Army combative training: Fort Huachuca looks forward to Friday competition

FORT HUACHUCA — On television one can watch ultimate fighting, a competition of mixed martial arts.

The Army system involves training for a life-or-death situation between two people, said Oscar Moore, the combative instructor for the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion.

As he spoke, some soldiers were practicing the various fighting techniques — a collage of boxing, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, judo, kickboxing, Brazilian jujitsu and karate — which may appear to be more of a free-for-all street fight than a organized sport.

Although the Army’s combative training is both defensive and offensive, it is also enjoyed as a sport by some soldiers, like Staff Sgt. Jose Fuentes and Staff Sgt. Djairo Merino.

Soldiers on the fort are looking forward to Friday night when they will compete for berths on the post team to compete at Fort Benning, Ga., in October. In 2005 the Army held its first combative championship, and this is the first year Fort Huachuca is seeking to place soldiers in that competition.

Both noncommissioned officers said each soldier trying for the all-Army contest brings a different martial capability.

Marrying the various martial arts “is to try and put it all together,” said Fuentes, the motor pool sergeant with the 11th Signal Brigade’s headquarters company.

What a boxer does is one thing — the hitting, the bobbing and weaving and the foot work, he said.

Mixed martial arts competitions take the best of boxing and tie it with the best capabilities of other sports, Fuentes said.

Merino, a counter-intelligence agent who works on training requirements with the Intelligence Center’s headquarters company, agrees.

The object in wrestling is to take an opponent down and pin that person, Merino said.

While a boxer will try for the knockout punch with the opponent on the ring’s canvas as the 10-count is given, a wrestler wants to pin an opponent to the mat as the ref pounds the floor three times.

What is thrown into the mix are the styles of other martial arts, making a win even more difficult as each competitor in a match seeks an advantage.

While on the competition floor, individuals “learn to cope with the unknown,” Merino said.

Recently he and Fuentes competed at an event in Phoenix and although eventually defeated, they did well in some of their matches and gained knowledge on how to not only cope with a wily opponent but to learn some additional secrets from their competitors.

Moore, who served eight years in the Army, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, said it is a little uncomfortable when in a crowded street, a possible enemy is close and using a firearm is out of the question.

What combative training does is help soldiers be as prepared as possible for close-quarters combat without using a firearm, he said.

In the past the combative training program was mostly limited to combat forces, the infantry, special forces and others who would be in close proximity with an enemy, Moore said.

In today’s world, the era of fighting terrorists and insurgents, every soldier needs to have skills to engage in close-quarters hand-to-hand fighting, he said.

And, with a properly trained soldier, “There’s no reason a 100-pound female shouldn’t be able to take down a 200-pound male,” Moore said.

When it comes to the upcoming post event, he said he expects those who move on from the local tournament will do well at Fort Benning.

He’s expecting a dozen or more people to enter the competition, which is limited to members of the military who are permanently assigned to the fort.

Students and civilians are not allowed, even though he has heard from some wanting to enter.

When it comes to the latter, he said he believes there may be a future opportunity for some kind of civilian involvement.

For many in training for Friday’s competition, they engage in daily routines above and beyond their normal physical training, Moore said.

Soldiers like Fuentes and Merino dedicate their lunch hours and other times for special training involving the finer techniques of mixed martial arts that many of the professional ultimate fighters use, Moore said.

The Army has four levels when it comes to combative training, he said, noting he is at the third level. The fourth is more administrative in nature, but levels one through three take a person through jujitsu and wrestling, then on to judo, and then boxing and kickboxing and other martial arts, he said.

Fuentes is at the second level, while Merino is not yet officially at level one.

During the training for the upcoming competition, strikes and kicks are held back, but the soldiers get to feel what a full blow may be, Moore said.

More than once during the practice, soldiers would pat a part of their body or that of their opponent, signifying they gave up the match.

A well-trained solider can break an opponent’s elbow or shoulder, but that is not the object of the training or the Friday competition, Moore said.

It is to provide the experience in case a soldier has to take the combative training to a higher level, where more physical pain is needed to have an enemy give up, he said.

Friday’s matches are scheduled to be 10 minutes each, although Moore said, “they could be over in 30 seconds.”

Like many who enter such tournaments for the first time, they can be overly sure of themselves.

Saying he was a cocky kid who knew how to street fight, when he took part in his first combative fight, “It was all over in 15 seconds and I was the loser.”

When asked by some of the other competitors, who were impressed by the team because they fought well, who they were, Moore said the answer was one word: “Soldiers.”

Fort Huachuca’s first Army Combative Competition will be held beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Barnes Field House.

According to Army regulations the competition will follow rules that will include limited strikes and full ground fighting.

This includes slaps above the neck, closed hand fists to the body and legs, kicks below the waist, submission throws and takedowns.

The fighters will compete in their individual weight classes, and there will be a free-weight category as well.

On hand will be Don “The Predator” Frye, formerly of Sierra Vista, along with members of the International Fight League’s Tucson Scorpions.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615. or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.

“There’s no reason a 100-pound female shouldn’t be able to take down a 200-pound male,”

If the skill level is extremely lopsided, yes. But if the armed forces think they can generally rely on highly skilled females in hand-to-hand combat situations, they are dreaming. The women should be trained, but the men are the tip of the spear. They are the warriors.

I have trained police officers and corporate security specialists in Aikido and Aikibujutsu, and have associated with many highly skilled martial artists-special forces instructors, swat team instructors, etc. My experience has taught me that the martial arts (including boxing, wrestling, etc.), are vital in combat situations, but the absolute key factor in a fight is sheer meanness. Everything being equal, the man who is the meanest usually wins. Any ex-con will tell you that.

True dat. A 100 pound woman woman who’s a trained fighter could easily take down a 200 pound man who isn’t a trained fighter, but if the 200 pound guy IS a trained fighter, she’s going to get killed.

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