The American Martial Artist…Personal History:Part 1

When I joined the Air Force, my first tour of duty was in Korea. My first day in Korea, I traveled downtown to look around. I came upon a Martial Arts demonstration at the market. I didn’t know what style it was then since I didn’t know the difference in styles. I later  learned that it was Tae Kwon Do. My friend, Jerry, and I watched these guys in white uniforms do all kinds of amazing things—mostly breaks and talking to the crowd. I couldn’t understand a word that  they were saying. They were breaking boards, bricks, and even rocks.

As I watched that day, I realized that I wanted to be a part of that.

The  very next day I met with Jerry and his wife. His wife was already living off base because she had come from a military family. She  knew all of the ins-and -outs of overseas living.

After we finished with processing the next day, Jerry and I went downtown looking for a place that taught Martial Arts. We walked around and asked until we found a place. We happened to look down an alley and saw some people  training in black uniforms. We stood at the doorway for a  while watching them.  The instructor came over and talked to us. He didn’t know much English and we knew nothing about the Korean language. He did;however, know enough English to tell us how much classes were….$15 per month. (Koreans were paying $3 per month, we later learned.) The style was  Kuk Sool Won Hapkido. We joined, paid him the money, and also paid for a uniform.

We started to train right then and I decided to make a commitment to work out three hours each day…

(to be continued)