Marine sets up MMA gym in Afghanistan combat zone
The official Marine Corps blog profiled 22-year old amateur fighter and Navy Corpsman Chris Mesnard. Mesnard runs his own personal…
The official Marine Corps blog profiled 22-year old amateur fighter and Navy Corpsman Chris Mesnard. Mesnard runs his own personal MMA training program in a small facility he calls the combat-zone gym.
Peering eerily through the scratched lenses of a menacing black and red mask, U.S. Navy Seaman Chris Mesnard’s wild eyes rake his corner of the makeshift combat-zone gym here.
The corpsman toils through a twisted concoction of conditioning exercises, forcing sweat to seep through his olive drab United States Marine Corps hoodie. With each set, his friendly disposition dissipates into an uncomfortable cycle of labored breathing, courtesy of the oxygen-restricting training mask enveloping his face.
Around him, gym mates stare at his strange get-up, but Mesnard doesn’t notice. His consciousness has since evaporated from the makeshift gym. Instead, he’s focused on the self-described cheesy image of a sparkling Ultimate Fighting Championship title belt.
On duty, Mesnard tends to sick and injured Marines at the battalion aid station, and helps a senior corpsman with administrative duties. In his down time, he trains to fight in mixed martial arts, breaking down his body to feed a four-year obsession with the sport.
After winning my first fight in 2007, I knew I couldn’t stop, Mesnard said, relishing memories of the 47-second victory. I loved MMA before that, but at that moment, I knew it was something in my heart.
I wake up thinking about it, and I fall asleep thinking about it, he continued. Training to fight isn’t only the best thing I can do in my down time here. It’s the only thing I want to do.
When he’s not taking care of 3/3 Marines and sailors, Mesnard shifts his focus to training. Inside the gym’s dusty Hesco walls, he channels his energy into conditioning circuits, weight lifting and boxing. Here, he surrounds himself with the tools of his second trade— boxing gloves, chains, a sledgehammer, a truck tire and a makeshift medicine ball filled with sand and sealed with duct tape.
All I need is a few pieces of equipment to use, and to break a sweat, he said. I want to improve, so I consciously decide to train with every free minute I’ve got.
Mesnard calls the gym his home for nearly two hours a day. The humble surroundings are a far cry from his stateside facilities, but experience has taught him to make a little go a long way.
During his deployment to Helmand province’s Nawa district last year, Mesnard served as the ‘doc’ for a squad of 12 Marines in 3/3’s Kilo Company. For seven months, they forged an unbreakable bond, braving insurgent attacks, improvised explosive devices and the Afghan heat on daily, five to six-hour security patrols.
Being a corpsman means a lot to me … it’s been a humbling experience, Mesnard said. We all moaned and complained, but no matter how much things sucked or how tired we were, I loved being miserable with my guys.
While operating in Nawa during July 2010, he lost a close friend from his platoon, Sgt. Joe Wrightsman. Mesnard also aided several other friends injured by IED attacks during the deployment.
“All I need is a few pieces of equipment to use, and to break a sweat,” Mesnard said.
The life lesson was hard to learn, but Mesnard has translated these experiences to better himself as a corpsman and a fighter.
In preparation for an MMA fight, I train to have muscle memory, he said. My adrenaline’s jacked and my emotions are raging, but just like in combat, I set back on my training.
This was a sacrifice between my military career and what I want to do in the future, but I made it because I love fighting so much, he said. I can’t replace the feeling I get when I compete.
Being out here restricts your diet, he said. I have a sweet tooth, especially for cake. Cake deprivation helps me stay in my routine. Though this deployment grind is one he enjoys and knows well, Mesnard is eager for the opportunity to train and fight full-time.
When his active duty service is scheduled to end in two years, Mesnard plans to advance his skills kickboxing in Thailand for three months, and then return to Nebraska to link up with old teammates and UFC fighters Jake Ellenberger and Houston Alexander.
For the time being, the corpsman has found satisfaction in conditioning exercises and a swaying black punching bag, hunkered in a dusty corner of a gym 7,100 miles from home.
I have a passion for fighting, and it’s a waste of my talent if I don’t keep training while I’m deployed, he said. This definitely isn’t the ideal place to train, but I’ve learned to make the best with what I have.
