I attended Army Combatives Level 1 training from May 5-9th, 2008, in Monmouth, Oregon. I thought this course was going to be a course to expose me to the Army Combatives training program, however, the course was actually to be certified as a Level 1 Army Combatives Instructor. There were 23 soldiers in this course with three instructors.
On day one, the class was instructed on gaining dominant body positions; front mount, side control, and rear mount (we also went over some escapes). Later in the day we sparred for gaining dominant positions, no submissions. After sparring for about 1o-12 minutes straight with different people, we then moved on to a little competition. We competed against each other for dominant body positions. The instructors placed us into two groups with each group lined up on the mat on opposite sides. The instructor then selected one soldier from each side of the group and each soldier sparred starting from the knees in the middle of the mat.
Once someone gained a dominant position and was able to hold it, the winner went to one side and the loser went to the other side. After everyone went through, the winners went against each other for round two. Next came the last and final round. I made it to the second to the last match. I was exhausted by this time, and I was not looking forward to another match.
I have to share something I later regretted. Being the smallest guy in the class at 140 lbs., I did not want to end the first day by being the “one” guy everyone wants to get, because I know how some people get their egos hurt when they can’t take on the little guy as easy as they thought. So, I let the soldier have the match, and he went onto one more match and won the competition.
I should never have done that. I “really” let myself down and I regret making that decision. Who cares if I would have been the one everyone wanted to get. That would have just pushed me harder! Even though I made this decision, it did not hide the fact that I knew BJJ, and everyone could tell. That was fine, because it opened the door for me to help my fellow soldiers. Believe me, I learned from this decision, and I will not be making it again.
Day 2 was more techniques and going through those techniques in drills. Did I mention we had to “sit “and “stand up from sitting” in a certain way? Yes, every time we sat down we had to “sit in base” and when we stood up, we had to “stand in base”. We drilled that too, hundreds of times.
Stay tuned for more on my experience at Army Combatives Level 1 training…
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I think your comments could help a lot of people. It is an honest statement.
Upon reflection, I have gone easy on some guys in class after tapping them. Which has led to being placed in positions I later regretted because they were after a revenge tap.
But I didn’t lose sleep over it.