Grandmaster Robert Price,

8th Dan.

(MDK Dan Bon #13249, 1968)

 

My involvement inmartial arts for the past 54 years, beginning with my study of Tang Soo Do in February 1968.

I was stationed at OSAN AFB KOREA during the Pueblo Incident which brought

thousands of Gl's like me to Korea in February 1968.

I remained in Korea at Osan until I

was reassigned to Duluth AFB MN in November 1970.

While studying Tang Soo Do under Master Chun Sik Kim from 1968 to 1970 I was

promoted to a 2nd degree Black Belt in 1970 by Great Grand Master Kwang Kee.

 

Just before I left for Duluth AFB in Minnesota. In Duluth I open my first Tang Soo Do school

in the YMCA and YWCA. There I received a letter of appreciation from the Duluth city

council and other citizens for my self-defense classes taught to the citizens of Duluth

making the city safer as a result. The letter was presented to me by the Base

Commander of Duluth AFB when I received orders back to South East Asia and Thailand

in 1971.

 I was requested stop Korea on the way to Thailand. In Korea I was

commissioned by Great Grand Master Kwang Kee to teach Tang Soo Do and bring

Master Kang Uk Lee from the Seoul Do Jang to Thailand.

Upon my arrival to Thailand I found out that the only martial art allowed to be taught on

base was Tae Kwon Do and downtown only Mui Thai Kickboxing was allowed. I was not

allowed to teach Tang Soo Do either on or off base according to base officials and Thai

government. Thailand was under martial law and the government was a military

government under its King.

I could not honor my commission to the Great Grand Master, so to keep my skills up I

joined the base Tae Kwon Do class and in 3 months was promoted to Brown Belt. I had

also found and joined a Mui Thai kicking boxing studio downtown and became close to

the Instructor Precha Mahachavong who was impressed with my Tang Soo Do skills,

basic knowledge of the structure and methods of promotion of a martial art such as

Tang Soo Do. He convinced me to help him develop a combat martial art style that he

would call the "Lotus". He believed his style of combat and self-defense could be

taught to the Thai Border Guard between the jungles of Cambodia and Laos during the

Viet Nam War. Such would be would be his gift to his country, but he would only do it

with my help. He believed the Thai Government officials would accept it as such once

they officially witnessed it demonstrated.

 

The style of fighting developed in the Thai Lotus Self-Defense included Mui Thai

Kickboxing as it foundation with kicking and blocking techniques from Tang Soo Do and

other martial arts the Grand Master had studied such as Kempo Karate, Judo rolling

falling and throwing and Jujitsu control holds and pain compliance were truly suited for

combat and warfare in the jungle borders surrounding Thailand. Its training

requirements and applications were brutal as much as the Thai people themselves.

 

Grand Master Precha's dream came true after an official demonstration to high ranking

government officials and confirmed by a Major General of Thailand's government at the

1st Black testing. I was one of the students being tested that day, and the only American.

"Air Force Now" news reporters and film crew filmed our testing with both high ranking

officials of the Air Force and the Base Commander, and the Thai government present. I

was on show for the Air Force and refused to give less than my all. I was 27 years old.

After the completion of the test and the 1000 pushups done at a hundred at a time, my

newly earned Black Belt was tied on by the Major General himself with approximately

500 people witnessing the last 5 hours of the 15 hour 3 day testing.

The Thai government officials of the Thai government had readily accepted the Lotus as

Thailand's only official martial art and renamed it "Thai Lotus Self Defense". They

made it the only martial art that could be taught off a military base and gave 

Grand Master Precha Mahachavong the rank of "Major" and put him officially in charge of all

the Martial Arts taught in Thailand on and off Base. (This did not go over very well with

the Tae Kwan Do instructors on base and all my Tae Kwon Do promotions were removed

and a letter sent to Master CS Kim requesting all my Tang Soo Do ranking also be

removed. CS Kim did not agree for that I am thankful. Master Kim did request my Lotus

sent to him, and said he burned it as I would always be only a

Black Belt certificate Tang Soo Do Instructor. The certificate was replaced

by Grand Master Precha with a smile and understanding.

The training in the Thai Lotus was brutal and the dropout rate for American students

was approximately 9 out of 10. Those who did not drop out as much and continued to

train in the extreme hot weather with its humid and wet climate and hours of sweat and

pain were dedicated "black" students in general, very few whites could deal with it. I

was glad I was one who could. Many started, few stayed with the Lotus for more that 6

months. The Black Belt was awarded to very few.

Even the Thai Border Guard Military Officers who were sent us by the Thai

Military to teach, found the training demanding to say the least, but were thankful up

the weeks and completion of their training that they could take Thai Lotus back to their

troops and the jungle. I understand that its successful application in actual combat was

an honor to its Grand Master and more military officers were sent for training after I left

in 1972 and until the fall of Viet Nam.

Not only did I help develop the Thai Lotus Self Defense Art, have the unique honor and

privilege to become the 1" American to be tested and promoted to the Black Belt. My

Dan number is 004. I was also became the first American to open a Lotus School

Stateside and promoted to 2nd. Dan.

Other American black belts would follow but I was the 1" and my 2 years of hard old

school training in Tang Soo Do under Master CS Kim played a very large part of being

able to do so. I will always be thankful for such hard and demanding training in Korea

that set me on the path of my accomplishments in other martial arts and Tang Soo Do

and Law Enforcement instruction.

I left Thailand in Feburary 1972 and was again resigned to the States, this time to

George AFB, Victorville, California and opened my second Do Jang on base and realigned

myself with Master CS Kim and the teaching of Tang Soo Do as well as the Thai Lotus

Self-Defense Art until 1975 at which time I started teaching Tang Soo Do full time.

Having lost contact with the Lotus Grandmaster at the fall of Viet Nam, the end of the

war and the time all Americans were being pulled out of Thailand. In 1975 CS Kim promoted me to 3 dan as I continued to promote and teach Tang Soo Do in the Victorville area of California for 13 years until I was promoted to 4th Dan

Master Black Belt in World Tang Soo Do Association by Grandmaster JC Shin. I was

promoted to 5th Dan under Grandmaster Shin in 1996 and 6th to 8th Dan iunder

Grandmaster D. Kahlid.

 

My skills developed in the Arts of Tang Soo Do and Lotus Self-defense provided an

avenue to train and become Level One Reserve in 1984 and a staff instructor in the San

Bernardino Sheriff's Training Academy in 1988. In 1992 I became a staff instructor in

the Adelanto Correctional Facility, a Watch Commander and Training Manager at the

West Valley Correctional Facility in 1997 and a training manager at the Corrections

Cooperation of American Corrections Facility at California City, CA in 1999. All the while

owning and operating an on-going Tang Soo Do Do Jang now for over 50 years of Tang

Soo Do in the Victor Valley and Mojave Desert areas of California.

My Tang Soo Do, Thai Lotus Self-Defense, and Law Enforcement training has allowed me

many ways and opportunities to reach out to the communities beyond my own Tang

Soo Do Karate studio, and my California State Certified Security Guard and Correctional

Officer Training Facility, with programs such as Women's Assault Prevention, Stranger

Danger For Children, Stop the Bullying in local schools, and Senior Citizens Work Out. I

am also or have been a staff instructor at the San Bernardino Valley Community College,

the Barstow CA Community College and the Victor Valley Community College in

Administrative Justice and the Extended Basic Law Enforcement Academy.

Attached is my history and dates of promotions in Tang Soo Do, and my current resume,

with a list of instructor credentials which include, but are not limited to the

follows: 8th Dan Tang Soo Do Certification and Instructorship, NRA and FBI,

and San Bernardino Sheriff Law Enforcement Firearms and Weaponless Defense Instructor Certification,

State of California Bureau of Security and Investigate, and Department of Justice

Firearms and Baton Instructor Certifications, AICC Peace Officers Standards of California

Training Certification, Train the Trainer certification for Correctional Peace Officers

within the California Corrections system and the Federal Board of Prisons Academy

training required to work as a Corrections Officer in the State of California. 

 

 

1968.  1st Dan TSD

 

1970.   2nd Dan TSD

 

1972.   1st Dan in Lotas 

 

1975.   3rd Dan TSD

 

1988.   4th Dan TSD

 

1996.   5th Dan TSD

 

2004.   6th Dan TSD

 

2012.   7th Dan TSD

 

2017.   8th  Dan TSD