Combat Pits

Shaolin Monks in Fighting Ballet
--TimesUKOnline

Solve a man’s problems with violence,
help him for a day.
Teach a man to solve his problems with violence,
help him for a lifetime!
-- Order of the Stick

Happiness this year:
Is to get our warmongering outta here,
and not oppress folks with fear
and let goat herding Afghans
have an unbombed life, austere
--Schott's Miscellany, David Bean

"The American people. . .
Haven't got a clue"
--sign outside of Austin, Texas business
_______________

The Ranger exhibit at the Ft. Benning Infantry Museum features a film loop of Ranger students in the "combat pits" performing unarmed combat. 2009 is a long way from 1969.

The fighting techniques resembled something one might see on the caged television fighting show; the students were not fighting to kill. In the old days, Rangers were brutalized in the combat pits: we were kicked, punched and used as training aids for our fellow Rangers. Many a student was injured, and as result failed to complete training.

If we did not kick our opponent hard enough, the instructor would gladly demonstrate the correct killing blow. We kicked with the side of our boot, and not the toe or heel -- our only nod to softness. This Ranger recalls boot eyelet compressions on his ribcage after being in the pits.

One Ranger student in 1968 died of injuries sustained in the pits, but now the activity is being depicted in the infantry Museum as a quaint wrestling match. The fighting techniques shown were as useless and meaningless as the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) itself.

Rangers should fight using helmets, bayonets, spoons, forks, sticks, dogtags and anything else at hand. There should be a focused determination to kill in the fastest possible manner. Wrestling an opponent is a recipe for disaster. What are these soldiers being taught? This is not The Transporter, and real fighting is not ballet.

I guess this is the way the SOCNET.com tough guys play it. Give my old Ranger ass a break.