Got You Covered Buddy, Move Out!
Good morning tribe!
I’m writing you this morning for Sensei John. He texted me last night and said:
And I said:
and then he said, and I said:
(You know, we always use the magical language of Respect like that).
As I lay down to sleep, that little exchange got me thinking about a story from my youth.
I was a young trainee at US Army Basic Infantry School at Ft. Benning Georgia.
My battle buddies and I were practicing movement. In this particular exercise, the objective was to take a bunker; but the movement drill I am sharing is pretty foundational to infantry movement, or at least how they taught us at that time.
Anyways, I would say “got you covered buddy, move out”, and my battle buddy would advance on the objective while I laid suppressive fire.
He would get to another log to take cover behind and yell back at me while laying suppressive fire to cover my movement, “got you covered buddy, move out”…
And so on until we got to the bunker, dropped a grenade, shot into and neutralized the OPFOR (opposing force) inside.
It would generally be through a flanking maneuver by the way, but that part’s not important to this story.
This part is.
We practiced the maneuver many times dry, with no ammunition or simunitions or anything.
Just running through the exercise to get the technique down- kind of like when we practice our knife or gun defense techniques in Krav Maga.
But eventually, we practiced it firing blanks and with pop-bang grenades (training aids that just made noise) and other noise and distractions going on. (now kind of like our krav maga stress drills)…
Anyway, the point of the story is that the simple communication between buddies, “cover me buddy while i move”, “got you covered buddy, move out”…
all of a sudden wasn’t so easy.
Though not yet the noise and confusion of real battle, the trainers of the Infantry school would create progressively difficult training scenarios that more resembled the real thing to prepare us for that…
and it got hard to hear what your buddy was saying.
I had to pay really close attention to what he was saying and what he was doing, to what was actually happening, and to the contingencies in the scenario, to actually hear what my battle buddy was saying, even when I couldn’t “hear” him.
And this is the point of the story.
It’s like that in our lives too.
We all get really busy with the conflicting realities of work, family and the opportunities and challenges of life.
Sometimes, it can be hard to hear what your battle buddy- co-worker, spouse, friend, child, team mate- is saying, and/or what he or she needs.
Throw in the noise and distractions of social media, media media, and all that’s happening around us at once, competing for our time, energy and attention, and it can get really hard to hear…
and especially because our buddies aren’t usually saying specifically “cover me buddy”, though that may be what they need.
So it’s critical that we develop our listening, empathy and other communication skills.
Believe it or not, as much as the rest of my Infantry school story related to the way we train for self defense at Krav Maga Martial Arts, it also speaks to the importance of the Blackbelt Leadership training we give in communication skills, and team work.
The training students receive through my Leadership Program and Certified Instructor Training (CIT) is world class, and I am super proud of all of them!
Preparing young Infantry soldiers for the demands of combat isn’t easy; neither is raising up youth with the communication, teamwork, leadership and other skills needed to survive and thrive through the challenges of life.
Preparing students of all ages with the mental and emotional skills to survive and thrive real world violence isn’t easy either, but we do it in much the same way as the Infantry school did- through progressively difficult scenario based training based in technique, but that also trains attitude, emotion and contingency.
And oh, by the way, and the one last thing I’ll say…
since we’re talking about similarities between my academy and the military.
What a soldier always misses most about military service is the camaraderie- the mutual trust and friendship among people that spend a lot of time together, and especially time doing hard things that matter…
in addition to the excellent training in self defense and communication skills, the camaraderie amongst the tribe at KMMA is powerful!
They’ve got their buddies covered.
If you haven’t joined our tribe and community yet, and would like to experience how we train self defense, communication and leadership skills, start your 2 week free trial and orientation program here!
It’s the perfect time, I’ve got some amazing training planned for December!
And what an amazing gift to give yourself, your family or a friend!
It all starts with your free tour, trial and orientation to see what’s what…
got you covered buddy, move out!
Prepare To Live; Empower To Lead!
Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Founding Master Instructor, Krav Maga Martial Arts
TampaKravMaga.com StephenDelCastillo.com
TampaKravMaga.com and Krav Maga Martial Arts have been empowering lives through the martial arts in the Tampa Bay area for 20 years!
Founded in 2000 by Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo, a 7th degree Black Belt and Sr. Master Instructor, Krav Maga Martial Arts and Karate lessons for pre-school children ages 3-6 and elementary age kids ages 7 and up are designed to develop the critical building blocks kids need – specialized for their age group – for school excellence and later success in life.
Krav Maga Martial Arts Adult Krav Maga training is a complete adult self defense, fitness, and conditioning program for adults who want to learn real world self defense, lose weight, and/or get (and stay in shape).
If you have any questions about our program, or would like to go ahead redeem your 2 weeks FREE, you can call us anytime at 813-547-6368 or visit our Krav Maga Martial Arts website.
About Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo: Grandmaster Del Castillo is the founding Master Instructor of Krav Maga Martial Arts and has been empowering lives in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties since October of 2000. He is a 7th degree Blackbelt, MBA, author, mentor and success coach, a US Army Veteran and a proud father and grandfather. He is married to Ms. Barbara Del Castillo who helps him run the school. Grand Master Del Castillo began his training in the early 80’s and has high level blackbelts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Premier Martial Arts and Krav Maga Martial Arts as well as experience in kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do and Jiujitsu. He has high level instructor certifications from BBSI, IKMF, and KMG and has been featured in numerous Martial Arts publications and also Success magazine. He was a competitive sport karate and American Kickboxing instructor until he enlisted in the US Army where he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, where he won an Army Green to Gold scholarship and proceeded to ROTC and the University of Tampa. He was commisioned in 1992 and went on to serve in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division and then in several other posts in the US until he left military service to pursue his dream of creating KMMA in 2000.
The Krav MagaMartial Arts Headquarters is in Lutz, FL at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., 33549. Krav Maga Martial Arts serves Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas.
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