The official title of the block of instruction for last week and this coming up week is Subject Control and Arrest Techniques (or S.C.A.T.) for short. I'm pretty sure that all that happened this week is we, the students, learned how to put handcuffs on people, swing a foam bat that is supposed to resemble a baton, get beat up by an instructor, and then lastly get sprayed with pepper spray on friday. This week was AWESOME, but full of lots of pain (specifically in the facial region).
Add on to the physicality of the actual training for the week we also had PT every day this week, and it wasn't the easy kind... We ran 4 out of the 5 days at varying distances and pace. Monday consisted of only a mile and a half, but at a sprinting pace in which half of the platoon fell out and were sent to experience the greatness of the goon squad which i've come to love at times (its hell, but i'm a lot better at calisthenics than running because big guys werent made to run long distances). Tuesday we ran one of our most hated routes that includes a 1/4 mile long hill that would stress most people out just to walk up it then we got to the top of the hill, turned around, and headed back down so we could run up it again. Unfortunately i made it up the hill the second time, but was so gassed at that point i couldnt get my breathing under control again and was put in the safety vehicle and sped back to the academy to once again join the goon squad. Wednesday was an hour full of practicing our striking techniques (punching, kicking, knee spears, baton drills) at a rapid pace. Thursday was my glory day... We went for a five mile run which included the dreaded hill and i made it through from start to finish! I had two instructors who would periodically come over and help me with my breathing so i could keep pushing through it. Unfortuantely later in the day i started to experience some tightness in my chest, difficulty breathing, and some nausea so i was sent home to go see my doctor. Turns out i have bronchitis, so i'm sure that didnt help with any of the running we did this week, but it still felt amazing to make it through. Friday was pretty much just 45 minutes of doing sit ups, push ups, and air squats over and over again in order to get our heart rates up and get us sweating so our pores were nice and open for the pepper spray that was about to come, but more on that later...
Wednesday was our first red man fight, which was an AWESOME experience! It's been a long time since i've been in a real fight, and as odd as it sounds it was kind of fun to get rocked in the face like 20 times... The drill was supposed to be on how to create and maintain distance from a suspect while using a baton. Essentially you were supposed to stay at a 45 degree angle from the instructor and take hard strikes with the baton in the middle of the thighs, upper arms, lower legs, and chest. I however had a hard time staying out of the center line of the instructors body, and i paid dearly for it... I started out great, was swinging for the fences and landing good hard blows. Then i stepped in with the wrong foot and ducked my head a little bit and BAM!!!! The instructor landed a sweet right cross right on the side of my face and i was a bit stunned, then came jabs from both the right and left hands landing squarely on my nose and eyes. It took about 5 punches to the face before i got my head back on straight and was able to escape to the side and deliver a couple more blows with my baton. I went for another baton strike and my baton goes flying across the room from the sweat... friggen wonderful... Heres where my military training kicked in and all i could think to do was go on the offensive instead of continuing to create and maintain distance, this was a HUGE mistake. Trying to fight someone heads up who is wearing a foam helmet with a face mask and is covered in foam from the neck down is an exercise in futility. I got squared up with the instructor and started throwing jabs, and crosses, and a knee spear or two, and a shin kick but it was all for naught on my last cross the instructor dodged it and put me in an armbar and took me to the ground and got in a side mount position (which we hadnt learned how to escape from yet) holding me in the arm bar and continuing to punch me in the face until after another 4-5 punches i decided it was a good idea to use my training and lock his arm down to my chest while i tried to figure out how to escape his grasp. Unfortunately the timekeeper called an end to the fight before i had a chance to escape. It was a hell of a day, and i'm really looking forward to getting to see the video sometime next week!
Stay tuned for the pepper spray story sometime later this weekend...
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