Class #92 Hell Week: Day 3 - Ground Tactics Scenarios

Day 3 of Hell Week wasn’t so bad after all! Today was test day for ground tactics.  Last week was very physical. They learned how to properly defend themselves in a hand-to-hand combat situation (AKA wrestling!) In order to learn the proper way to get out of sticky situations and regain control of the suspect, the class wrestled with each other for about 10 hours a day on Friday and Saturday. Blood, sweat, and tears! (Bumps, bruises, and sore muscles - free of charge :) Today they were tested on their use of technique by wrestling each other. There was no way to know what the suspect (other classmate) was going to do next. Believe it or not this day was a lot more dreaded than you would think. They are trained to constantly assess their situation, be aware of their surroundings, protect their weapons, gain control of the suspect, and most importantly keep themselves safe! Side note… Josh is WAY more aware of absolutely everything since he started his training here! He can assess any situation with little to no evidence. 

Anyways, when they arrived at school today the teachers decided to do their “testing” a little differently this year. They have been very impressed with the class’s performances thus far; so they thought it would be fun to switch things up a bit. Rather than having each student wrestle the teacher (this is half the reason they were so worried), they had to complete an obstacle course that ended with wrestling their partner one on one. Each stage of the obstacle course was designed to simulate a fight so they would feel the exhaustion and mental strain of a real world scenario. The teacher kept saying, “I’m going to pull you into the deepest water and see if you can swim!” For the obstacle course, they both jogged back and forth on the road. For the second part, one partner fought a dummy with a baton while the other did pushups and sit-ups.  The third obstacle required first elbowing the punching bag while the other partner held it, and secondly kicking/kneeing the bag. Next one would flip a tractor tire while the other practiced moves on a dummy.  Finally, they jogged back to “the circle” and sat back to back on the mat. When the teacher would say, “Fight”, they would wrestle until one of them had contained the other. The teacher would say, “Back to back!” Then they would fight again. This went on for about 5 minutes straight – full force, all out, wrestling! The entire obstacle took them about 15 minutes to complete. It was very high intensity! “The circle” cheered on the group that was fighting; yelling commands, encouraging effort, and most of all, supporting their classmates :) In the end, they arrested a compliant suspect. They were out of breath and exhausted, but they were still required to give proper commands. Although they were being tested, the students had a blast! They said it was the most fun they had had yet! Since they put forth so much effort, they were sent home for a long lunch, and ultimately a short day! Class #92 has been a wonderful group of people, and I am so glad Josh is a part of them!