The Fort Campbell Courier

Thursday, September 7, 2006

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ULTIMATE TRAINING


Pedro Valente of Gracie Jujitsu instructs Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery on close-quarters hand-to-hand combat Tuesday.

BRIAN TAYLOR IMAGES I COURIER

Troops train hand-to-hand UFC fighter, jujitsu trainer motivate Soldiers to learn new battle styles by Gregory Frye Courier Staff Troops from the 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment are starting a combatives program from scratch -- with a little help.

Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pedro
Valente of Gracie Jujitsu visited Fort Campbell this week to help give the new program
a jumpstart.

"We're training for close quarter combat," said Staff Sgt. Travis Washington, 1st 'platoon sergeant, 2-44th ADA. [We're learning] defensive and offensive positions, how to attack enemies without a weapon."

"It got us motivated and eager to learn," Washington said of Sanchez and Valente's visit.

Pedro Valente is one of two people in the United States sanctioned to teach Gracie Jujitsu.

"It's a been a good opportunity and an honor to support the troops and everything they're doing for us to help maintain our freedom," Valente said.

Valente maintains that training with the Soldiers has been fantastic.

"These guys are real warriors," he said. "They've been in battle and have had real hand-to-hand experience."

Valente is also learning from the experience. He is impressed by the level of discipline the Soldiers display and the respect they have for each other and their commanders.

Diego Sanchez, an undefeated fighter in the UFC, is also making the most of his visit to Fort Campbell.

"It's a great honor and a big time privilege. I'm very grateful," he said. "I'm walking away with a little more discipline and a better understanding of how the military is organized."

Captain Ryan Shrock, commander of Battery C, is also thankful the Soldiers could have this opportunity.

"These are busy guys who took a big cut in their pay and

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in their time to come out here and train with the troops," he said.

First Sgt. Anthony Felter also sees the benefit of the fighters coming to train with the Soldiers.

"We're learning more advanced grappling and ground fighting techniques you don't get through the normal Army program," he said.

The younger Soldiers are motivated and impressed that up-and-coming superstars like Diego Sanchez are willing to spend their personal time with the military.

`A lot of athletes and a lot of movie stars say they give back to the community, but they don't. You never see them on a military installation. You never see them come down and shake the average Soldier's hand. You never see them sit down and eat dinner or lunch with the average Soldier," Felter said. "These guys do."

"These guys gave up their time and came down here to give back to the military. They really support us," he said.

Reed Wallace, Sanchez's manager, was positive about the visit.

"What we hope is that the fighters are able to give something that is of value to the troops who are going over to fight in the real world," he said. "These guys fight for sport; the troops fight for real."