FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Twenty Soldiers from the Military District of Washington converged on Fort Belvoir's Wells Field House Friday for the region's combatives tournament.

Belvoir's Headquarters Battalion, on behalf of MDW, hosted the tournament.

Soldiers competed in one of three weight classes: Heavyweight, cruiserweight and middleweight to determine who would be the region's representatives for the All-Army Tournament set for Oct. 1 to 3 at Fort Benning, Ga.

Maj. Gen. Karl Horst, commanding general of Joint Force Headquarters, National Capital Region and U.S. Army Military District of Washington, attended the tournament and observed the day's final matches, spoke to the competitors and presented the champions with their medals after the competition.

Horst thanked all the competitors and spectators for coming out before explaining the importance of the Modern Army Combatives Program.

"The Army Combatives Program is essential to the Warrior Ethos," Horst said. "It is about confidence. And, when our Soldiers go into combat, there is a 99 percent chance you will never engage the enemy in close combat as you do in this program. But you know, in the 1 percent chance that you have to engage that enemy, you have the confidence as a warrior to make the difference.

"It's also about teamwork, because you come out on the mat and show your respect to your competitor and then you engage in combat," Horst said.

"At the very end, you acknowledge and congratulate each other and help each other off the mat. At the end, I watched each and every one of you walk off the mat embracing your opponent because that's what Soldiers do; they take care of each other," Horst told the competitors.

According to Capt. Alejandro Gentry, operations officer at Belvoir's Headquarters Battalion, competitors from Fort Myer, Fort Meade (Md.) and Belvoir participated in the double-elimination tournament, with the top two finishers advancing to the All-Army tournament.

Gentry clarified the tournament's rules.

"All of the rounds, except for the finals, were standard rules or standard grappling," Gentry said. "Once we reached the finals, strikes were included, meaning open strikes to the face, closed strikes to the body and knees to the body minus the groin were allowed.

"The same rules will apply at the All-Army tournament," Gentry said.

Brandon Wallace defeated Ryan Hardy in the championship match by submission in the heavyweight division. Wallace also received tournament MVP honors.

Will Serrahn took home first place in the cruiserweight division after his championship match with Ben Klimkowski went to a judge's decision. Klimkowski then had to face Justin Wilkins to determine who would represent MDW at Fort Benning. Wilkins submitted a tired Klimkowski with an arm bar in that match.

Paris Childers defeated Ronald Marshall by submission in the middleweight championship match. Marshall then defeated Joseph Waters in the consolation match to punch his ticket to the All-Army competition.