First wave completes combatives training - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

First wave completes combatives training

The first airmen to experience the Air Force’s new hand-to-hand combat program completed training Tuesday at the Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ga.

Based on the Modern Army Combatives Program, the idea is to eventually equip all airmen with the skills to protect themselves in case they are unarmed and in close combat with an enemy.

The 10-hour basic combatives program is being rolled out first in the officer commissioning pipeline and then at basic military training for enlisted recruits. Airmen at Officer Training School began the program Jan. 25, and the first class of Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets will receive the training this summer through the new combined field training session for rising juniors.

For young officers who recently have been commissioned, the Air and Space Basic Course will begin teaching combatives skills in March or April.

No timeline has been announced for providing the training to recruits at basic training or to other airmen.

The Air Force program grew out of recognition by senior leaders that deployed airmen are no longer limited to flight lines located safely in the rear.

“The combatives program is really just a smaller piece of our overall Air Force effort to better prepare our airmen as they get ready to deploy,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Adelsen, deputy chief of Air Education and Training Command’s technical training division. “We have always produced the smartest airmen ... ready to go out and do the mission ... but now we are producing warriors. The Air Force combatives is just another facet of that warrior production.”

Training in hand-to-hand combat until recently has been little more than an afterthought for the Air Force: Some airmen received instruction through their units or special schools but most received no training.

The Air Force now wants to replace that scattershot approach with a standardized program for all airmen, Adelsen said, though it will take some time to fully design and implement the program. The ultimate goal is to provide airmen with a foundation of fighting skills and confidence in their abilities as warriors.

“Even if they never deploy, if they’re somebody that just sits behind a desk, they now have more confidence and a slightly different attitude than what airmen of the past might have had,” said Capt. George Hemingway, a flight commander with the 24th Training Squadron at Maxwell.

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Combatives could be mandatory for all airmen