Photo By Sgt. Jennifer Sardam | Sgt. 1st Class William Leuenberger, right, an assistant basic combatives instructor...... read more read more
BAGHDAD — Recently a number of Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, United States Division-Center at Camp Liberty, Iraq, got physical in a weeklong Basic Combatives Course where they learned a variety of techniques and tactics useful for self-defense and engaging an enemy in close-quarters situations.
Sgt. 1st Class Chad Bailey, the division combatives instructor with Headquarters Support Company, HHBN, 25th Inf. Div., USD-C, said this first level of combatives training is to familiarize soldiers with the basic moves that may be needed to survive on the battlefield.
“If your weapon’s jammed, or if you’re too close to fire your weapon, or you come around the corner and are lackadaisical, then somebody could snatch your weapon from you or anything, and you’ve got to be able to know what to do,” said Bailey.
The training is realistic, so when it comes time for students to hit the mats with their “opponents,” they are randomly paired off without regard to gender or weight.
“If you come upon an enemy, it doesn’t matter what size they are,” said Bailey, a Moses Lake, Wash., native. “We’re not going by weight classes. We’re going for if you are in close-quarters combat, then you want to be able to take your enemy out, if all else fails.”
And the tactics are the same, no matter the type of contender.
“I’ve seen like 6-foot-5-inch guys go against a [woman] that’s like 5 feet 3 inches,” said Bailey. “Because it’s not going to be the perfect world where you get who you want for your enemy.”
Some Soldiers said that being the larger fighter turned out to be more challenging than they expected.
“The smaller they are, it seemed like the more fight they put up,” said Staff Sgt. Gerald Natalroman with Intelligence and Sustainment Company, HHBN. “So it’s harder to get in certain positions, because they’re smaller and more flexible as opposed to somebody big.”
This kind of training is useful in preparing Soldiers to deal with the kind of uncertainty they might face in combat where learning to improvise quickly is key.
“According to what the opponent did, you had to basically figure out what move you needed to go [to] from there to achieve the dominant position,” said Natalroman.
Success in combatives comes from more than just properly executing each move.
“You can’t do textbook all the time,” said Bailey. “You can’t say okay, I’m going to do this, this and this. Because you could practice, and they’re just lying there…trying to help you to learn the moves. But, if somebody’s trying to choke you or doing something else, you want to be able to improvise.”
Bailey said the training builds confidence in the students, should they find themselves needing to use these skills in a wartime situation.
“At first when they come in, there are a lot of them who don’t know how to do anything [in combatives],” he said. “You’ll get Soldiers that are very timid.”
Strengthening soldiers’ mental and physical resiliency is also one of the goals of the course.
Command Sgt. Maj. Ray A. Devens Jr., the command sergeant major of the 25th Inf. Div., who took his first hand-to-hand combat course in 1982, has experienced the benefits of this type of training firsthand.
“I know that my capability of dealing with chaos in combat or in the many challenges I have faced in my life is significantly better than I could have ever imagined it would be due to the many hours of combatives PT [physical training]…that I have been fortunate to be a part of throughout my military career,” said Devens.
On the last day of class, many soldiers said they felt they had a useful skill they could take with them.
“It’s nice to be prepared for that,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Malin, a drummer with the 25th Inf. Div. Band and a Los Angeles native. “It just makes you an all around more confident soldier knowing that you can go into battle and be prepared for this kind of stuff.”
Once soldiers graduate from the Basic Combatives Course, they are qualified to pass on this knowledge to Soldiers in their units.
“You teach them [the students] the moves, and you teach them step by step so that they can teach,” said Bailey, “Because each one of these soldiers now that are in this class will be able to go back and they’re going to be the SMEs [subject matter experts] within their section or company.”
Devens said his goal is to have every 25th Inf. Div. noncommissioned officer and soldier certified in the first level of combatives.
“It is a method for soldiers to increase basic physical combat capabilities,” said Devens. “But more importantly, to recognize their own inner apprehension with physically engaging with an enemy combatant, to gain faith and confidence in controlling their own lethal force, and terminate a hostile aggressor as expected by our nation from any member in the ‘Profession of Arms.’”
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.26.2011 07:34 |
| Story ID: | 69352 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 25th Inf. Div. Soldiers train in basic combatives, by SGT Jennifer Sardam, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT