Welcome to the fight club

By Michael Brooke

LACW Leah Bartkowski demonstrates two military self-defence techniques for responding to a knife attack, using a wrist lock.

LACW Leah Bartkowski demonstrates securing the opponent’s knife arm.

Photos by CPL Simone Liebelt.

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* A group of 45 ADF personnel, including eight Air Force members, took part in an ADFA-run Military Self-Defence course recently. The five-day course qualifies students as military self defence exponents and teaches them to subdue opponents with minimal force. Sponsored by the Special Forces Training Centre, the course is based on a combination of techniques drawn from military, police and martial arts doctrines. The end-of-course assessment involves a series of scenario-based activities to test students newly aquired abilities in crowd control, balance and situational awareness.

DIMINUTIVE Leading Aircraftwoman Leah Bartkowski can hold her own in a scrap after gaining her certificate in Military Self-Defence (MSD) at ADFA recently.

Leading Aircraftwoman Bartkowski is one of eight Air Force personnel who completed a five-day MSD course that has given them the skills to subdue a larger opponent while applying minimal, non-lethal force.

“I’m not the biggest person in the world but I now have the skills and, most importantly, the confidence to subdue bigger opponents,” she said.

But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in speed. During the training, she learnt to deliver several punches and elbow blows so quickly they would subdue an aggressor before he knew what hit him.

Leading Aircraftwoman Bartkowski, 22, was among eight Air Force, eight Navy and 29 Army personnel who completed the course.

Senior Instructor Major Travis Faure, who has studied military self-defence training for more than a decade, said the course gives students the skills and confidence to disarm and disable an opponent with minimum force, in keeping with the rules of
engagement.

Major Faure said the course, sponsored by the Special Forces Training Centre, combined the techniques of various military, police and martial arts doctrines to equip students with the knowledge and skill to apply appropriate force levels to control an opponent.

He said the students were formally assessed in a range of challenging scenarios, including crowd control at check points, which requires expertise and confidence in situational awareness.

“In the CNN era we live in, the MSD course equips these ADFA students, who are the leaders of tomorrow, with the skills and confidence to control low threat situations using only minimum force levels,” he said.

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