Cadets attend a hands-on leadership lab

Hand-to-hand combat training give AFROTC cadets a new perspective

By Mary Sorrick

Friday, March 7, 2008

Grab and twist. Pull. Break.

These were among the hand-to-hand combat maneuvers students in the University of Kansas Air Force ROTC program rehearsed Tuesday night.

For two hours in the martial arts room of the Robinson Center, 60 cadets practiced wristlocks, headlocks and chokes on each other as part of training in the Linear Infighting Neural Override Engagement, L.I.N.E., system of self-defense.

L.I.N.E., originally developed for the Marine Corps, imprints reflexive techniques and motions of self-defense in members of the military who learn the system.

Matt Booth, Medicine Lodge senior and AFROTC public affairs officer, said the training qualified as one of 15-weekly leadership laboratories AFROTC students must complete this semester.

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Photo by Jon Goering

Retired major Joe Fox demonstrates a L.I.N.E. manuever for AFROTC students Tuesday afternoon at Robinson Gymnasium. L.I.N.E. is a system of hand-to-hand combat manuevers intended for self defense.

Some leadership labs, like meetings about proper dress and the finer points of a salute, are mandatory. But the ROTC staff also has the freedom to choose more engaging labs, like Tuesday night’s combat training.

Capt. Corey Edmonds, the active duty officer who oversees cadet activities, said the ROTC students appreciated the chance to do something active.

“We try to build some fun stuff in,” he said. “They all think combat is cool.”

L.I.N.E. training was the first hand-to-hand combat lab AFROTC cadets had completed in at least four years, Booth said.

Stephanie Langley, Leavenworth junior, played a role in bringing L.I.N.E. training to the AFROTC by suggesting it to last year’s staff.

She said the Air Force had been trying to integrate more hand-to-hand combat into its training.

“This isn’t about starting a fight,” she said. “It’s about what you would do if you got in a fight.”

Langley’s father, Retired Maj. Mike Langley, is a certified L.I.N.E. instructor. He was one of five instructors from Fort Leavenworth working with the cadets on Tuesday.

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We try to build some fun stuff in. They all think combat is cool.

Capt. Corey Edmonds

Though the training’s primary purpose was self-defense, Ret. Maj. Langley told the AFROTC cadets that, in a real fight, combatants using L.I.N.E. would not pull any punches.

“If I burst your Achilles tendon, gee, I’m really sorry. But that’s my job,” Langley said to the cadets.

University cadets only had two-hour taste of L.I.N.E. training, which usually requires around nine weeks to complete. But John Sebes, Lansing freshman, said that was enough to learn some useful techniques.

“I don’t want to have to break someone’s arm, but it’s nice to know that if someone starts choking you out, you have an option,” Sebes said.

Booth said the AFROTC’s next big event would be Alumni Weekend on April 15. Cadets will also participate in an annual parade and drill competition at Memorial Stadium on May 3.

—Edited by Samuel Lamb

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