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Check Six offers combatives class for beginners

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joel Mease
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  A basic-level, weekly combatives course is being offered by Check Six faclitators.

Split into two days, the classes will build upon each other. The weekly classes are on Wednesdays and Fridays from 7-9 p.m. in the Coalition Compound Gym.

"Check Six combatives is a voluntary self-defense oriented program designed for beginners," said Tech. Sgt. Laurie Johnson, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Check Six facilitator. "The program is designed to give students the tools to survive a violent encounter until help arrives."

Because the class is for beginners, the program focuses on dominant and non-dominant body positions and how to escape. All of the Check Six facilitators are trained and certified by the Air Force Security Forces Center as security forces combatives instructors.

"I believe combatives is important to learn, because it shows you how to defend yourself if ever placed in a dangerous situation," said Staff Sgt. Joseph Glover, 379th AEW Check Six facilitator. "We see everyday situations where acts of violence are taking place in the work place and combatives gives you options and tools to gain the upper hand and achieve dominance in a bad situation."

The program can also help a student realize they don't have to be the biggest or strongest person in the room to defend oneself, Glover said.

"A person can be really strong and still be overcome by someone not as strong but has more conditioning," Glover said. "I can't always control the size of the person I may go against, but what I can control is how much I condition myself."

However, the program is designed with the hope the student will never have to use it.

"This combatives course is just another tool for the tool box," Johnson said. "While fighting is a last resort in the Check Six options, if it comes to that, we want people to know what to do and how to do it."

For service members interested in taking the class, all one has to do is contact their unit's Check Six representative, Johnson said.