(Master at Arms Seaman Rhonda_McGee, left spars with amateur Patricia Cuevas at the 2011 Armed Forces Boxing Championships)

(OCT 31) For the first time in its 61-year history, the United States Air Force Academy has opened its freshman Boxing course to female cadets.

The change in policy was first reported by the Colorado Gazette, which pointed to a January decision by the Department of Defense (DOD) to “fully integrate” women into military combat roles as the Academy’s main impetus for the move.

At the time, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter explained the DOD’s combat integration by pledging that “they’ll be allowed to do everything else was previously open only to men.”

(First all-female C-130 Hercules crew to fly combat missions for the U.S. Air Force in 2005)

Since its founding in 1955, the Air Force Academy – located outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado – has required male cadets to enroll in Boxing during freshman year, before taking Combatives I and Combatives II courses. But until this year, women pursuing their freshman year course load were ineligible for the Boxing course, taking Introduction to Combatives instead and then rejoining the men for the remainder of the curriculum.

Speaking with reporter Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Gazette, Air Force Academy Superintendent Lieutenant General Michelle Johnson also used the combat integration announcement as the basis for bringing women cadets into the Boxing course. As Lt. Gen. Johnson told Briggeman, “it makes sense that the academy provides our female cadets the same boxing and combative training we provide male cadets.”

The U.S. Military Academy, in West Point, New York also added women’s boxing to the mandatory physical education curriculum this year.

In the America’s armed forces, the U.S. Naval Academy leads the way, having allowed women to compete in this sport since 1996.

This disparity has led to unusual circumstances occurring at the Armed Forces Boxing Championships (AFBC), one of four major boxing tournaments which send amateur champions on to the U.S. Olympic Trials – along with the National Golden Gloves Tournament, the U.S. Amateur Championships, and the Police Athletic League Tournament.

Back at the 2011 edition of the AFBC, Master at Arms Seaman Rhonda McGee of the Navy team was forced to fight amateur boxer Patricia Cuevas, who represented the Air Force team because it had no qualified women boxers to put forth.

Dave Durnil, who serves as Coordinator of Combatives for the Air Force Academy, told the Gazette that the new policy is designed to give women a comprehensive introduction to the sport. As Durnil put it, “we don’t want to make every cadet a boxer, but we want them all to box.”

(Basic Cadet Fanita Schmidt, right, being trained by U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Clinton Walls during an Air Force Academy Combatives course in 2008)

Boxing coach Blake Baldi is tasked with instructing the 10-hour boxing course, and to hear him tell it, the common bonds between between boxing and military service are intense preparation and a clear respect for the rules of engagement.

“You can train your neurotransmitters so they respond in a certain way and communicate more clearly,” Baldi said during an interview with the Gazette. “That’s really what we’re trying to do. The first time they get in there, everything can get a little messy; just very nervous and anxious and not thinking clearly. The more time they spend in there in those highly anxious moments, the more comfortable and confident they become in themselves.”

Athletic Director Jim Knowlton, responsible for directing the Academy’s education department, reported rave reviews from female cadets while speaking to the Gazette.

“Every woman we talked to said it's been incredible,” said Knowlton. “The course, what they’ve learned, the matches – they loved it. We want every single one of our graduates to have all of the tools and the warrior ethos to be successful in our Air Force. This is just one of those that is helping to create leaders.”

Freshman cadet Rory Robinson, who completed the Boxing course earlier this semester, concurred, telling Briggeman and the Gazette that her first time taking a punch – and punching back – proved to be a valuable lesson.

“It was definitely a new experience,” said Robinson. “In the beginning, I was pretty fearful that I would get hurt but I learned all the defense skills so I was able to protect myself, and that fear went away.”