Retired Gunnery Sgt. Bruce Montoya considers self-defense classes a wise investment in one's personal safety.
Name
Bruce Montoya
Position
Personal protection instructor, Campus Recreation
Number of years at the UA
9
Favorite part about working at the UA
"Being outside when I walk place to place. And teaching young people."
_____________________________________________________________________
Bruce Montoya's self-defense classes, offered to University of Arizona students and employees at the Student Recreation Center, can get a bit intense. It's not unusual, for example, for a student to be held at knifepoint with a rubber weapon or be tied up in a mock hostage situation as part of the reality-based personal protection training.
Keeping it real is the key to preparing students to defend themselves, says Montoya, a retired U.S. Marine gunnery sergeant also known as "The Gunny."
Montoya, with the help of his wife, Summer, teaches self-defense and salsa dance classes through Campus Recreation. He also provides instruction at other locations throughout town through his own business, Combat Fit Tucson.
Lo Que Pasa talked with Montoya about the importance of knowing self-defense and how his years in the military influence his teaching.
What classes do you teach on campus?
I first started out teaching salsa/Latin dance ... but primarily my focus is self-defense. I teach Israeli self-defense, which is called Krav Maga – in Hebrew it means contact combat. I also teach what's called CQC, close quarter combatives, and that's based on the Marine Corps program because I just recently retired from the Marines myself. In the Marines they train us in particular techniques that we need to use out there, so I kind of modified it to teach civilians here. The Krav Maga is actually an Israeli military art as well, and that was also modified for civilians.
What made you interested in teaching self-defense?
Bruce Lee. When I was a kid I was growing up around my cousin. He was older than me and he was really into Bruce Lee back in the '70s. Then I got beat up. I was like 7 or 8 in New York and my brother and I were sitting waiting for a bus and these two older kids jumped us. I didn't know any self-defense. I was a little kid, and they jumped us and I was crying, my brother was crying. We ran back to the house, we missed the bus, and it was a big deal. My cousin came and was like, "You should check out Bruce Lee." I had no idea who that was, so after that day my cousin showed us some things, some techniques, and from that point on that's why I really got interested in teaching children self-defense for bullying and stuff like that.
How long were you in the Marines?
Twenty-five years. I joined in ‘83 and I did some active duty time and reserve time as well. ... I primarily started working as an avionics technician, working on aircraft, and then I transitioned to combat engineer and from there to operations, where we control scenarios and training and ensuring our Marines are well-trained for combat, and that's when I got into what we called MCMAP, which is Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. MCMAP is realism, hand-to-hand combat, combative conditioning and I loved that a lot. And through that I was sent overseas to train foreign nationals to prepare them for their tour of duty wherever they had to go.
Why would you recommend someone take a self-defense class?
It's a great investment for personal safety. You have your IRA or CD or whatever. Invest in your safety; it's the best thing you can do. A lot of people live their lives as if "it's not going to happen to me," but it can happen to anybody.
Your official title is personal protection instructor. Why is that term used?
We tend to call it personal protection and not self-defense because self-defense, the term in itself, means more reactionary. Personal protection is more proactive. ... (I) condition them (my students) to think, "You're not a victim. If you get attacked, you're still not a victim. You're protecting yourself."
What do you hope your students take away from your classes?
A sense of awareness and confidence and empowerment. Not paranoia but being prepared. ... We train for survival, not for a title.
How did you get into salsa dancing?
During the (Persian) Gulf War, I was serving with a ... kid and when we came back from this operation he put salsa music on, and when I heard that music I was like, "That is really cool. Can you show me some steps?" ... That was in (Washington,) D.C. Then I came back here and started going to college (at the UA) and I met this kid at El Parador, a salsa club. ... Over time we started a club on campus – myself, (another student) and him. We started the group Ritmos Latinos. That was back in ‘95 or ‘96, and we would teach on campus on the Mall. We had like three students. Over time a lot more students got involved and now that group is like 200 members.
What's the most satisfying part of your job?
Seeing people go from quiet and shy to more confident. Just seeing that development is amazing.
Do you know someone who has an interesting job at the UA? Send his or her name and contact information to lqp@email.arizona.edu for consideration for a future Employee Q&A.