Division’s only combatives champ hails from Strike

Courtesy Photo | Spc. Christian L. Nielsen, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, punches an opponent during the 2015 All-Armed Forces Combatives Competition at Fort Bragg, N.C., Dec. 12, 2015. Nielsen took home first place for the second year in a row. (Courtesy Photo)  

FORT CAMPBELL, KY, UNITED STATES

01.05.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Sierra A. Melendez 

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - In the past few months, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division has had a series of wins, including the division’s Soldier of the Year, the adjutant general’s Soldier and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, and their successful victory over Geronimo at Fort Polk, Louisiana, during their most recent Joint Readiness Training Center rotation. Now they can add another win to their streak.

Spc. Christian L. Nielsen, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd BCT “Strike,” 101st, took home 1st place during the All-Armed Forces Combatives Competition in his respective weight class at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Dec. 12.

“His performance was incredible,” said Staff Sgt. Colter C. Brown, noncommissioned officer in charge of the Strike Combatives School, where 2nd BCT Soldiers are taught combatives tactics in accordance with the Army training circular 3-25.150. “Consistently he remained dominant, all while maintaining a technical skill throughout his grapples and takedowns.”

This year marks the second consecutive win for Nielsen, where he was the only first-place winner within the Screaming Eagle division.

“I’m incredibly proud I had the privilege of representing the brigade during the competition and doing well while doing so,” said Nielsen, a Wood River, Nebraska, native. “I’m proud of our team and how well we performed as a whole.”

Brown, a Yates Center, Kansas, native placed third overall for the heavyweight division. There were over 25 competitors alone for his division.

Both Brown and Nielsen have extensive backgrounds in wrestling and mixed martial arts. They have utilized their skills to aid the brigade by running the Strike Combatives School.

“I think our wins confirm our validity as technical combatives subject matter experts,” said Brown. “Strike has the one of the best Soldiers not only in the Army, but throughout the Department of Defense as far as combatives is concerned.”

Brown and Nielsen are passionate about the Modern Army Combatives Program, which is the official training doctrine that is taught in the U.S. Army Combatives School house at Fort Benning, Georgia. Brown said that every Soldier should receive the basic level of combatives training – or Combatives Level I – to possess the necessary hand-to-hand combat knowledge that is so vital in today’s force.

“Every Soldier knows how to fire a weapon,” said Brown. “But do they know what to do if that weapon system becomes inoperable? Or if they are detaining someone who begins to get unruly?”

They believe that, in addition to the technical skill developed, there is a confidence instilled in Soldiers that is rarely found in other training programs.

“I see these Soldiers graduate Strike’s combatives school with a completely different mindset than before they started,” said Nielsen. “We have a really good program we are running.”

Brown and Nielsen intend to compete as long as they are in the Army and have developed new ideas for the Strike Combatives School House.

“We hope to implement a more modular base training plan, and possibly some self-defense classes for our Family Readiness Groups,” said Brown.

The 2BCT Combatives School is located at Building 7044, Toccoa Road and can be reached at [phone].

• Date Taken: 01.05.2016
• Date Posted: 01.06.2016 17:54
• Story ID: 185710
• Location: FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US
• Hometown: CLARKSVILLE, TN, US
• Hometown: HOPKINSVILLE, KY, US
• Hometown: LOUISVILLE, KY, US
• Hometown: WOOD RIVER, NE, US
• Hometown: YATES CENTER, KS, US