U.S. Air Force Servicewoman Lacks Guts

by T. Trolley

During these trying times, America continues to celebrate the courage of its service men and women stationed both here and abroad as they put their lives on the line to protect freedom.

However, whenever I see a woman from the Air Force wearing that famous blue uniform and hat, I recall a time when a servicewoman I knew folded up in the middle of a hand-to-hand combat fight with another woman and gave up with tears in her eyes, erasing that myth of bravery and courage in the midst of extreme adversity.

Anne was 35 years old, had beautiful brown eyes and brown hair, and looked like a 140 lb., 5-6 Julia Roberts. She was an Air Force servicewoman who had been stationed at Lackland AFB in Texas and was visiting me in Wyoming at a local Grange Hall in the late 80s.

Janet, an Hispanic co-worker of mine who looked a little like Rachel McLish in the face, was also there at the hall along with several other ladies who were simply conversing amongst themselves. Janet was 30 years old, 5-3 and weighed about 128 lbs. She was a part-time model with short black hair and brown eyes and was in great shape, having played racquetball quite a bit.

I introduced the two women and Anne began to talk about her life in the Air Force. She said she had gone through some self defense courses, was in pretty good shape and was now a lot stronger physically than when she first went into the Air Force. Janet -- perhaps showing off for me or doubting the truth of Anne's statements, I'm not sure -- countered that she was pretty strong too and didn't think Anne was any stronger than her, "Air Force or not."

This was obviously a challenge to Anne, and Anne accepted by asking Janet to "wrestle around a little!"

Anne was in a white, short-sleeved blouse and a short black dress, wearing flesh-toned nylons, while Janet was in a black t-shirt and black shorts.

The two women started wrestling around on the floor and it was evident right off that Janet was the better woman -- to my surprise, seeing that Anne was the bigger gal and had self defense training. Though Janet never actually pinned Anne initially, she had Anne on her back or stomach during this little jousting and Anne's only moves were defensive.

I finally stepped in and said, "Why don't you two just throw out the preliminaries and wrestle for real, woman to woman?" The two immediately agreed!

Both women got to their feet to start the match and immediately Janet tackled Anne around the legs! Anne fell to her back and Janet stood up with both of Anne's legs in her arms and began to slowly fold Anne in half, trying for a jacknife pin!

Anne tried repeatedly and desperately to keep one shoulder and then the other off the carpet as I counted the attempted pins, but then Janet grabbed her by the ankles and doubled her over more and more! Finally, Janet had Anne in a great matchbox pin! Anne's shoulders had been pinned in seconds as her chin was neatly tucked into her upper body, thanks to Janet's overwhelming power over her!

Previously, we had all agreed to amateur rules where a woman only needed one second to record a pin rather than the pro wrestling requirement of three. So, as soon as I saw Anne's shoulders pin, I eagerly hit the floor with the palm of my right hand and yelled, "Pin!" as I made sure Anne's shoulders remained on the floor!

Janet released the matchbox pin on Anne, whose face was a little red. Anne sat their for a moment or two as I looked at her in surprise, astonished that Janet had beaten the older and larger woman with a clean matchbox pin in a relatively short amount of time!

But the second fall was even quicker! Again, Janet tackled Anne quickly and the two women fell near a sofa. Just as I got on the sofa to peer over it to catch all the action, Janet got Anne in such a quick, strong cradle that Anne's left leg was forced straight up into the air as Janet wrapped her left arm under Anne's neck while forcefully driving Anne's leg up so quickly with her right arm that Anne's left leg was perpendicular to the floor and pointing straight to the ceiling as Janet leaned Anne back to the floor -- and got the pin as I hit my palm next to Anne's shoulder again!

In the final fall, Janet took Anne down with another dive. This time, she took Anne down by the left ankle from the same leg she had cradled earlier. Then, as Anne's left foot rested on the carpet, Janet grabbed it with both hands and twisted it to the outside in a kind of inverted version of Kurt Angle's Ankle Lock finisher while lifting the foot off the carpet!

Since Janet was sitting on Anne's other leg at the time, Anne was unable to kick free or use any kind of a bridge! Anne's nyloned left leg and ankle began to noticeably tremble as Janet was putting real pressure on it, threatening to strain or even break it with her strong arms! Anne's foot could not resist Janet's arm power since it no longer had the ground to use as an anchor! Thus, Janet had Anne trapped in a submission hold!

I decided to see if Anne wanted to submit to Janet's inverted Ankle Lock. I walked around in back of Anne's head. Anne, on her back, was trying to sit up as she was looking down at her trembling left leg and foot with a look of pain and fear in her eyes! She then looked at me with tears in her eyes and a look of desperation!

Not thinking that Anne would give up, I casually asked, "Anne, do you give up?" To my surprise, Anne immediately answered, "Yes! I give up!"

I couldn't believe my ears! Had Anne given up to a simple ankle lock put on her by a woman five years younger than her and smaller than her as well? I looked at Anne and said, "Huh?" I just couldn't believe that Anne would submit to another woman in a fair fight! Anne repeated, a bit louder so others in the room could hear, and with a sound of fear and desperation in her voice, "I give up!"

Janet released Anne's foot, satisfied she had prove she was the better woman over Anne. Though Janet's convincing victory was really no surprise, the fact that she got Anne to quit and reduced the former Air Force servicewoman to tears so quickly with that Ankle Lock was a shocker.

Anne continued to lay on her back, trying to recover from her loss when an older blonde woman walked over to her, looked down at her and asked, "Are you all right? Sorry to sound so snoopy, but the only reason I asked is because it looked like that girl beat you up pretty good."

Anne got up and looked at me with tears glistening in her eyes. She had just been convincingly defeated by Janet and was reduced to tears in the process. And the final submission move, from the time it was applied on Anne's foot to the time Anne submitted to the smaller but stronger Janet, didn't take any longer than five seconds -- two seconds for the pain to set in and antoher two for Anne to admit Janet had her and that she couldn't resist the pain.

I was amazed -- and still am as I look back on the fight -- that Anne submitted so quickly to Janet. It showed me that Anne, despite her Air Force experience, didn't have much inner strength and pride. I certainly thought the Air Force would have instilled at least some semblance of dignity in her that she wouldn't have given up so quickly. That's why I asked her again if she wanted to submit -- just to make sure.

I have reviewed the fight in my mind over and over for the last 13 years and arrived at the following conclusion, which is fairly obvious: The key to that submision hold had to be Janet lifting Anne's foot off the carpet. Janet took all of Anne's ability to dig her foot into the carpet on the floor and resist the hold, which was evident in the immediate trembling of Anne's pretty leg as soon as it left the ground. With that move, there was nothing to keep Janet from either straining Anne's ankle or even breaking it. The result: A tremendous amount of pain quickly, forcing Anne's quick submission.