Robert Bentley ATA taught H2H combat while in the US Army.......at age 17

[hungryjoe]

Now he might have taught his friends on base and used that as saying he was a H-H instructor. That by no means makes him an official "instructor" for the army.

That he taught a couple of friends sounds more like it.

Having been stationed at the Infantry Training School, Camp Pendleton, CA (USMC) for a couple of years, you didn't see kiddie instructors for any MOS. Even if he was Chesty Puller's first born. Army's no different.

Point is that I would never have pursued this if not for being told that he went to Israel, where he learned KM.

Either he, or my former coworker were BSing. I was his former student's supervisor, so didn't bring the topic up again.

does he say anything else about his military record? Where was his station? His MOS? Anything?

No.

A past look at the ATA tournament records for his bio times show him in the US with a club in Missouri if I remember correctly.

Sounds like he was maybe reserves or took leave for the ATA events.

[Matt Stone]

I can't help but think that, with the exception of Phrost, most of the posters in this thread are either not affiliated with the U.S. Army, or are incredibly junior in grade...

There are no "hand to hand combat instructors" in the Army. Period. The Modern Army Combatives Program has certified Combatives instructors, from level 1 through level 4, both centralized as cadre at the Fort Benning schoolhouse, as well as scattered throughout the entire Army as and where units have invested the time into their Soldiers to get them trained (either via traveling courses or on-post/in-house instruction/certification programs).

Nobody, other than the cadre at the schoolhouse and very, very, very rare temporary postings on different installations (Fort Lewis being one of them), are ever full-time "hand to hand combat instructors."

Given the sheer volume of MOS specific material that Soldiers need to attend to in order to perform the specific duties for which they enlisted, and given the sheer volume of "battle drill" skills that need to be trained as opportunities and training schedules allow (in preparation of deployment, for example), there just isn't time to cut a large group of Soldiers free from their primary duty responsibilities so they can go play "kung fu mastah" on the Army's dime.

It's quite possible this youngster taught a TKD class on-post at the gym. Maybe he taught his buddies in his unit. In both cases he wouldn't be "wrong" by saying he taught hand to hand combat (if you consider TKD as "hand to hand combat") while in the Army. Technically, he did. He did not teach hand to hand combat FOR the Army, though, and that's a very important differentiation...

By this guy's evaluatory standards, I've been teaching hand to hand IN the Army for coming up on 20 years... I've even taught hand to hand FOR the Army for a number of years as well.

Simple questions for the guy - where did he teach (post and unit), what did he teach (TKD or "other"), how long did he teach it (once a week, more, one time or on a recurring basis?), and why was he approached to teach (recreation, specific training in preparation for deployment, etc.)?

If he refuses to answer, he's bullshitting someone...

[Cy Q. Faunce]

I can't help but think that, with the exception of Phrost, most of the posters in this thread are either not affiliated with the U.S. Army, or are incredibly junior in grade...

...

Nobody, other than the cadre at the schoolhouse and very, very, very rare temporary postings on different installations (Fort Lewis being one of them), are ever full-time "hand to hand combat instructors."

I doubt his story. Very few people teach hand-to-hand combat full-time in the Army, and unless he served multiple hitches, there's no way he did it for four years.

Gee, what you said sounds like what I said. Any particular reason you felt the need to phrase your post as a critique or rebuttal, rather than as a simple confirmation?

[lucistius]

As of this morning there is no one named "Robert Bentley" in the Active Army, Reserves or National Guard located in Arkansas. There is a PV2 in PA, a SSG in AL, a SSG in SC and a SPC in GA.

[hungryjoe]

I can't help but think that, with the exception of Phrost, most of the posters in this thread are either not affiliated with the U.S. Army, or are incredibly junior in grade...

Matt

You're mistaking sarcasm for ignorance.

Everyone here knows that NO wet behind the ears 17 year old tippy tappy ATA E-anything was teaching H2H in a professional capacity with the Army, USMC, Navy, AF, Coast Guard, Boy Scouts, Brownies, AARP, PETA, etc, etc, etc :-)

[omoplatypus]

i must disagree with you on one point. i would TOTALLY believe that a 17 year old ATA black belt taught to AARP.

however, as far as everything else goes. there used to be a TKD place in my old home town called "miller's tae kwon do and karate". he was the only TKD/karate place in the area and we had an airforce base 20 minutes down the high way. he took out print ads in the local paper using testimonials from a few air force officers and let people infer that he was teaching "t3h l33t d34dly" to the military.

i say this kid is doing the same thing.

[Cy Q. Faunce]

Records are in:

http://www.naming-schemes.org/~chard...y/na-13164.pdf

http://www.naming-schemes.org/~chard.../demotions.pdf

Summary:

• Bentley served in the U.S. Army Reserve (not regular Army) from February 17, 2002, to October 4, 2005, and appears to have taken place in Missouri and Kansas only, never Israel.
• His MOS was 92F10 (fuel jockey of some kind). His rank never went higher than Specialist (E-4), and his rank upon discharge was E-1, said demotion taking place on the day of his discharge.
• He has no decorations or special training on record, including training in how to teach subjects or in Army hand-to-hand combat.
• On June 30, 2005, Bentley was transferred from Missouri to Wichita, Kansas, care of TTHS. I'm guessing he was a holdee, given his subsequent demotion and discharge.
• His demotion was under regulation AR 140-158, paragraphs 7-12 (d-g). This regulation is not available online as far as I know.

Not only is this not the resume of an Army hand-to-hand combat instructor, it is altogether suspicious. I spoke by phone with Army Reserve Sergeant Major Jesse Diaz. He was very helpful in explaining this record.

Regulation AR 140-158, under which Bentley was demoted, is a now-outmoded regulation describing the procedures for promoting, demoting and transferring enlisted personnel in the Army Reserve. Diaz believes that the authority for Bentley's discharge was 131-157 (unsatisfactory performance) and that the character of the discharge was Other Than Honorable.

The demotion of three grades and the decision to discharge Bentley suggest that he had committed a serious offense and was not though to be salvageable as a soldier. Normally, they will try and work with someone who is not performing well, but in this case they did not. Diaz believes that Bentley was held for a Board of Inquiry between June 30 and October 5, and that he was charged with a serious crime.

In short, Mr. Bentley has a lot to answer for regarding his claims and his actual record.

[hungryjoe]

Looks like a courts martial.

Seems like more than the normal white out on the linked service record pages.

Thanks Chuck.

All that talk about respect from Bentley's emails is just more BS.

[Cy Q. Faunce]

What's this about emails and respect? I don't follow.

[GIGUY951]

I am a recruiter for the US Army in Ohio (SGT), not only is there no MOS (Military Occ Spec) that is h2h instructor, and to add to that, the army does not use a true mma form/style like the USMC does, we 100% use Ju Jitsu based off the Royce and his clan. Anyone that is level 2,3, or 4 combative certified is norm an active duty soldiers who has a real mos and teaches combatives to his unit or sister unit.