By Pfc. Christopher McKenna
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – The 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) hosted a combatives tournament, Sept. 13, 2008, in honor of the battalion's fourth birthday.
"We host combatives tournaments every three to four months, basically whenever we get the chance," said Staff Sgt. Steven Quick, native of Albany, N.Y., Company A, 3rd STB, 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT), combat engineer squad leader. "The tournament is run off of mixed-martial arts rules, minus striking."
The tournament consisted of four weight classes and a class for women. The weight classes were lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight. Each match consisted of one six-minute round, excluding the championship bouts. The championship bouts consisted of three five-minute rounds.
"We had two defending champs returning to fight, as well as four new competitors to the tournament," Quick said.
Quick acted as the host and referee of the tournament, creating all of the brackets and making sure all rules were followed during each match.
"I've been training for a long time and know the rules," Quick said. "I've been in the moves, and I am able to tell when something is about to break."
The cage used for the event was built by the Soldiers during their free time. The matting consists of stacked fuel blivets with a cage surrounding nearly 80 percent of the ring, excluding the point of entry.
"This tournament is a morale call for the Soldiers and is something that is attempted for all major holidays," said Sgt. Garrett Wildermuth, from Havelock, N.C., Co. B, 3rd STB, 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT), common ground station non-commissioned officer in charge.
Wildermuth was the winner of the middleweight division and attributes his success to his training regimen back home.
"I've been through many courses back in the States. I go to one of the local dojos off post in Clarksville," Wildermuth said. "I train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai; I've been training for four years."
During time off, Wildermuth said many of the Soldiers involved in the tournament practice their mixed martial arts skills.
"In a way it relieves stress and it gives everyone around a show," Wildermuth said. "It is not only good conditioning, but it helps keep morale high; everyone wants to see fights."
While many of the competitors were used to practicing, one of the eventual champions had little knowledge of mixed martial arts.
"I found out I was fighting in the tournament about three hours before it happened," said Pfc. Wylie Summers, from Clarksville, Tenn., Co B., 3rd STB, interrogator. "This was the first combatives tournament I've ever done, and I won the super heavyweight division."
While Wildermuth is trained extensively in the arts, Summers said his only formal training vame in the form of Army combatives.
"I didn't want to let my first sergeant or platoon sergeant down, they had faith in me, and I held to it," Summers said of his division victory.
All the winners were presented with a coin from the battalion commander at the end of the tournament.
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