Photo By Master Sgt. Brian Hamilton | York County Sheriff's Office Deputy, Sgt. Joshua Solomon applies an arm bar to an Army...... read more read more
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When the 108th Training Command (IET) decided to establish a Modern Army Combatives Train-the-Trainer program at it’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, they didn’t realize the impact it would have on local law enforcement.
At the request of the 108th Commander, Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser, Army Reserve Drill Sergeant, Staff Sgt. Sang Truong, 1/320 Inf. Regt., 98th Training Division (IET), on behalf of the Combatives Academy at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst set up a weeklong Combatives Level One class to assist the unit in meeting its goals.
“We’re trying to get Soldiers in the area qualified as trainers at the squad and platoon level to meet the warrior task of react to hand to hand combat,” said Truong.
At the initial course, held July 21 through 25, nine Army Reserve Soldiers and one defensive tactics instructor from the York County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department received 40 hours of instruction in basic hand to hand combat that will help them to become certified as combatives trainers.
“Instead of just talking about the Warrior Ethos, combatives defines its characteristics, which is the willingness to act and close the distance with the enemy in hand to hand combat.”
Truong also said York County Sheriff’s Deputy, Sgt. Joshua Solomon volunteered for the course to tie some of the techniques present in the military with those of its civilian counterpart to increase the survivability rate of law enforcement officers in the area.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for 15 years and you can’t stay in this business that long without getting into a scuffle. Any opportunity for more options that I can give our deputies, or more tools for their tool box, so to speak, is a great benefit,” said Solomon.
“We’ve got a great program already, but anything I can do to fine tune or add a bit of polish to it, I am happy to do!”
While some programs, whether military or civilian law enforcement, are static programs, Staff Sgt. Truong teaches his course at a real world pace so students enrolled in the course who may not have ever been close combat situations will have an idea what means to be in a fight.
Solomon said, “One thing that drew me to this defensive tactic program is that this is not for points or a pass or fail. You get bumps or bruises and that’s important for our officers who may not have ever been involved in a fight to know what its like out on the street to get hit.”
“In a static setting you get to hit a bag and that’s great, but a bag doesn’t hit back!”
“I’m a little sore, but Drill Sgt. Truong is very mindful of teaching safety first and making everybody aware of where your battle buddy is,” said Spc. Nathan Efird, a parachute rigger from the 824th Quartermaster Company.
Efird said he’s taking the course not only to advance his military career but also help him in his civilian career of radiology tech assistant.
“I have patients come in with head trauma all the time who are not themselves and become irate with me because of needles and such. Hopefully this will help me to better protect myself without injuring the patient at the same time.”
Truong is hoping that this class is not the last at the 108th.
“This is the first time we’ve done the class here on the ground in Charlotte, but hopefully we can keep this going in the future. Not only does this course teach combatives, it instills confidence and discipline in Soldiers.”
Solomon added, “You guys have found a gem in this program. It’s something I can take back to my guys to help develop something very specific to us and I hope it continues.”
| Date Taken: | 07.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2014 21:43 |
| Story ID: | 137569 |
| Location: | CHARLOTTE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 819 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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