Airmen take martial arts before deploying
By LISA ROSKELLEY
Ogden Standard-Examiner
July 27 - In light of recent hostage-takings and decapitations, deploying airmen are being trained in hand-to-hand combat in a program being developed here with a master martial artist.
THE FIRST of its kind in the Air Force, the integrated martial arts program teaches airmen tactics from various disciplines of martial arts to defend themselves when their weapons don’t work or aren’t available.
“We know the terrorist organizations are training right now in self-defense,” said Maj. Doug Ballinger, commander of the 75th Security Forces Squadron. “The enemy has risen it to the next level; we’re just responding to them.”
For Ballinger, this program is the realization of a dream based on the extensive martial arts training done in the Marine Corp. He believes that airmen need to be exposed to this sort of hand-to-hand training in order to be fully prepared to be in a combat zone.
“Taking you hostage and using a knife to saw off your head, that’s the flavor of the month, but not on my watch,” he said. “If you’re taken hostage and there’s only one Iraqi between you and a convoy, you better know this stuff and be able to take him out quickly and be out the door.”
The U.S. Air Force Martial Arts Combat School was Ballinger’s brainchild, and all people being deployed from the 75th Air Base Wing will go through the training.
“I think the Air Force needs a standard system across the board,” Ballinger said, hoping that his program can spawn something more significant and universal down the road.
Master Manuel Taningco is not in the military but was hired by Hill to help develop a program of integrated martial arts. He has already trained a group of a dozen assistant trainers who will spend the next month helping him train more airmen and learning to become trainers themselves.
“Because wherever they go, they can take this: work, home, definitely in combat and on the streets,” Taningco said.
The rigorous program trains airmen for a week, teaching them techniques from seven different concentrations of martial arts, pitting the airmen against each other in simulated situations with various simulated weapons, from knives to guns.
The first two classes are being done this week, training 100 airmen. Another, similar regimen will be done next week. Finally, in August, the assistant trainers will be given two more weeks of training to help them become full-fledged instructors to carry the program forward.
“It wasn’t what I expected,” said Airman 1st Class Ben Finch, who trained as an assistant instructor. “I was thinking right off the bat we’d be learning maneuvers, but for the first two days all we did was cardio, exercise.”
A member of the 75th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Finch, who had no previous martial arts training, said his two-week training gave him a different perspective, and he hopes to go on to become an instructor.
“All of us, not just LRS, not just Security Forces, we’re all going into a combat zone,” Finch said. “If you do run out of ammunition, if we do get attacked, we need to be prepared.”
Right now the program is being offered to 75th Security Forces Squadron and 75th Logistics Readiness Squadron members.
However, Ballinger expects other organizations from the base will be interested in getting the training once the program is fully developed.
“This training is critical for all U.S. military personnel,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Leap, a criminal investigator with the 75th Security Forces Squadron. “This preparation in self-defense is necessary because our job is changing every day and self-defense is critical to not only the safety of ourselves but to the safety of our teammates.”
Leap said, during his nine years in the Air Force, he has never received training like the program he is going through now.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5528161/
I like Major Ballinger’s grammar.
