# Hello from South Carolina



## Gung Fu Man (Nov 14, 2014)

I had just about given up on martial arts forums. They all seem to be filled with badmouthing and arguments. I found this one and I and liked what I saw. I look forward to sharing and learning from you all( or as we say, ya'll ).

I am57 yrs old and have been training in martial arts since 1971. My first style was Shotokan. I played around with a lot of different styles until 1981 when I met LiKa Kung Fu instructor Ed Echeverria in Charlotte, N.C. Itrained with him for about 3 yrs, then joined the Army and was stationed in Hawaii for 3 years. While in Hawaii I was exposed to various styles. Most of my training during this time was with a Kempo friend of mine from Guam. While in Hawaii I was deployed to Japan (twice), Korea, and the Philippines.. Upon returning to the Mainland, I resumed training with Ed Echeverria and attained the rank of Black Sash in 1990. Sifu Ed's first schoolin Charlotte was called The Kung Fu Society . After opening this school he met JKD instructor Larry Hartsell. Larry began teaching at Ed's school and for several years this was the only place on the east coast where JKD was taught. By the time I started training with Ed, Hartsell was teaching at his own school, but Ed Taught me the JKD that he had learned from him.

One of my Kung Fu classmates moved to California about the same time I moved to Hawaii. While there, he trained under one of Dan Inosanto's top students, Cass Magda for about five years. Upon returning to Charlotte he started teaching the Magda curriculum, which consists of JKD, Kali, Muay Thai, and Silat. I havetrained with him ever since. I have had the opportunity to train with many 1st and 2nd generation JKD teachers, These including Ted Wong, Jesse Glover, Jerry Poteet and others.  JKD , Kali, and Wing Chun are my main martial interests now. I still train traditional Gung Fu, mainly for the health benefits. Well I guess that's enough. Glad to be here.


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## Dirty Dog (Nov 15, 2014)

Welcome to MartialTalk. Enjoy the ride.


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## K-man (Nov 15, 2014)

Welcome to MT. I'll look forward to learning from your experiences.
:asian:


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## seasoned (Nov 15, 2014)

Welcome aboard and thanks for giving us a try by joining MT. See you around the site.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Nov 15, 2014)

Welcome to MartialTalk!!!


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## Brian King (Nov 15, 2014)

Welcome to Martial Talk. Hawaii huh, tough duty...but great for martial arts exploration or at least that is what I have heard. Look forward to reading your posts. 


Regards
Brian King


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## Tames D (Nov 16, 2014)

Welcome to Martialtalk. I look forward to hearing about your JKD traning.


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## Gung Fu Man (Nov 16, 2014)

Brian King said:


> Welcome to Martial Talk. Hawaii huh, tough duty...but great for martial arts exploration or at least that is what I have heard. Look forward to reading your posts.
> 
> 
> Regards
> Brian King



Running 3 to 5 miles a day, plus road marches, training in the boonies for 7 days at a time, jungle warfare training in the jungles of the Philippines, winter warfare training in Hokkaido Japan (18 below 0, with 3 feet of snow ), training in Korea just miles from the DMZ, being on alert status 90% of the time , seemingly endless P.T. sessions, and getting dropped for push-ups for the smallest of mistakes. I guess you could call that tough, But not as tough as those who came after me and had to go to Afghanistan. THe 25th Infantry Division is one of the toughest Infantry units in the world. It just happens to be located in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Off duty, yes , it was very nice.


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## Takai (Nov 16, 2014)

Welcome to MT.


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## Brian King (Nov 16, 2014)

> "Running 3 to 5 miles a day, plus road marches, training in the boonies for 7 days at a time, jungle warfare training in the jungles of the Philippines, winter warfare training in Hokkaido Japan (18 below 0, with 3 feet of snow ), training in Korea just miles from the DMZ, being on alert status 90% of the time , seemingly endless P.T. sessions, and getting dropped for push-ups for the smallest of mistakes."




NOOOO - do not ruin my idea of duty in Hawaii- it is told that it is the promised land- sunshine year round with beautiful willing maidens just waiting on the beach LOL.

The 25th ID is a great unit One of many. Thank you for your service. Again welcome to MT.


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## sfs982000 (Nov 17, 2014)

Welcome to the forums!


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## donald1 (Nov 17, 2014)

Welcome aboard,  nice to meet you.


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