Kung fu teaches Grenadier Guards aggression

 Soldiers in one of the Army’s oldest regiments are being given kung fu lessons after their sergeant major decided they lacked aggression on exercise.

A martial arts expert was drafted in by the Grenadier Guards to hone their close quarter unarmed combat skills. WO1 Martin Howlin of 1st Bn Grenadier Guards, told the Army’s Soldier magazine: “This all came about after the commanding officer and I went to watch an exercise in Albania.

“We were chatting about an attack that we felt lacked aggression, and started discussing ways we could help the blokes improve on that and then channel it in the right way. So we looked at martial arts.”

A two-week trial with a civilian instructor was so successful that the lessons became a regular feature for the battalion, he said.