Combatives

This last week, I was a participant in the Army Combatives Level 1 Course that is required for us Cadre. I delayed entry so that my back and neck could heal from the motorcycle accident that I was in a while back.
Most of the week was focused on learning the moves and then practicing them on fellow Cadre. To certify though, we all had to go through the "Punch Drill".
Rules:
1. They punched me in the face and body as hard as they could while I tried to close the gap and achieve the clinch (head buried in the chest with the arms around the body and hands in an opposing thumbless grip).
2. The instructors wore boxing gloves while we got to wear mouthguards. Fair enough.
3. I had to do it four times to certify.
4. I was not allowed to fight back at all. If I fell down, they could keep punching me while on the ground until I got up.

My first time through the drill, I was hit so hard on the side of my face that pain shot from my neck down to my shoulderblade. I took quite a few more punches everywhere else so that I could even out the pain. Instructors rotated punching so that they would be freshly rested before each round. By the time I got to round three, I was losing the battle to a bad headache and could barely face left or right without grimacing. This time I attempted a different approach; rush in and take one or two punches to achieve the clinch sooner instead of trying any kind of strategy. That didn't work at all. I was punched in the face so hard that both feet left the ground and I landed on my back. Everyone was silent. I could see him coming at me to feed me my teeth, I wasn't hungry. I staggered my way back onto my feet. The ref tried to pull me to the side but I refused and insisted that I continue. Everyone then began to cheer me on as I went in for some more. Punch after punch after punch. I was determined. I closed the gap and grabbed him while taking a couple more jabs to the ribs. CLINCH ! I left the mat to a well entertained crowd. High fives. One more round to go. My last bout was against a very tall guy who outweighed me by at least seventy or eighty pounds. That guy could punch.
Tales of my triumph spread amongst fellow Cadre. Now everyone knows that I took the hardest punch, got up for some more, and went on to victory. I am still sore everywhere, but at least I know that the next time I run into someone in a dark alleyway who is wearing boxing gloves and for some reason I only have a mouthguard, I can achieve the clinch.