Modern Fighter

Interested in the fighting sciences since childhood, Martina Sprague has studied a variety of martial arts for more than two decades. She holds black belts in Kenpo karate, competition kickboxing, and modern freestyle. She is trained by Tony Martinez, Sr. (Kenpo karate) and Keith Livingston (kickboxing and freestyle).

Martina was born and raised in Stockholm/Sweden. She is a citizen of the United States and has lived in the U.S. permanently since 1984. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation (professional pilot) from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, and a Master of Arts Degree in Military History from Norwich University in Vermont.

Martina enjoys intellectual conversations about politics, science, and world issues. She values discipline and character, courage and integrity, and dislikes crybabies and traitors. She dreams about an opportunity to do something grand and lift the world a few steps.

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"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."

--Horace Mann

United States Educator, 1796-1859

Strategy = intelligence, composure, endurance
Strategy = how, when, why

I learned recently that people make fun of historians. When you study business, you become a manager or executive; when you study nursing, you become a nurse or health professional; when you study computer science, you become a geek with countless career opportunities. But what do you become when you study history? Well, you become a historian. But what does a historian do? According to a 2006 study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (David Ellis, 2006, February 13, Most Lucrative College Degrees, CNNMoney.com), a student with an undergraduate degree in liberal arts, including history, ranked at the bottom of the salary ladder, while chemical engineering ranked at the top. Job opportunities for historians are somewhat limited, at least in the traditional sense. You might become a university professor or a museum curator. You might appear on TV and offer your expertise on the History Channel. But history as a profession . . . ?

I choose to study military history for my own enjoyment. In fact, I believe that I was born with a defective gene that compels me to think about war. But I also know a secret: When you study history, you become smart because you become a critical thinker. A student of history has the potential to be a star citizen who bases the choices he or she makes on knowledge of the world and avoids falling victim to ignorance. Contrary to popular belief, ignorance is not bliss. It is not okay to be dumb or uneducated. It is not okay to make uninformed decisions. I will take knowledge and education any day over ignorance. In fact, I would rather understand this harsh world where “life lives on itself” and learn how to live in it, than follow my ignorance and believe the mythic ideal that some day, “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together,” and “the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (quoted from Isaiah 65 and debated by Joseph Campbell in his 1967 essay on Mythologies of War and Peace).

A great deal of personal satisfaction can be derived from the study of history. To my fellow history students, I offer the following thought: “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one, that would never otherwise have occurred” (quoted from W. H. Murray, 1951, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition).

Commit yourself and doors will open.

Martina Sprague