Phil Torney enlisted in the Air Force in December 1968.  After being trained in Aircraft navigation equipment, Phil was sent to Ubon, RTAF base in Thailand.  After seeing a few Chinese Kung Fu movies, Phil caught the bug to join an authentic Thai Karate class.  He lived with a Thai girl there and she told him about Mr. Precha and his class.  Phil joined Lotus in the summer of 1972.  In 1973 the Lotus class moved to the new dojo.

When it was time for Phil to take the black belt test on August 11th, Ajarn Precha decided to have the entire test in just one day.  All the pushups, sit-ups, katas as well as the self-defense techniques.  Phil commented, "I am not a big guy, so that was extremely hard. I felt a little slighted by this since all the previous tests were over a two or three day period.  I passed and got my black gi and black belt.

Just before I left in October, I got the famous black belt ring.  I did not teach very much and I felt that I did not have the character for teaching.  Since I was thin and bespectacled, opening a class in the states was a reach since most karate instructors at the time were big and brawny."