Unarmed Combat

From USAFA Folklore

Unarmed Combat (UC) was a physical education class that taught cadets just enough self-defense to be dangerous to themselves.

Much of the class focused on defending against attackers coming at you with either bare hands, knives or guns. One of the fundamental steps in many of the defense techniques was to distract your opponent, so yells of "DIS-tract!" occasionally could be heard jokingly among cadets in non-self-defense situations.

UC was the last of four "Combat" physical education classes, the first three being boxing, wrestling, and judo. Because cadets were routinely instructed in the use of wristlocks, eye-gouges and blows directed to the genital areas, the course was known as "Dirty Fighting 101".

The first lesson, day one, was if you are unarmed and the opponent is armed and the way out is clear, run faster.