LEGENDS OF KUNG-FU #34 Military Kung-Fu These days, it's hot to talk about what new eclectic mix of martial arts is being employed by the military in their training methods. These new training methods are great, for sure, but they don't take away from the combat relevance of solid, old-fashioned kung-fu taught by a well-trained instructor. Buck Sam Kong is one such instructor. Trained as a youth by the famed Lam Jo in the Hung gar style of Kung-fu and skilled in the Hung sing Choy Lay Fut system as well, Kong came to the US and became one of the very first to teach Chinese traditional martial arts openly, regardless of race, creed, or color. Kong is, in many ways, the ideal of a Chinese-American, having kept a strong foothold in his native culture yet developed an open-minded and warm-hearted approach towards his fellow Americans. His famous decree read, "We will teach all races: brown, black, yellow, red, white, and blue." Prior to the Vietnam War and shortly after turning 21, Kong began his 13 month stint of service in the US Army. The smaller Chinese was minding his own business when another GI picked a fight with him after a few too many drinks. Kong's foe pulled out a straight razor and slashed at him during the fight. Kong remarked, "He swung, and I looked down at my arm, and there was a little bit of blood. At first I thought it was his, but seeing that he'd pulled out a weapon to harm me, I had to end it quick." And end it quick he did. Kong finished the encounter with a two-finger jab to the throat that collapsed his attacker's larynx, sending him straight to the hospital, unable to breathe. When the examining medic questioned him as to what happened, Kong truthfully relayed the situation, only to meet with disbelief. The medic, unable to believe that someone could generate so much force with only his fingertips, accused Kong of jabbing his opponent in the throat with a board or bat. To prove his claim, Kong lightly finger jabbed the medic, which led to his assignment as a hand-to-hand instructor for the entire 8th Army. "A lot of hand-to-hand instructors are responsible for training only one platoon or one division," says Kong. "I taught the entire 8th Army." Based on his studies of traditional Hung gar kung-fu, he developed a hand-to-hand manual that included 12 basic combinations that were taught in his course. Those combinations taught soldiers how to respond to the most likely attacks - such as bayonet, knife, or empty hand assaults - with the most effective techniques. He also drew on the three staff forms of the Hung gar style to put together a bayonet course as well, comprised of 6 techniques. Simplicity, according to Kong, was the name of the game. While he did teach the soldiers how to defend against attacks and disarm an enemy, the basis of the course was to develop a killer or assassin in the shortest amount of time possible. "For jungle warfare in Vietnam, the bayonet or knife course basically taught our reconnaissance people how to neutralize an enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible, without attracting attention. If you shoot at someone, the muzzle flash attracts attention, but the blade work was useful for nighttime operations," recalls the former Army instructor. Soldiers who took Kong's course would receive only 40 hours of hand-to-hand training from him, so the emphasis was on constantly drilling simple techniques and combinations that could be mastered and recalled subconsciously in the heat of battle. When asked about the application of traditional kung-fu in modern hand-to-hand warfare, Kong replied, "Traditional kung-fu has always been and is still very practical for this purpose, but it's not like training in a normal commercial martial arts studio. The instructor and the students have to be clear that the goal is not to create an expert martial artist, but an efficient killing machine."
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