First to fight

Spc. Joshua Sager, bottom, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, and Spc. Zakkary Cook of HHC, 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, compete in the first day of the 2015 USARAK Combatives Tournament at the Buckner Physical Fitness Center on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Thursday. (U.S. Air Force photos/Justin Connaher)

First to fight

Spc. Iian Fleming, bottom, 486th Movement Control Team, a native of Durham, N.C., and Spc. David Hokenson, 725th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, both assigned to U.S. Army Alaska, compete in the first day of the 2015 USARAK Combatives Tournament at the Buckner Physical Fitness Center on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Thursday, June 4, 2015. Less-experienced fighters will compete in basic rules bouts Thursday, while more advanced fighters will battle Friday. Combatives, or hand-to-hand combat, is much like mixed martial arts fighting and allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of combat sports. Proficiency in hand-to-hand combat is one of the fundamental building blocks for training the modern Soldier. (U.S. Air Force photo/Justin Connaher)

First to fight

Published June 4, 2015
By Airman Christopher R. Morales
JBER Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The U.S. Army Alaska Combatives Tournament, sponsored by the Arctic Warrior Combatives Academy, finals are scheduled June 5 at the Buckner Physical Fitness Center on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The tournament, during Military Appreciation Week, is a chance to demonstrate the warrior ethos and show camaraderie between military members.

"The purpose for the USARAK tournament as a whole is to take the Soldiers who wanted to come out here and put them in a stressful situation putting their training to the test," said Sgt. 1st Class Chad Veagley, AWCA noncommissioned officer in charge. "We have teams from most of the Fort Richardson battalions, and Fort Wainwright came prepared too. It's going to be a good competition overall."

Battalions and independent groups were allowed to submit a team of up to two fighters in each weight class. More than 100 fighters will participate.

The bouts are scheduled in brackets of one-on-one fights, and began with a standard rule set progressing into intermediate, and the advanced rule set is saved for the finals.

"The tournament is running real smooth; we haven't had any hiccups so far," Veagley said. "The event is going great, we have a real turn-out and a lot of participation."

Individual fighters compete for medals in each weight class; teams compete for a traveling trophy as incentive for more teams next year.

"We try to push Soldiers not to hesitate and see their own potential in the future. We tell Soldiers at classes 'if you're not moving forward, you're dying.' said Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Jones, AWCA senior instructor and combatives tournament director. "All those other nice little quotes, we mean it here."

"It's interesting to see Soldiers come into the academy so hesitant and by the end of the class we have Soldiers with a completely different mindset, one that pushes fear out of their mind rather than letting fear limit them." Jones said. "Minus the pain, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."