FORT DETRICK, Md. -- Maj. Chris Wright, an operations officer at U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command, recently earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or BJJ, a combat sport he’s grown to love thanks, in part, to opportunities afforded by the Army.
“Since that initial introduction to combatives, it’s just been a part of my life,” Wright said.
The 44-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, trains regularly and competes regionally, including taking first place in two different divisions at a recent competition in Hagerstown, Maryland.
“I just found out that black belts don’t have to pay to compete,” Wright laughed, also emphasizing that knowledge sharing with fellow fighters is a key training benefit. “You build relationships with these guys, train with them as they come up and see them get out there and learn from their matches. That’s what I really enjoy.”
Wright, a former high school wrestler, trained on his own for about a decade while serving in the Army National Guard, but his journey into more advanced combat sports truly kicked off in 2011, following his commission into the Medical Service Corps from West Virginia University’s ROTC program.
Wright’s first assignment as an active-duty officer took him to Fort Stewart, Georgia, where he learned about an Army combatives course that emphasized jiu-jitsu techniques, a ground-fighting style using grappling and submission holds.
Although he came up short of earning a spot on the all-Army combatives team roster in his first tournament, the competition lit a fire in Wright for BJJ. He later got his shot to train and compete as an alternate for the 3rd Infantry Division Team in the prestigious Lacerda Cup, an Army-wide combatives tournament that tests a Soldier’s skills in grappling, striking and endurance.
Through 2016, including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2013, Wright continued to train and work to get better on the mat. However, life circumstances and work obligations forced him to pull back on his BJJ ambitions a bit until he arrived at Fort Detrick in 2020.
After completing additional schooling and a stint in detachment command for the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency, an AMLC direct reporting unit, Wright returned to his passion and began training more regularly at a BJJ gym a short drive from his home in south-central Pennsylvania.
His instructor and coach there helped reignite that fire to fight, encouraging Wright to get back into competitions.
He quickly found success with numerous podium finishes over the past few months, including a third-place finish in his first ever International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation event in Virginia in early March.
Wright said fighting gets his competitive juices flowing and provides “that feeling that I think we all need” as Soldiers.
“It also gives you an opportunity to zero in your focus,” he said. “When I’m training, that’s all I focus on. In a fight, you don’t have time to think about anything other than that moment and how to beat your opponent.”
Wright said he loves the one-on-one aspect of combat sports, specifically that you must learn from your mistakes and be accountable to ultimately improve.
“There’s no excuses; nowhere for you to go,” he said, compared to a team sport. “It’s just you and someone else out there.”
That someone else in one of his most recent tournaments -- with what are called “absolute” matches, where weight is not used in class restrictions -- was a 5-foot-11, 300-pound opponent.
“I felt like I was fighting a bear,” Wright laughed. “I learned that day that my defensive strategies worked. I made it to the end and survived a bear attack.”
Wright said that skill of being adaptable and calm under pressure in high-stress and self-defense situations is vital for military and first responders alike.
“It’s part of what we do; it’s our livelihood,” he said. “We’re all Soldiers and warriors first, no matter our MOS, whatever our job … we still have that responsibility -- to fight and win -- no matter what.”
Headquartered at Fort Detrick, AMLC serves as the Army’s Life Cycle Management Command for medical materiel (Class VIII), delivering medical logistics, sustainment and materiel readiness from the strategic support area to the forward tactical edge to increase survivability and sustain fighting strength.
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