Combatives - Air Force Combatives Program

Air Force Combatives Program

The United States Air Force has at times in its history been at the forefront of Combatives Training. Soon after the establishment of the Air Force as a separate service in September 1947, GEN Curtis Lemay was appointed as the Commanding General of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). GEN Lemay, who had masterminded the US air attacks on the Japanese mainland during World War II, knew that more US bomber groups in Europe had suffered more combat casualties than the US Marine Corps had in the pacific. Many of the lost Airmen ended up as German Prisoners of War. He was determined that all of his flying personnel would have a working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat to aid in escape and evasion.

In 1951 GEN Lemay appointed Emilio "Mel" Bruno, his Judo teacher and a former national American Athletic Union (AAU) Wrestling champion and fifth degree black belt in Judo, to direct a command wide Judo and combative measures program. He devised a program combining techniques from Aikido, Judo and Karate. In 1952 the Air Training Command took over the program. The Commanding General was General Thomas Power. Because of the deficiency in qualified instructors, Power sent two classes of twenty four Airmen to train at the Kodokan for several weeks. Based upon the success of this trial and after an official delegation from the Kodokan toured SAC bases in the United States, Bruno set up an eight week training course at the Kodokan. Students trained eight hours a day, five days a week and upon return to the United States were assigned throughout SAC. The course was a Japanese designed mix of Judo, Aikido, Karate and Taiho Jutsu.

From 1959 to 1966 the Air Force Combative Measures (Judo) Instructors Course was taught at Stead Air Force Base in Reno Nevada. The 155 hour course consisted of: 36 hours fundamentals of Judo, 12 hours Aikido, 12 hours Karate, 12 hours Air Police Techniques, 12 hours Aircrew self-defense, 18 hours Judo tournament procedures, 5 hours code of conduct and 48 hours training methods. There were also a 20 hour Combative methods course and a 12 hour Combative survival course for Aircrew members.

The program was dropped in 1966 in an effort to save money and reduce aircrew training time.

With the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the demand for Airmen with the ground troops on the battlefield grew significantly over their historic role. In response Commanders around the Air Force started independent training programs to both teach hand-to-hand combat and instill a warrior ethos in deploying Airmen. Because of the decentralized nature of the training, approaches varied wildly.

In 2007 the Chief of Staff of the Air Force read an article in the Air Force Times about Airmen training in one of the systems that was being widely used, the LINE (combat system) system which had previously been used and replaced in both the Marine Corps and the Special Forces, and ordered a review of all hand-to-hand combat in the Air Force. He tasked the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) to form a study committee to plan a way forward. Among those on the committee were Larsen and Dave Durnil, who had run the Combatives program for the US Army’s 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley Kansas and a program for both Army and Air Force ROTC at Kansas State University. Also on the committee were Ed Weichers Jr. who had been the U.S. Air Force Academy's boxing coach more than 30 years and representatives from each command in the Air Force who were currently conducting combatives training of various sorts including the Air Force Security Forces and the Air Force Special Operations Command. The committee was led by LtCol Kevin Adelsen from the AETC Headquarters and hosted by COL Billy Walker, Head of the Physical Education Department, Directorate of Athletics at the United States Air Force Academy. LtCol Adelson, before the first meeting visited Ron DonVito to witness and investigate LINE training, Matt Larsen at the Army Combatives School and the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence (MACE). After the first meeting COL Walker led several of the Academy cadre to Kansas State to attend the Army Combatives courses. The result of all of this was the Air Force deciding to adopt a program based upon the Army Combatives Program but modified to fit the needs and culture of the Air Force. In 2009 Dave Durnil was hired to work at the Air Force Academy which was designated the Combatives Center of Excellence with COL Walker as its director.