Aaron Johnston CSM
Date Began Martial Arts: 1993
Aaron Johnston is a Black Dragon Kai Senior Instructor. He began his martial art training in 1993. Aaron has always been heavily focused on skills related to personal security, military close combat, and integration of traditional arts to enhance combat resilience. Recently retired from the Australian Regular Army, Aaron has had a long military career including deployments to East Timor, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is a former member of the 2nd Commando Regiment and a qualified Special Forces Close Quarter Fighting Supervisor. He has also held additional roles as the Australian Army Combative Sergeant Major of the 7th Combat Brigade Combative Centre, Vice President of the ADF Martial Arts Association and President of the Integrated Combat Club Brisbane.
Aaron was awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM) in the Australia Day 2022 Honours List. This award was in recognition of his meritorious devotion to duty as the Senior Instructor and Subject Matter Expert Army Combative, Headquarters 7th Combat Brigade.
Aaron has studied Training Development and Design and is the conceptual designer of the Point of Impact Training philosophy. Aaron's continuing research focuses on immersive training, instruction, and coaching integration along with the development of empirical evaluation metrics. Aaron's work research formed the training framework of the Enhanced Australian Army Combative Program Training Curriculum that is now being applied across several disciplines.
Martial Arts Ranks
- Red/White Belt - ACP IC CSM
- Red/White Belt - Kinetic Fighting IC
- 3rd Degree Black Belt - Jissen Budo
- 1st Degree Black Belt - Freestyle Martial Arts
- 1st Degree Black Belt - Kwon Bop Do (Taekwondo)
- 1st Degree Black Belt - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (Sensei)
- Black Belt - Kokusai Budo Kai
Instructor and Coaching Levels
- Special Forces Close Quarter Fighting Supervisor
- Army Combative Program Level 1, 2, 3 Instructor
- Level 2 NCAS Australian Jujitsu Federation Coaching Course
- KEF IC Instructor Course
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Organisational Leadership
- Diploma of Leadership (Army)
- Cert IV Fitness
- Cert III Fitness
- First Aid Certificate
- Mental Health First Aid
- Working with Children Blue Card
Awards
- Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM)
- Silver Kai
- 2023 Black Dragon Kai BJJ Student of the Year
Affiliations
- Unspoken Edge Pty Ltd
- Kinetic Fighting Pty Ltd
- EL Matador Martial Arts Academy Instructor
- Former President of Integrated Combat Club (Army)
- Former member Australian Defence Force Martial Arts Association
- Veteran Grappling Instructor
- Member of the Australian Jujitsu Federation
