By Spc. Leah R. Burton
LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Balad, Iraq -- While some service members here participate in various forms of martial arts from karate to judo, others engage in a new form of close combat training that is taking the U.S. military by storm, feudal warrior close combat arts or Kobushi Sessen Jutsu.
Martial art pioneer Hanshi Ron Donvito, who has trained units from all of the U.S. armed forces, including Army Special Forces personnel, devised Kobushi Sessen Jutsu.
The close combat training has been taught here since late November.
"The fundamental purpose is to train soldiers in a systematic method to kill the enemy," said Capt. Kelly Cole, advanced instructor, who has trained under Donvito for three years.
Kobushi Sessen Jutsu incorporates skills of karate, judo, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the close combat system known as linear infighting neurological engagement or L.I.N.E, which was also created by Donvito.
The students of the course here learn to cause damage and destruction to their opponent, and then exploit those weaknesses, with the ultimate result being death.
"The focus is building warrior ethos and inoculation to interpersonal violence, getting in a mindset where you can actually kill an individual with your hands, and it's all established through repetition," Cole said.
The course is taught in a two-column formation that rotates, so that by the end of the hour everyone has partnered with everyone else.
Two journeymen determine the length of the rotations. One journeyman performs 10 correct pushups in all four corners of the room while another journeyman performs a stationary squat and holds his position until the other finishes his pushups.
The art is not dependent on strength to overcome the opponent; it's dependent on technique. The challenge of the defense techniques is performing them when under stress.
"The highest inducer of stress outside of death is fatigue," Cole said, so he seeks to tire the students out by making them do repetitive exercises.
"When they get fatigued, they try to utilize strength, but they can't because they're tired, so they have to rely on technique," Cole said.
After an hour, the students are poring sweat and aching where they have been thrown onto their backs, but they keep coming back.
"We're at war, and if I find myself in a hand-to-hand situation, I plan on living. This training will give me the edge," said Maj. Sherb Sentell, 519th Transportation Company.
The training is intense, and the instructors show no mercy on the students in the class. When the students got the rotation mixed up in a recent class, Cole promptly put them in the front leaning rest, yet another way to exhaust them.
"Although it's intense training, the instruction is personable," Cole said. "The key is to come in with an instruct-able spirit.
As a warrior, I really enjoy seeing some female Soldier sweep a 200-pound dude onto his back with ease, which is done. I really enjoy that."
The class is taught every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the LSA Anaconda Fitness Center. To join the class, all participants need to do is show up.
Editors Note: Spc. Burton is a member of the 28th Public Affairs Detachment from Fort Lewis, Wash. and is deployed to Iraq in support of units at LSA Anaconda.
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 02.04.2005 15:57 |
| Story ID: | 1114 |
| Location: | BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 17 |
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