FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Soldiers assigned to 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, charged into another week of mission readiness training with a weeklong hand-to-hand combatives course at their battalion's operations facility on post.
Eighteen 1st STB Soldiers took the opportunity to enhance their skills, Feb. 27-March 2, becoming Level I certified in the Modern Army Combatives Program.
"This program is designed to familiarize Soldiers with neutralizing a threat when weapons are no longer part of the equation," said Cpl. Ashley Pawlowski, signal support systems specialist assigned to Company B. "It's an effective method of self-defense, regardless of a Soldier's likelihood to be in a mission-related, hand-to-hand combat situation."
Pawlowski, a 23-year-old native of Greensboro, N.C., is a Level III senior combatives instructor in the four-level Army combatives program, which takes Soldiers from familiarization with basic self-defense maneuvers at Level I, to full-contact hand-to-hand combat bouts at Level IV.
"We started the class by equipping the Soldiers with standard safety equipment, which consisted of protective head gear, a mouth guard and boxing gloves, before teaching them the 'Achieve the Clinch' drill," said Pawlowski.
After the Soldiers donned protective gear, they took turns learning how to close the distance between themselves and a potential combatant, even when being attacked -- one of the main components of a combatant learning to neutralize a threat.
"I have received hand-to-hand combat training in basic training and Advanced Individual Training, but this class was especially in-depth, as there were three instructors for only 18 Soldiers," said Spc. Christopher Beck, Nodal Network Systems operator/maintainer, Company B. "The small class size allowed each Soldier to receive personal instruction on every maneuver they were taught in class."
Beck, who hails from Bridgman, Mich., said he was very excited to receive instruction from experienced instructors in a skill outside the parameters of his daily job.
Though Beck has prior experience with combatives instruction, Pawlowski said many of the Soldiers, who begin the one-week course to certify at Level I, have no experience fighting or grappling.
"One of the best parts of training for me, as an instructor, is seeing the looks on the faces of my students change as we progress through training," said Pawlowski. "They go from terrified on the first day, when they are learning how to close the distance between themselves and the combatant, to looking confident and sure by the end of the week, when they are easily maneuvering their way into a dominant position."
There are a few components required to certify a Soldier in Modern Army Combatives Program Level I, Pawlowski explained.
First, students must learn how to gain a dominant body position when engaged in close combat with an opponent.
"It's all about learning how to overcome whatever kind of awkward position a person may find (himself) in when engaging in close combat," said Pawlowski. "We teach Soldiers multiple methods of getting out of a chokehold, or closing the distance when being struck."
Beck said learning different evasive maneuvers for each obstacle he might face in a fight was the most helpful part of the training.
"Every time I've gone through a combatives training session, I've only been taught a single method to counteract a strike or a submission attempt," he said. "In this course, we learned many different ways of evading strikes and working through submission attempts, which makes me feel a lot more confident in my ability to overcome any kind of attack."
Pawlowski said after the Soldiers learn their basic maneuvers, they practice those maneuvers on each other. Once the students feel comfortable with their skills, they demonstrate their abilities with a partner, explaining each move to the instructor as part of the final step for certification.
"The Army combatives program is about more than watching an instructor show you how to gain the upper hand in a fight," she said. "It's about practicing until it feels like second nature, then showing your proficiency by being able to teach someone else what you've learned."
After completing the Level I certification, Pawlowski said she hopes each Soldier is able to teach others about combatives.
"This training is essential for all Soldiers who can be called on at any time to perform tasks like clearing close-quarter houses in a hostile environment," she said. "In that situation, they might not have time to use a weapon, so knowing how to gain the upper hand without one may save their lives.
"But even more importantly, the skills these Soldiers learn in combatives training can save lives, whether a Soldier is in or out of uniform," she said. "They can be practiced, sharpened and passed on to other Soldiers, to be used in any situation that calls for immediate self-defense."
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