An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Fit to Fight: Combatives Course teaches Airmen the basics

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  Twenty eight Airmen kicked and choked their way through 40 hours of combative certification program April 21 to 25 at the East gym here.

Three combatives coaches from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., instructed the 26 male and two female students on upright and ground combatives. They will join a group of fewer than 100 instructors Air Force - wide.

Coach Dave Durnil, chief of training and instruction for the Air Force Combatives Program, said the Airmen received instructions on dominant body positions, how to attack and ward off an attacker.

"We are not trying to get into fights but to use effective proven maneuvers to get to tool sets we are walking around with," Durnil, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner of 16 years, said. "The weapons system is more effective than any moves."

Coach (Capt.) Overton Spence, who led the training, started with the basics.

"This was an intensive course and we taught them to crawl, walk then run," the native of Jacksonville Fla., said of the five 8-hour days.

"We introduced them to ground combatives first because it's easier to understand, then moved to upright strikes."

Regardless of the Airman's sex or physical stature, Captain Spence said the program gave them the confidence and know how to repel an attack while standing, on the ground or from behind.

"We're not making cage fighters out of them, but now they have the confidence with what they can do with their hands," the Academy strength and conditioning coach said.

For Senior Airman Corinna Grimm, 332nd Expeditionary Logistic Readiness Squadron receiving journeyman, who is deployed from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., the class was very strenuous, but empowering.

"I started to see myself do the same things the males could do," Airman Grimm, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., who has trained in mixed martial arts for more than a year, said.

Combatives coaches said the program is tailored to Airmen deployed in support of nontraditional roles.

"Anytime you lay a hand on someone or flex cuff them, you're engaged in combatives," Coach Durnil said. "We want them to have the best possible training and know how to be effective in different scenarios."

While the Air Force's combatives program is in its infancy, it draws on lessons learned from similar programs from the Army and Marine Corps.

"In the last 10 years the Army's program has produced more than 1,400 after-action reviews with soldiers in real fights and combative situations," Coach Durnil said. "It's sort of a way for us to validate the techniques that we are teaching."

Brainchild of the program at JBB, Lt. Col. Hall Sebren, 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander said 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander, Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, sought a way for Airmen to reach the Warrior mind set. Having previously worked with the coaches in a wrestling program, the colonel reached out.

"We always talk about mind, body and spirit, so through this course we've made sure the body and mind are ready to go to combat," Colonel Sebren, a native of Marietta, Ga., said.

While the second line of the Airman's Creed reads "I am a Warrior," Colonel Sebren, who is deployed from the Academy, questioned how one would know.

General Neubauer said the answer lies in one's heart and the test can come either in garrison or in a deployed location.

"Hopefully not when the bullets are flying, by then it's too late," the general said, adding that only through physical training will Airmen reveal the character of a Warrior.

"Not only is it where you're going to get that (Warrior mindset,) but your subordinates and peers will too," General Neubauer said. "Hopefully it will infect everyone else."

With males, females, air traffic controllers, security forces and services Airmen in the combatives program, Colonel Sebren, was hopeful the newly certified Airmen will branch out.

"The whole idea was to help propagate it to the whole Air Force from here," he said.