bobdina
08-11-2009, 01:37 PM
In a fortuitous turn of events, Staff Sgt. Tim Kennedy will now be able to stay in the Army while he pursues a professional career in mixed martial arts.
Kennedy, a Special Forces soldier who has turned down invitations to fight in top MMA circuits in order to deploy, tried for two years to secure permission from his commanders to stay in uniform and fight professionally.
Each time, the answer was no.
So he decided to pursue MMA, going on terminal leave July 10.
But on July 30, he received a call from a warrant officer who was calling on behalf of Lt. Col. Douglas O’Connell, the G-3 for the Texas Army National Guard.
The officer wanted to know what he could do to get Kennedy to Texas.
Officials from the New Jersey Guard also called.
On Aug. 4, the same day his active Army enlistment was to end, Kennedy signed papers to become a member of the Texas Guard and 19th Special Forces Group, which has a company in Texas.
“I’m excited to be a part of the Texas Army National Guard,” said Kennedy, who spent his active Army career with 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C. “My whole objective was to fight and stay, serving in Special Forces. They exactly gave that to me.” Texas edged out New Jersey because its Special Forces unit, C Company, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, allowed Kennedy to stay in his 18B military occupational specialty, he said.
Kennedy is not the only soldier heavily involved in combatives, or MMA, but by all accounts, he is among the best and toughest MMA fighters in the Army.
Soldiers who train in MMA have sometimes struggled for acceptance in certain parts of the Army because the sport is perceived as brutal, almost-no-holds-barred fighting. However, MMA has in recent years moved into the main*stream, largely because of the popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading MMA organization.
The Texas Guard “aggressively” recruits Special Forces-qualified soldiers, said O’Connell, who him*self wears a Green Beret.
“For us to get a guy who’s already Special Forces qualified, whether it’s a Tim Kennedy guy or somebody else, that’s a huge win for us,” he said. “Each one of those guys is tremendously valuable because of the training and experience they have.” O’Connell, who also is commander of 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, the Guard’s only airborne infantry battalion, said he read about Kennedy’s decision to leave the Army and asked soldiers in the Texas-based Special Forces unit to reach out to Kennedy.
“Before I ever talked to him, our full-time Special Forces [noncommissioned officers] already figured out who he was, they figured out which unit he was assigned to and they knew his reputation,” O’Connell said about Kennedy. “So before I ever talked to him, I knew that he had the reputation and the background of being an outstanding soldier … and I knew he was just the kind of guy we’d want to have in the Texas Guard.” In his new capacity, Kennedy said he will be a spokesman for the Texas Guard and his new unit, help with recruiting, and work with some of the state’s units to develop combat marksmanship and combatives courses.
“The things I’m going to be doing when I’m not training [for a MMA fight] is shooting and showing other people how to shoot, and fighting and showing other people how to fight,” Kennedy said. “What better job is there?” On Sept. 25, Kennedy will fight Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in the second of three contracted fights with Strikeforce. In the first fight, on June 19, Kennedy beat Nick “The Goat” Thompson. It was Kennedy’s first professional MMA fight in 18 months.
After the September fight, Kennedy will move to Texas, where he will be based in Austin but live in the Dallas area.
“I’m sure you can imagine how stoked I am,” Kennedy said. “Two dang years I’ve been trying to do this and a lieutenant colonel picks up the phone and says, ‘Let’s make this happen,’ and it happens. I’m just so excited that this is going to work out and I get to stay in Special Forces, which is a dream come true.”
Army times Print edition
Kennedy, a Special Forces soldier who has turned down invitations to fight in top MMA circuits in order to deploy, tried for two years to secure permission from his commanders to stay in uniform and fight professionally.
Each time, the answer was no.
So he decided to pursue MMA, going on terminal leave July 10.
But on July 30, he received a call from a warrant officer who was calling on behalf of Lt. Col. Douglas O’Connell, the G-3 for the Texas Army National Guard.
The officer wanted to know what he could do to get Kennedy to Texas.
Officials from the New Jersey Guard also called.
On Aug. 4, the same day his active Army enlistment was to end, Kennedy signed papers to become a member of the Texas Guard and 19th Special Forces Group, which has a company in Texas.
“I’m excited to be a part of the Texas Army National Guard,” said Kennedy, who spent his active Army career with 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C. “My whole objective was to fight and stay, serving in Special Forces. They exactly gave that to me.” Texas edged out New Jersey because its Special Forces unit, C Company, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, allowed Kennedy to stay in his 18B military occupational specialty, he said.
Kennedy is not the only soldier heavily involved in combatives, or MMA, but by all accounts, he is among the best and toughest MMA fighters in the Army.
Soldiers who train in MMA have sometimes struggled for acceptance in certain parts of the Army because the sport is perceived as brutal, almost-no-holds-barred fighting. However, MMA has in recent years moved into the main*stream, largely because of the popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s leading MMA organization.
The Texas Guard “aggressively” recruits Special Forces-qualified soldiers, said O’Connell, who him*self wears a Green Beret.
“For us to get a guy who’s already Special Forces qualified, whether it’s a Tim Kennedy guy or somebody else, that’s a huge win for us,” he said. “Each one of those guys is tremendously valuable because of the training and experience they have.” O’Connell, who also is commander of 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, the Guard’s only airborne infantry battalion, said he read about Kennedy’s decision to leave the Army and asked soldiers in the Texas-based Special Forces unit to reach out to Kennedy.
“Before I ever talked to him, our full-time Special Forces [noncommissioned officers] already figured out who he was, they figured out which unit he was assigned to and they knew his reputation,” O’Connell said about Kennedy. “So before I ever talked to him, I knew that he had the reputation and the background of being an outstanding soldier … and I knew he was just the kind of guy we’d want to have in the Texas Guard.” In his new capacity, Kennedy said he will be a spokesman for the Texas Guard and his new unit, help with recruiting, and work with some of the state’s units to develop combat marksmanship and combatives courses.
“The things I’m going to be doing when I’m not training [for a MMA fight] is shooting and showing other people how to shoot, and fighting and showing other people how to fight,” Kennedy said. “What better job is there?” On Sept. 25, Kennedy will fight Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in the second of three contracted fights with Strikeforce. In the first fight, on June 19, Kennedy beat Nick “The Goat” Thompson. It was Kennedy’s first professional MMA fight in 18 months.
After the September fight, Kennedy will move to Texas, where he will be based in Austin but live in the Dallas area.
“I’m sure you can imagine how stoked I am,” Kennedy said. “Two dang years I’ve been trying to do this and a lieutenant colonel picks up the phone and says, ‘Let’s make this happen,’ and it happens. I’m just so excited that this is going to work out and I get to stay in Special Forces, which is a dream come true.”
Army times Print edition