BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Army Staff Sgt. Theodore Albright, a member of the 204th Engineer Battalion, will represent the New York Army National Guard in a nationwide hand-to-hand combat competition at Fort Benning, Georgia March 16 to 18.
The competition pits 160 experts in combatives - the hand-to-hand combat the Army teaches Soldiers - against each other to pick the best in the 360,000-man Army National Guard, said Army Staff Sgt. Vincent Cruz, the senior combatives instructor at the Army National Guard Warrior Training Center.
The top three finishers in the Army National Guard competition will square off against counterparts from the active Army and Army Reserve in July to pick the best hand-to-hand combat warriors in the Army, Cruz said.
Just being picked to compete is an honor, he said.
Albright, a 14-year veteran of the Army National Guard, is a full-time supply sergeant in the Binghamton-based 204th Engineer Company. He serves at the combatives instructor for the battalion.
He has been involved in martial arts training since he was a kid and competes in mixed martial arts as a civilian.
The competition involves grappling as well as open handed striking, Albright said.
Winners are determined by knocking their opponents out, when the opponents submit, or on points, he explained. The competition is very demanding, he said.
It is a very demanding tournament but he is looking forward to the competition, he said.
Normally he would spend a couple of months preparing for a competition, but in this case he had two weeks notice, Albright said. His goal, he said, is to do a good job for the New York Army National Guard.
"It's a little short notice but I figured it would be an opportunity of a lifetime, as someone who is passionate about mixed martial arts," he said.
"Everybody that legitimately does martial arts knows you leave your ego on the mat," Albright said. "You go down there and do the best you can."