Matthew Kyler stuck to his forte.

Kyler, who won all of his matches via unanimous decision July 23 at the 2011 All-Army Combatives Tournament at Fort Hood, Texas, became the sole individual champion from the Maneuver Center of Excellence. The second lieutenant with 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, said striking and forcing submissions may not be his best attributes, but as far as wrestling goes, none compared in the middleweight class.

“I understand the position aspect very well,” Kyler said. “I’m not great at submissions yet, but I’m very good at controlling people on the ground. My takedowns were probably far superior than anyone in the tournament. Once I establish dominant position, I’m pretty hard to be swept.

“I went in there wanting to win. I knew I would be tough to beat in the grappling. I knew in the finals, if I could take my guy down, I had a good shot at winning. I’m not used to striking, but I’m not afraid to get hit. It wasn’t going to stop me.”

This year marked the second time Kyler competed in the All-Army tournament. Last year, he lost in the semifinals.

Fighting in the cage for the championship was a new experience for Kyler, but the 23-year-old dominated the majority of the 15-minute match, which consisted of three five-minute rounds.

“He fought his kind of fight every fight,” MCoE combatives coach Townley Hedrick said. “He did not try to go with the game plan of the guy he was facing.”

Hedrick said Kyler gave him a scare in the last 20 seconds of the title bout when Daniel Cook, a sergeant with U.S. Army Alaska, backed Kyler into a corner with a flurry of strikes. Time expired before Cook was able to go for a knockout. In an interview after the match, Kyler said he thought he had worn Cook down and made a mistake by letting up.

Born in Clearfield, Pa., the wrestling atmosphere surrounded Kyler as he grew up and began competing in his first matches at the age of 5.

“I’ve been wrestling almost since I could walk,” he said. “My dad got me into it. He’s a big wrestling fan. I was lucky I grew up where I did to have so many resources. I was lucky my dad took me around as much as he did.” From December through June, Kyler was on special duty coaching wrestling at West Point Prep School and came back to Fort Benning to complete his training as a lieutenant.

Kyler was an All-American wrestler at the U.S. Military Academy, where he won two conference championships and became a four-time NCAA national qualifier.

Despite the fatigue produced by three days of fighting, Kyler said he credits the amount of training he did before the tournament, which allowed him to endure the long matches — something he said he didn’t do last year.
 “I had two weeks where all I did was train,” he said. “I really didn’t get to train at all last year; I just went and did it.”

With an impressive resume as a college wrestler and now an All-Army combatives champion, Kyler said he thought of pursuing wrestling with the World Class Athlete Program. However, he said, his priority is to be a Soldier and defend his country.

“I just want to be the average Infantry platoon leader,” Kyler said. “When I look back at (college), I was really proud to be wrestling team captain. As I took care of 11 kids just out of high school as a coach, I enjoyed taking care of them and watching them grow. I got a lot of fulfillment out of that — it made me want to be a platoon leader.” Kyler said he starts Ranger School in mid-August.

Overall, the MCoE combatives team, which consisted of 13 Soldiers, finished in sixth place at the tournament. Nathan Gelinas finished fourth in the 140-pound weight class while Patrick Miller finished fourth in the 205-pound weight class.

“It felt good to represent Fort Benning,” Kyler said. “We had a small team, but we competed well.”