Korea week 12

Korea: March 17-21

Yes, I’m back to writing once a week. It was an unusual week (but what’s usual?) since I didn’t work all week but instead went to combatives training, along with a few others in the platoon. That’s about all I have to report on this week, so I’ll tell a couple of anecdotes first before you lose interest.

My mother sent a package on February 20 (my time); it got here on March 19. That’s four weeks.

My roommate took his AFAST, which is the test for becoming a pilot. He got a 151, and the proctor said it was the highest score he’s ever seen in 20 years of administering the test. (The maximum is 176.) We posted a sign outside the door to our room that says, paraphrased, “You must have at least a 99 on your ASVAB [that’s me] or a 151 on the AFAST to enter this room.”

(A 99 is the highest overall score you can get on the ASVAB; it’s a percentile, so one out of 100 people will get a 99. It’s designed for the average high school senior, who would get a 50. A 99 for a college graduate isn’t that amazing, though I’ve never met anyone else with the same score—but then, I never ask; the other person always starts the conversation, and I’m usually reluctant to answer. The other scores from the ASVAB—it’s a “battery” of tests—are often more important, such as the GT, or general technical score. I got a 141 out of a maximum 130 on the GT, which I still don’t understand.)

Now for combatives.

I’ve talked about this before, but I figure a refresher is needed. Modern Army Combatives, which we just call combatives, is a kind of sophisticated and potentially (if you want it to be) lethal form of wrestling. The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) that you might see on TV uses a lot of techniques that you’ll see in combatives. Combatives is good for subduing or killing an enemy, but it can also be practiced safely enough to where students don’t get seriously injured during training.

I was forced into the class by my squad leader, but I really enjoyed it when I realized they’d actually teach us the techniques instead of just making us horse around, like we did in Basic and AIT. The class is one week long (40 hours, minus lunches) and results in a level 1 combatives certification. Level 1 certification is required for all Army Soldiers (maybe just active duty), and is worth eight promotion points.

The first three days were instruction and practice on most of the basic skills. There are three drills that teach you how to achieve dominant body position from various disadvantageous positions, plus techniques for chokes and for breaking (or simulating breaking) the opponent’s arm. On days two and three we started off with an intense workout designed to wear us out so we’d be more equally matched. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what the instructor said.

On day four we got punched repeatedly by the instructor and his cohorts and we weren’t allowed to punch back. They did use boxing gloves. The purpose was to learn “clenching,” which is to wrap your arms and/or legs around someone to stop them from punching you. The trick is to get to them before you get knocked out. The main thing that I learned was how to not panic when getting walloped. As someone who has never been in a fight before, my first reaction to a punch is to back away. Eventually you learn to just dive in there and take a couple of blows in order to stop all of the hits.

We went through four rounds of clenching, each slightly harder. It was obvious that they took it easier on the weaker guys like me and on the two women, but I still feel great about doing something I’ve never done before. That was the best part of the class.

On day five we tested on the drills and techniques we learned, and everyone passed. At the end the instructor asked if anyone wanted to sign up for the level 2 class. Myself and another older guy said, “Not yet.” I value what I learned and would like to do level 2 (though level 3 seems a little too intense), but it takes a lot out of you. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was sore every day.