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Sources:
Art DeGroat, 785-532-0369, degroata@k-state.edu;
Dave Durnil, dave.durnil@gmail.com
Photo available. Please contact media@k-state.edu
or 785-532-6415
News release prepared by: Cheryl May, 785-532-6415, may@k-state.edu
Tuesday,
January 16, 2007
NICKELS
A MEMBER OF FIRST COMBATIVES CLASS AT K-STATE
MANHATTAN
-- Christene Nickels, a Kansas State University freshman from Viola,
was a member of the first military combatives class offered at the
university. Her instructor says she was a model student.
Nickels
has excelled in the unusual course, said instructor Dave Durnil.
"Cadet
Christene Nickels exemplifies the true spirit and aim of the Modern
Army Combatives Program," Durnil said. "Despite being
a freshman Air Force female cadet who is small in stature, she has
the courage to put her training to the test."
Durnil
said Nickels was "always in attendance for training at which
she never failed to push her limits of endurance and pain threshold.
This proves the courage and belief that Cadet Nickels has in herself
and the effectiveness of her training. She has confidence in her
training because it was forged in actual experience."
"K-State
is the first university in America to offer a hand-to-hand military
combatives program for its ROTC students," said retired Lt.
Col. Art DeGroat, former head of the K-State Army ROTC program and
now director of military affairs for K-State.
K-State's
semester-long course culminates in cadets being officially certified
at the first level of combatives by the United States Army. Other
Army ROTC cadets nationwide receive only brief, familiarization
training on combatives theory, skills and practice during their
junior year leadership camp.
"This
is a very powerful developmental opportunity for these cadets that
their peers across the country do not get," said K-State President
Jon Wefald. "Christene demonstrates that determination and
hard work enable students in the combatives class to acquire excellent
skills.
"I
met with Christene at the end of the semester and she told me how
her combatives class had not only improved her combative skills,
but that, most important, it gave her a level of new-found confidence
in herself and in her abilities," Wefald said.
In
addition to life-saving skills in hand-to-hand engagements, K-State
cadets in the course get advanced education of the ethical dimensions
of the use of physical force as well as strategic insights on human
conflict.
Durnil
is currently one of the highest ranked Army combatant experts and
is educating and training soldiers, officers and ROTC cadets at
K-State and Fort Riley, DeGroat said.
Nickels
is a 2006 graduate of Clearwater High School.
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