SAFE Is a Program That Will Increase Your Awareness, Help You Avoid Dangerous Situations

SAFE Is a Program That Will Increase Your Awareness, Help You Avoid Dangerous Situations

UGA teacher works to help others protect selves
By Kimberly E. Mock

Elissa Eubanks/Staff

Master Sgt. Randy McElwee instructs Caroline Hendry, bottom, and Cynthia Hendry during a self defense course.

He holds first-degree black belts in both Shotokan karate and Goshin Ryu jujitsu, but Master Sgt. Randy McElwee is using his martial arts skills beyond his duties with the United States Army - he's using his training to help University of Georgia students fight back against assault.

A native of West Virginia, McElwee spent 18 years in the U.S. Army's Special Operations Forces, a job that has taken him to Kuwait, Somalia and most recently, Afghanistan. In late 2002, just months after returning from Afghanistan, McElwee took a instructor's position in the UGA Military Science Department.

He also began offering courses as a means of helping cadets and other students learn to defend themselves against random violence and sexual assault. As McElwee said, he began offering the self-defense courses after witnessing students practicing poor judgment in personal safety.

''You come in really early here to start fitness training. Driving in at 5 o'clock in the morning, I see a lot of women breaking the key principles (of avoiding an attack),'' McElwee said. ''I got to thinking about it, and I said, 'You know, it really looks like there is an area here that really needs to be addressed that isn't.''

McElwee said some of his students also showed an interest in the classes, and after speaking with fellow instructors, he began offering classes in self defense skills and personal confidence to cadets.

Within a few months, the optional courses spread to include other students, with McElwee teaching classes to dormitories and sororities as well as those simply interested in learning how to be prepared in the event of an attack.

Many of the moves taught to students are those taught to cadets, McElwee said.

''A lot of the techniques are the same, and they use the same basic principles,'' McElwee said. ''It's the packaging. When you package it for the military and for Special Operations, it looks a lot more extreme. When you package it so you can defend yourself and protect yourself from an assault, then it's a totally different aspect. And that's what I try to do - teach people how to protect themselves.''

McElwee's Security Awareness Fundamental Elements and Techniques (SAFE-T) course, often is offered to students living in UGA's dormitories and helps students build awareness and learn to escape from attackers.

His Sexual Assault Fundamental Escapes (SAFE) teaches female students to avoid dangerous situations, as well as escape from standing or ground attacks.

Most students hear about the elective courses through word-of-mouth, but McElwee's classes are no cake walk.

The self-defense classes are physical courses that average two hours in length and incorporate Gracie Brazilian jujitsu techniques, a fighting form designed for grappling.

''It's effective whether you're a soldier or a citizen,'' McElwee said of the martial art form. ''It really works for both.''

McElwee said he likes to give students a minimum of 12 hours of training, but some courses can stretch up to 40 hours in length.

''We try to keep it fun. If it's not fun, you're probably not learning as much as you could from it,'' McElwee said of the classes. ''Even though it's serious stuff, we want you to have a good time learning it.''

As McElwee said, the classes are a means of helping students and cadets avoid dangerous situations, or at least defend themselves in the event of an attack on campus or elsewhere.

It's a personal mission of sorts for McElwee who, despite a busy schedule, continues to offer the courses in his spare time, often for nothing more than a refundable deposit.

''I think they're so important, that anytime I get enough interest and I have the time, I feel obligated to try to work a class in and do it,'' McElwee said.