they have learned in class at full speed, while trying to subdue their opponents.
“I feel a little more confident now,” said Sgt. Cesar Villanueva, a mechanic with Company B, Division Special Troops Battalion, 1st Armd. Div., and a New York City, native, several days into the course. “I know what I am doing, I know all the moves and I can save my energy. It’s not like the first few days where we are just grappling and everyone is just trying to muscle each other. Now we actually gain position, working in all that we learned in class and putting out there in a fight.”
Staff Sgt. Nicholas Tietjens, a operation noncommissioned officer with 146th Signal Company, DSTB, and a Omaha, Texas, native, said the rolling sessions give soldiers a chance to work on their technique with various people without their opponent knowing what they are going to do.
The moves soldiers learn are predominately ground fighting techniques used to gain dominant body position, and that will ultimately put the soldier in a position for a submission. During the level 1 course, students spend most of the time on the ground, taking what they learned in class and practicing with each other.
“They have to learn how to use ground techniques because they are easier to learn,” South said. “Not because most fights end up on the ground, but [because it’s] easiest to learn. They can go out and use it right away.”
Dugan said it can be discouraging for soldiers who have problems with a certain move. But as the days continue, he can see the Soldiers start to understand the move.
Comprehension is necessary because, at the end of level 1, a soldier must demonstrate 13 moves–by memory–to show the instructors they have mastered the techniques and are able to return to their units and train fellow soldiers.
Performing the 13 moves quickly and efficiently requires constant training and mental preparedness.
“It is very physically and mentally demanding,” South said. “There are a lot of situations where you are in an actual fight or an advanced roll [that] takes a lot out of you mentally. If you are mentally trained that can [help] physically train you very fast. That is why we train on a regular basis—because the more you train, the more you can actually know what your opponent is going to do before he does it.”
South said the skills learned in the course are perishable, so it is important for soldiers to continue to practice and train other soldiers. He said by teaching other fellow battle buddies combatives it can help soldiers become better mentors and teachers and, ultimately, better leaders.
| Date Taken: | 10.31.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2010 04:03 |
| Story ID: | 59202 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 140 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Human weapons: USD-C Soldiers train in hand-to-hand combat skills, by CPL Daniel Eddy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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