SUNBURY — "You're on the street talking to an Iraqi guy. He's angry because you kicked in his door. You don't want to pay for it. He lunges at you ..."

This is Tim Muenkel, judo instructor and black belt, introducing a lesson in self-defense to National Guard troops at the Sunbury Armory on Sunday.

"Close the distance. Put your head down. Push one shoulder while you're wrapping your leg around his leg on the opposite side," Muenkel says.

The attacker, in this simulation fellow black belt judo instructor Tom McGuire, goes down easily.

Why? Leverage, upset balance and because parts of the body act the way parts of the body are going to act "” the knee is going to bend if hooked from behind.

The moves need to be practiced and smooth.

"Smoothness doesn't mean add speed and power," Muenkel tells about 45 members of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 103rd Armored Regiment, 28th Divison of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

The lesson isn't wildly hypothetical to these guys. All of them have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, some both.

Riot control

Guardsman Lee Hardin, 26, of Lewisburg, said he was called upon to help quell a riot in Ramadi, about 20 miles from Fallujah, when he was stationed in Iraq between 2005 and 2006. No one was killed. Techniques he learned in crowd control and reasoned response were all put to effective use.

Judo is a Japanese martial art derived from jiu jitsu, which dates back to 230 B.C. or earlier, according to the Web site of the Gracie NEPA Mixed Martial Arts Center in Scranton, where Muenkel and McGuire are on staff.

"Judo is basic self-defense," Muenkel said, and "it's designed to make you a better person."

"It's a way of life, not a set of techniques," McGuire put in. "It's one of the best ways to improve your life."

It's also the second most popular sport in the world, he said.