Chapter 12

08:30, August 26, 1983

Sparing With The Gunny

As we exited the house the Colonel went to his car and came back with a duffel bag in one hand and my fighting staff in his other. The staff had been cleaned of the dirt and blood from the fight. He tossed it to me and I caught it and gave a spinning flourish with it.

The Gunny grunted and went and pulled a second staff out of the trunk. His was covered in a black lacquer that I recognized. It would be used in a few years by a very famous home run hitter for his Louisville Slugger.

“In that duffel is some protective gear. Head guard, and sparring gloves. We will both wear the headgear, that is non-optional. I want you to let yourself go. Don’t hold back. I promise you that I won’t. As for the gloves, you can decide if you want to use them when we get to the hand-to-hand part. However, before we start I want you to show me the move you used to get that staff from the ground to your hand when those thugs attacked you.”

I dropped the staff on the ground and let it roll a few inches away. Then I stepped forward and stumbled over it with my left foot, pushing it up onto my right. Then I kicked that foot up propelling the staff up into my hand. Again I gave it a spinning flourish. “Don’t give me the Hollywood spins kid. I want to see your skills, not your bravado. I already know you’ve got balls. You proved that yesterday. Now put on the headgear and prepare to fight.”

To say that the Gunny was ruthless would be a major understatement. I’d barely gotten the headgear buckled when he struck out with his staff. I didn’t even have mine in hand yet, so I did an open two-handed grasping block and shoved his staff back at him. Then I grabbed mine in hand and the dance started. He gave no quarter because of my age or size. He did exactly what he’d said he would do. He gave me his best moves. I could see the surprise and respect that came over his face as I met every advance with an appropriate block and countermove.

The first time I slipped past his guard and rapped his temple, he stepped back and shook his head. I stepped forward like I was going to fall for the obvious feint. Then, when he attacked, I stepped into the attack turning it into a feint of my own that connected with his body twice before he could knock away a third shot aimed at his chin. I used it as a disarming move and knocked his staff out of his hand and ended the move with my staff resting lightly against his Adam’s apple.

“You’re dead, Gunny.”

The older guy was just as covered in sweat as I was. “I’ll be damned. Hiram, I apologize. I thought you’d slipped backward a bit after you left the service. If he fights with his hands, like he did with that damn staff, you may have improved instead.”

Both men looked at me. “Where did you learn to fight like that Harrison? I know I didn’t teach you. I’m not that good with a staff.”

I sighed. “I wish I could tell you, Mr. Snodgrass. All I know is when the stick is in my hand I know how to move it. It’s like I learned it in another life or something.”

It was just like when I fought you yesterday. I wasn’t thinking, you know that. I was someplace else, caught up in my fight to outrun my dream. It wasn’t until you had me pinned to the ground that I knew what was going on around me.”

Hiram looked at the Gunny. “See what I mean? I’ve never seen anything like it. He disarmed you. When was the last time that happened to you?”

Gunny Martian shook his head. “Been a few years, even longer since someone ‘killed’ me. Hiram, you know he could have just as easily killed those boys as put them in the hospital. If he’d been trained by us he would have killed them.”

He looked at me. “Why didn’t you kill them, Harrison? It had to have been harder to just send them to the hospital. I mean if you just react as you say, they should all three be dead.”

“I’ll be honest, Gunny, I thought about it. But I told them before we started that I’d end their football careers and make it so they couldn’t get a hard-on again. I thought that was a better outcome than six feet under.”

“Shit kid. So you essentially did exactly what you told them you’d do. Well except for the hard-on thing. I believe you can still get it up without your testicles.”

I shrugged. “Can you? I mean, don’t eunuchs still have their dicks? Doesn’t matter, they won’t be procreating at any rate.”

“Okay, you rested up enough now? I want to see how good you are at hand-to-hand. Hiram says you used a style he’d never seen before. I want you to try and just let go and not think. Just react like you did yesterday morning. You want to use the gloves so our punches don’t hurt as much or do any damage?”

I thought about it before nodding. “I don’t want to. I’ve never used gloves like those, but I don’t need the police chief, the detective, Mayor Buckley, or the new D.A. to see me all beat up after not having a scratch yesterday. That would invite questions I don’t really want to answer.”

Once again the Gunny gave no quarter. When he attacked this time I was expecting it and moved so that I wasn’t where he went. What happened next was an epic battle. I wasn’t sure if we were sparring or if the Sergeant was trying to put me on the ground. Then I realized that was exactly what he was doing. He was a Marine, they only trained one way, the same way the SEALs trained. Kill or be killed. I let the muscle memory and training take over and suddenly I wasn’t just holding my own anymore. More and more of my strikes hit and I realized I was mixing both Jiu-Jitsu and Krav Maga, alternating. The Maga moves were landing more than the Jiu-jitsu, so I completely switched to just Krav Maga. It wasn’t long until I had the Sergeant on the ground and looked at him as he tapped out. “You’re dead, again, Gunny.”

The older Marine accepted my hand to help him back to his feet. The Colonel was standing there with his mouth open. The shock on his face told me I’d done something he’d not thought possible. “Please tell me you took it easy on him, Tyrone.”

The older marine glared at him. “Like hell I did. You know for a fact he put me on the ground fair and square. You weren’t exaggerating. If I were testing him for rank, I’d have to call him a fifth-degree black in Jiu-jitsu, maybe even a Sensei-level fifth. If he knew how to teach, I’d not be surprised.

What is surprising, is that other discipline he’s using. He can’t know it. It’s not possible. I’ve seen it, but the people who teach it wouldn’t even teach me.”

Hiram looked at him “I don’t understand.”

Tyrone shook his head “I don’t either. That style, the one you didn’t recognize; It’s only taught and used by the Israeli Defense Force. They refuse to teach it to anyone else. They call it Krav Maga, which means contact combat. It’s a ‘take-no-prisoners, don’t stop until your opponent is incapacitated or dead’ style of martial arts.”

“Hiram, there is no known way this boy can know it or use it. It’s impossible. I promise you, what he can do can’t be explained. You have here a certified hand-to-hand phenom. It’s beyond savant stuff. He can’t know what he knows at fifteen. If I hadn’t seen and experienced it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it. Hell, I did see it and experienced it, and I still have trouble believing it.”

“So how do I train him? He’s already beyond me in Jiu-Jitsu. He’s only fifteen, Tyrone. My brother wants to know your assessment of his defense. But what you’ve told me says, he has the skills to have used less force than he did. Hell, the kid warned them what he was going to do and then damned if he didn’t do it. How do we explain that?”

The Gunnery Sergeant shrugged. “Why explain anything? If asked, just tell them you’re teaching him Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which covers most of what he can do. Even though you’re less advanced than he is, add staff fighting to your instructions. Try and get him to stop using all those Hollywood showboating flourishes. They hardly bring anything to a fight except showing off. It’s a weapon, not some majorette’s baton for spinning and twirling.”

I laughed as did Hiram. “Why don’t you tell him why you don’t like the flourishes?”

“I told you why, they are wasted energy and serve no purpose in a fight.”

Hiram laughed. “Accept when Bruce Lee kicked your ass using those wasted motions. That’s why you don’t like them, they don’t fit in your style of staff fighting. The military style. That Lee used them and won against you, pissed you off and you know it.”

“He shouldn’t have won and you know it. I was a better fighter than he was. We all knew it.”

Hiram nodded. “You were, but he did the one thing you couldn’t get past. He wasted movement and used Hollywood movie flourishes to distract you. Your distraction is what beat you. If Harrison had used those, he’d have beaten you even faster, because you would have gotten mad and tried to punish him for showboating. It’s your Achilles Heel, and we both know it.”