87th LRS Airman’s combative skills dominate competition Published May 21, 2012 By Pascual Flores Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Instructors from the Modern Army Combative Program on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., conducted a level one combative training class April 30 to May 4, with more than a dozen Airmen taking to the mats with other service members from the Army, Navy and Coast Guard. The course graduated 20 service members who had to rely only on the combative skills learned during the grueling, demanding and physically exhausting 40-hour week. A week, where there were no weapons available for their defense except for their bare hands. "Physical training is conducted four times a day, at the beginning of the day, before and after lunch and at the end of the day," said Sergeant First Class Raymond Alston, First Army - East, NCO-in-charge, Modern Army Combative Program. "We like to have them drained before they do the class." The MACP has been taught at Dix since 2007. Reserve Component Soldiers mobilizing for OPERATIONS Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Horn of Africa, in addition to Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Coast Guardsmen preparing for deployment to those Areas of Operations. "New soldiers are introduced to the basics of MACP during their basic training," said Alston. Alston, an Army Reservist from Brooklyn, N.Y., and New York City Police Officer is a qualified level two instructor. His staff of qualified instructors consists of Sgt. 1st Class Kelley Williams, level two, Staff Sgt. Stephen Blashfield, level four, and Sgt. Miles Noonan, level three. The trainers instilled within the participants the three basic principles of the MACP -- close the distance, gain a dominant position and finish the fight. Closing the distance means controlling the range between the fighters to avoid strikes and setting one's self up for a takedown. A dominant position, having an advantage over one's opponent, is the only position in which a fighter should finish the fight. These core principles combined with repeated combative drills and a rigorous physical training regimen are the foundation of the MACP. Dressed in their respective uniforms and barefoot, the April 30 competitors squared off against each other following their instructors' guidance practiced the different exercises of grapples and hold. Some of the techniques practiced were: combat takedowns, cross collar choke-hold, scissors sweep and front guillotine choke and arm bars to name a few. The combative competition is not limited only to male service members and all service members must be volunteers. "The prerequisite for attending the course is for somebody to be in shape and able to do the work,' said Alston. "Physical training is the top priority." This physically demanding course pushes the students to maximize the training effects as well as simulate combat fatigue. Through constant repetition and drill muscle memory will start to automatically take over the situation. "I just loved it, I was a first time hitter and it was the first time I got hit by somebody else," said Senior Airman Nasim Lashaninejad, Contracting Specialist, 87th Contracting Squadron. "It absolutely gave me an idea of how to protect myself and use it as self defense." The honor graduate for the MACP competition is no stranger to mental and physical demands of the martial arts. Technical Sgt. Edward Hernandez, 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron, hometown San Antonio, Texas and father to four sons, Edward Jr. 16, Michael 13, JoVan 6 and Jaedyn 2, has been training and completing in the martial arts since the mid 1990s'. "While stationed in Japan in 1996, I was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu," said Hernandez. "And throughout the next ten years, I trained in boxing at Elmendorf, Alaska and Mixed Martial Arts at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas." Chosen by his class as a finalist, Hernandez demonstrated his martial arts skills taking on two different competitors before being selected as the 'honor graduate.' "The toughest competitor was against a 6 feet 4 inch, 200 plus pound, long, lanky, strong U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Emanuel Huff, from the 72nd Field Artillery, who was forced into submission with a triangle choke," said the 37-year-old Hernandez. "The final competitor was a strong, powerful wrestler, Senior Airman Brett Newcomer, 817th Global Mobility Squadron, who 'tapped out' from a rear mount lapel choke." There are currently four certification levels in MACP. The first level consist of a 40-hour block of instruction, tailored for developing the level-one instructor base. Level two is an 80-hour block that builds off of the skills introduced in the basic course, teaching more advanced techniques as well as philosophy and methodology of the program. The third and fourth certifications are a month long block of instructions offered at Fort Benning, Ga. Levels one and two are offered at the MACP on Army Support Activity-Dix. "When you roll, you don't want to use your strength, you want to use your mind," said Alston.