July 2019: Into the Desert

NTC

June at combatives school was one of the best months of training, and the most enjoyable months in my life. 10+ hours a day of training, tons of free food to eat, and a comfy hotel room to relax in at night. That lifestyle made an abrupt change when I flew out to Fort Irwin, CA to join my National Guard unit for 3 weeks in the desert for NTC. Grappling and fighting training was replaced with platoon maneuvers through the desert, my bountiful DEFAC meals were replaced with MREs, and my comfy room was replaced with catching sleep whenever and wherever I could. 

Don't get me wrong though. I LOVE being out in the field. Hanging out with the boys, sleeping beneath the desert sky, taking one field shower in two weeks. There's something about that raw, gritty lifestyle that I actually look forward to. Perhaps it's unplugging from the internet and social norms, but I feel like I'm in my element when I'm "In the field" as we call it. So I enjoyed those three weeks, but by the end of them, I was just about twitching in place I wanted to roll so badly. 

I do want to reflect on one interesting challenge while in uniform, and that is the absence of solitude. 

Most of you that have met me in person probably know me as an energetic, overly optimistic person that talks ceaselessly about JiuJitsu and is always smiling. While that is the typical Steve, and being around people brings me a lot of happiness, I greatly enjoy times of solitude and typically spend at least a day a week in hermit mode. That solitude doesn't exist while in uniform. Four of us spent two weeks together in a vehicle. We ate together, slept next to each other, and damn near pooped next to each other. Being together 24/7, we talked about just about every topic you could think of. From philosophy, career goals, families, pasts, and things I wouldn't put on the internet 😂. Those times of raw, honest, and real conversations are what people always say that they miss the most when they get out, and I greatly enjoy them as well. I'll tell ya'll though that I longed to stare off into nothing for an hour alone. It's interesting though, I'm writing this a couple weeks after getting back and I've found myself hanging out with the guys and looking forward to getting back to Army training. 

Back in Illinois

We got back to North Carolina with a week left of July and were happily shocked to find that we'd get just about that whole time off. I decided to jump right back on a plane and head to Illinois to visit family for several days. We had a grand time. We went to the arcade, played laser tag, had epic battles with toy action figures, and partied at the pool. I often chastise myself for not being more involved with the kiddos, so it was great to get to spend time just having a ton of fun together. 

Training

I made sure to make my family a priority a priority on this visit since I won't be seeing them for probably over a year, but I did have to get a little bit of training in. I will tell ya'll that my first class back on the mats after 3-weeks sweating in the desert and slamming MREs was BRUTAL. Ten minutes in my lungs wanted to explode, my gas tank was tapped and my mind was blurry, but my heart was irrevocably happy to be back on the mats, and I laughed and couldn't stop smiling as I exchanged submission attempts with my training partners for the day.  

My first school back was an open mat at10th Planet in Lombard. Ya'll know that I'm a fan of this affiliation because of their hospitality to visitors and their exciting style to play against. This training session was really cool too because it was a perfect example of what I love about travel training. 

I walked in and met the owner, signed a waiver right quick and then jumped straight into rolling for some really fun rolls with talented people.  While there, I rolled with Fabian and his brother, both of them brown belts and technical monsters. We got to talking after rolling,  and it ended with an invitation to train down with them the next day at University of Ground Fighting. Great training, meeting cool, like-minded people and getting to train at another new spot? My kind of ideal training session. 

Getting down to UoGF was almost a two-hour drive, but it was well worth it! Professor Steve covered some 50/50 techniques in areas that I have struggled with, and the techniques were a direct fix for those areas. All my training partners were hyped about me coming to visit and we had some boss rolls after technique.  I even got to roll with Professor Steve twice. A technical monster and beast of a black belt competitor. I love getting to match up with lankier, more technical guys because they really push my game.  

After rolling was done, we all hung out for close to two hours talking about JiuJitsu, training, and the people we knew in common. It was back to back training sessions that are my favorite kind. 

Conclusion

While July was mostly Army training, I still got hit three new JiuJitsu schools and enjoy some just awesome training sessions. This first week of August has been action-packed and I'm looking forward to getting started on writing about it. It is almost about time to shift gears into the full-time Army lifestyle, but I still have a couple days of freedom left to enjoy. 

About the Author:

Steven McMahon earned his Kyuki-Do Black Belt in 2011 from Grand Master Kim at Kim's Black Belt Academy and his  BJJ Purple Belt in January 2017 under Professor Charles Nunley. He currently trains out of Wakizashi BJJ in Oak Harbor under Professor Eli Trevino. He is an active competitor at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Army Combative tournaments.