Photo By Amy Christopherson | Spc. David Johnson, a signal support systems specialist with the 4th Sustainment...... read more read more
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – As fighters wrapped their hands and tied on their headgear, soldiers and civilians of Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, packed into the Wrangler Dojo and gathered around the ring for a boxing smoker.
The event was a chance for amateur fighters to show off their recently acquired skills, which many have picked up in the last few weeks from Sgt. 1st Class Juan Bruno, a Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, native and a brigade maintenance noncommissioned officer with the 4th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command.
Bruno, a former boxer who fought with Army post teams in Hawaii and Germany, taught combatives back at Fort Hood, Texas. He has been informally teaching soldiers basic boxing techniques since August.
“I’m a pretty good boxer, so I knew I could teach the basics,” he said. “If you went to a gym and paid to get trained, you wouldn’t get the quality one-on-one time that I can give to soldiers here.”
He said after the recent combatives tournament, people started asking when he would plan a boxing smoker.
“Anything to do with fighting, the soldiers love it,” he said. “It was a good event, great for morale and everyone gets fired up.”
None of the soldiers that Bruno trained had previous boxing experience.
“It takes a lot of courage to get in the ring in front of everyone when you’ve never done it before. You don’t know what is going to happen,” he said.
Wearing her own pink boxing gloves, Sgt. Robin Mitchell, a New York, N.Y., native and a human resources NCO for the 4th Sust. Bde., was one of only two females participating in the event. She trained with Bruno for only two days before fighting, and ended up with a much more experienced opponent.
“I was a little nervous because I knew [my opponent] had done this before,” she said. “But I decided I’m just going to go out there and have fun.”
Mitchell said her participation was a spontaneous decision, but she just wanted to go out and have some fun. She wasn’t nervous about the crowd because she used to play basketball.
She advises others to try new things as well.
“Don’t be scared,” she said. “Just have fun and participate. Don’t second guess yourself.”
| Date Taken: | 09.28.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2011 07:28 |
| Story ID: | 77895 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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