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Impressive Army Tourney
Soldiers weigh in for combatives tourney
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer ARMY TIMES ONLINE NEWSPAPER
FORT BENNING, Ga. — Almost 200 of the Army’s toughest fighters will weigh in today, the start of the second annual all-Army Combatives tournament.
Preliminary and semifinal matches start Saturday, and winners in six different weight classes will be determined on Sunday.
The bouts will take place in the passenger terminal at Lawson Army Airfield here.
The tournament’s 197 fighters represent 34 teams from across the Army. Each team can have up to 12 members, two for each weight class.
This year’s competitors include teams from the 75th Ranger Regiment, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, the 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 25th Infantry Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the Guam Army National Guard and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
There are installation teams, too, from Benning, Fort Riley, Kan., Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Sill, Okla.
The fights will feature elements of martial arts such as Brazilian jiujitsu, judo, boxing and Muay Thai, said Matt Larsen, director of the Modern Army Combatives program, which he described as “the method with which we get hand-to-hand combat instruction to every soldier in the Army. What we’re really training for is the battlefield. This [tournament] is just the method, a means to the end.”
Since 2000, more than 16,000 soldiers have completed Level I combatives training, Larsen said. The train-the-trainer program has four levels, with Level IV being the most advanced.
“Soldiers today have to be ready to operate at all spectrums of force,” Larsen said. “Some of these soldiers could be fighting for their lives when they deploy to Iraq six months from now.”
Last year, 128 fighters representing 26 teams competed in the inaugural all-Army tournament, said Sgt. 1st Class Dave Barron, chief trainer for the combatives school. A team with the 75th Ranger Regiment won last year’s team title.
Competitors must represent an installation, division or independent brigade, Larsen said.
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer ARMY TIMES ONLINE NEWSPAPER
FORT BENNING, Ga. — Almost 200 of the Army’s toughest fighters will weigh in today, the start of the second annual all-Army Combatives tournament.
Preliminary and semifinal matches start Saturday, and winners in six different weight classes will be determined on Sunday.
The bouts will take place in the passenger terminal at Lawson Army Airfield here.
The tournament’s 197 fighters represent 34 teams from across the Army. Each team can have up to 12 members, two for each weight class.
This year’s competitors include teams from the 75th Ranger Regiment, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, the 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 25th Infantry Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the Guam Army National Guard and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
There are installation teams, too, from Benning, Fort Riley, Kan., Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Sill, Okla.
The fights will feature elements of martial arts such as Brazilian jiujitsu, judo, boxing and Muay Thai, said Matt Larsen, director of the Modern Army Combatives program, which he described as “the method with which we get hand-to-hand combat instruction to every soldier in the Army. What we’re really training for is the battlefield. This [tournament] is just the method, a means to the end.”
Since 2000, more than 16,000 soldiers have completed Level I combatives training, Larsen said. The train-the-trainer program has four levels, with Level IV being the most advanced.
“Soldiers today have to be ready to operate at all spectrums of force,” Larsen said. “Some of these soldiers could be fighting for their lives when they deploy to Iraq six months from now.”
Last year, 128 fighters representing 26 teams competed in the inaugural all-Army tournament, said Sgt. 1st Class Dave Barron, chief trainer for the combatives school. A team with the 75th Ranger Regiment won last year’s team title.
Competitors must represent an installation, division or independent brigade, Larsen said.
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