Deployed Marine teaches Airmen martial arts

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Physically, Marine Sgt. Luis Mercado stands a modest 5-feet-7-inches tall and weighs only 150 pounds. But he barks orders and works his students as though he were King Kong himself.

“I want to share my knowledge,” the martial arts instructor said. “There’s no point in keeping it to myself.”

Sergeant Mercado, who is deployed to a Marine aircraft detachment at an Air Force-run air base here, spends much of his free time teaching anyone who cares to learn lessons from the Marine Corps Marital Arts Program.

The service's hand-to-hand combat training program began in 2001, the same year Sergeant Mercado enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 17.

“I wanted to join the Marine Corps since I was 14 years old,” Sergeant Mercado said. “I’d send an application every year to the Marine Corps, wanting to join. Every year they’d send me back a letter thanking me for my support and telling me I’d have to wait until I was 17 to join.”

Now 21, the Queens, N.Y. native does what he can to impart his experience as a martial arts instructor to his fellow Marines, Airmen and anyone else who wants to attend his classes. “We are all servicemembers,” he said.

Sergeant Mercado said he believes it is important for all servicemembers to be able to defend themselves as a last resort in a combat environment. “The program teaches discipline and martial arts at the same time.”

Every Marine who graduates boot camp is qualified as a “tan belt” in the program -- the first of 11 levels, Sergeant Mercado said.

After four weeks of taking lessons from Sergeant Mercado, 14 base firefighters were about to be qualified to that same initial level.

“With all of our shift work, we didn’t have time to attend the regular classes,” said Tech. Sgt. Scott Butler, assistant fire chief. “Sergeant Mercado comes over while he’s off duty three times a week and teaches us for two-and-a-half hours at a time.”

Sergeant Butler said he asked Sergeant Mercado to teach these special sessions to his Airmen for three purposes.

“I wanted to get all of us into better shape, have my guys learn how to handle themselves better, and (give) us a chance to work with members of other military services,” he said.

For the Airmen attending the class, the last day was grueling. For an hour-and-a-half straight, the firefighters performed push-ups, sit-ups and sprints, and sparred in the dark with no break. The Airmen said that onlookers are amazed that they voluntarily take the martial arts classes, which they actually enjoy.

“He’s a good guy and real knowledgeable about the program,” said firefighter Airman 1st Class Jon Chase. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

When he first arrived, Sergeant Mercado said he spent three months volunteering to augment the security forces here during his off-duty hours. He said he feels that keeping busy keeps him closer to his roots as a Marine.

After all, he said, being a Marine on an Air Force installation means he has certain benefits and quality-of-life perks not all Marines share in Southwest Asia. Although he appreciates being on the installation, he said his guilt for living in the “lap of luxury” while deployed results in him constantly working.

“People ask me why I am constantly doing things, why I don’t just sit and relax,” he said. “I want to feel the same pain as my Marines in Fallujah are feeling.”