Photo By Cpl. Jeremy Fasci | Army Pfc. Justin Cruz, from a personal security detachment, plays an instrument during...... read more read more
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Work, sleep, laundry. That might be normal routine for some, but not Staff Sgt. Jessie Jelks. In between he throws in a little bit of martial arts training, history, culture, dance, music and of course, physical training. In one word: capoeira.
Jelks, the Regional Command Southwest Afghan Uniformed Police Chief, has been practicing capoeira for close to 15 years. He took up the mixture of art, music, dance and fighting form just before joining the Marine Corps. Since then, he has brought the Afro-Brazilian capoeira everywhere, even the isolated region of Afghanistan during his deployment. And he’s not just practicing it here, he’s teaching it.
“Capoeira, for a lot of my young ones, they tell me that while they are out there doing it they forget they are in Afghanistan,” said Jelks, 32, from San Antonio. “It’s a form of cultural expression but at the same time it’s a mental escape from the mundane routine that we get into out here in a combat environment. It’s not just green-on-green “PT.” It’s something else that we can get into that satisfies the curiosity of language, culture, art form and at the same time has a great physical fitness aspect as well.”
Capoeira helps sevice members work through the difficulties of being on a long deployment while teaching them new skills. During the sessions students learn music, history and even the Portuguese language while learning the martial art itself.
“There are so many facets to capoeira that when you come in for whatever reason that you enter you leave with more than what you anticipated,” Jelks said.
Practicing the art is very difficult to teach and even more so while on deployment. Working around the schedules of so many different people makes creating a prime time for the practice very difficult. Even though there are only a few students who are able to come to every practice, the team has people that come whenever they can.
Having a larger group helps build the circle of knowledge from which the students can draw. Each student is good at different things allowing them to teach, while learning from others. The capoeira team also broadens many service members’ group of friends. The large number of different members in the group allows the students to build friendships they normally would not have had an opportunity for due to the long work days.
As the deployment continues to press forward, Jelks and his students are striving to build a stronger team by encouraging other service members to come practice.
“Marines should at least try to see what capoeira is about,” said Cpl. Jonathan Moore, from 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion. “You don’t meet too many people who can hit a hand stand and kick someone in the face at the same time.”
| Date Taken: | 09.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2010 00:55 |
| Story ID: | 56600 |
| Location: | CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF |
| Web Views: | 254 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Service members practice capoeira in Afghanistan, by Cpl Jeremy Fasci, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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