Best Drill Instructor/Drill Sergeant stories

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the short store. You got me thinking back when I joined. That was June of 64. The memory's are good and not as good but we all have good and not so good when it comes to DI's

The biggest surprise I got was when I was in Casual Hold after basic and I and some of my basic training buddies ran into our drill instructor. He sat down with us and talked as nice as could be...just like a real human being. We laughed to realize that while whipping ups into basic airmen he was just playing a role. Now that we had graduated he talked to us as equals. How funny, I thought, that the man who scared the heck out of me for six weeks should now be sharing jokes and stories with us like we were old friends. And maybe in a way we were. That was in June of 1969.

Our bus dropped us new recruits off at Fort Knox for boot camp. We were still in civilian clothes when a top sergeant walked atop a platform that was at least ten feet off the ground. We surrounded the platform. His uniform was perfect as was his demeanor. I'll never forget his words, "My job is to make you like me."
I immediately thought, "That's a perfect description of a good manager." A good manager should want all his/her employees to know everything the manager knows, so that the manager him/herself can learn and handle greater matters. I've used his advice in my career for 45 years.

I enlisted in USAF in 11/63 . We had to have a TI in the barracks 24/7, so we had a senior TI and an assistant who rotated shifts. Problem was they hated each other, and we got the brunt of it. We reached a point where we were allowed an 8 hr pass to go down town (in Class A's). The assistant told us to get into class A's. About that time, the senior showed up and yelled "what the hell are you doing in Class A's, get back into fatigues. Now the the assistant shows up and says "what the hell are you doing in fatigues, get back into Class A's. While we were in formation, the two of them went behind the barracks and had a "wall to wall discussion". We were finally allowed to go on pass "in Class A's"

During an open ranks, I was standing next to a trainee who was probably one of the quickest thinkers on his feet. When he went to give his reporting statement (to a female MTI) he said "Sir..Ma'am" she quickly responded "Do I look like a sir to you! Do we need to go to the latrine for me to show you that I am not a Sir!", his response "Ma'am, that would be a one on one situation and would not be comfortable"... the entire flight got a free patio break out of it

Back in Air Force Basic Training in the 60s men and women were trained separately. One day our Training Instructor (TI) was marching us to the chow hall. As we passed a male barracks where the men were policing the area, the Red Rope yelled "eyes right". We passed the barracks, then our TI stopped us, had us do an about face, and marched us back to that barracks. She then had us do a right face to face the barracks and put us at parade rest. She then proceeded to chew the Red Rope up on side and down the other. At one point he answered her with a "Sir", and she yelled at him, "Do I look like a "Sir" to you?" To which he stammered, "No, Sir, I mean, Ma'am". She then made him walk the ranks of our flight and apologize to every single one of us. Do you think any of us would even look at him? No way. We all stood there at Parade Rest, staring straight ahead. When he had finished our TI marched us all off to the mess hall, and all of us were proud to have her for a TI.

Back near the end of the Vietnam War in 1974 I was a recruit at Great Lakes. Our company commander wasn't very good as his job. Why? Well, for one thing - He never asked to do it.
The position was given to him because he was waiting for an opening at what was called back then and probably still is called "dry dock." Short for drug and alcohol rehab.
He was an EM1 who hadn't been on a ship for over a decade because he drank too much.
Being the oldest recruit in the company {24 with a wife and son}, the most educated {AA from a community college}, and the son of two alcoholics; we sort of became friends of a sort. Since he lived off base I was given the key to his bunk room and used it to tutor the many poorly educated members of my company which was primarily drawn from New York City and a few rural southern states.
Our days were either good or bad depending upon his sexual conquests or lack of them. One of the things he confided to me was that he'd been told that he had to pass the upcoming Chief's exam or his re-enlistment would be turned down two years short of enough time to get a pension. The main reason was because his drinking meant he couldn't work in his rating so the exam was ~ Do or Die!
He was very depressed and wouldn't even accept my offer to help him study or my offer of multiple guess exam strategies.
The day after the exam he came in strutting like a rooster! He was 100% certain that he'd passed with flying colors. Some who were in the Navy might be able to guess why. For the rest of you let me explain...
Chief exams can be about any subject in the entire Navy since a Chief will have a multitude of ratings reporting to him. Less then a third of the questions are scattered in a wide assortment of areas while over two-thirds are concentrated in one area of command. That year that area was drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Since he had already been the dry dock four times already he naturally won his gold anchor as did many other drunks and drug addicts through out the Navy.
After boot camp and A school I did my service at NTC/RTC/ORL next to Disney World.

My Drill Sergeant story happened when I had been in the Army for about four or five days. Someone sent me into a building to get a training aid and I literally bumped into a Drill Sergeant as I was hurrying on my way through the building. I said something like, "Sorry, Sergeant." He said, "What's my rank, trainee?" I was still learning the ranks. He was an E-7, so I guessed "Platoon Sergeant?" (I actually had it right. In those days an E-7 was known as a Sergeant First Class or a Platoon Sergeant.) The Drill Sergeant was not impressed with my vast knowledge of the Army's rank structure. He said, "I'm a Drill Sergeant, trainee! Drop and give me 25!" I did, and I was happy to get out of there with only a slap on the wrist.

Not too funny, but here goes...

Christmas eve and we had just gotten back from evening chow. We finished our "pump and dump" (head break) and quick field day of the barracks when our senior Company Commander DCC Hall walks into the barracks.

Barracks watch calls "Attention on deck!" and Chief Hall immediately screams "DROP!"

As soon as we were all in pushup position he continues in the same screaming voice "MERRY CHRISTMAS, I'M GOING HOME!"

We met our real D.I.s a few days after actually getting to MCRD and we were expected to know not to break the POA... As the D.I.s walked in and were introduced one of them was the biggest man I had ever seen in my life... he ducked and came through the door sideways. I saw this out of my peripherals and I turned not thinking to see him better...because I thought I was imagining this guy. He looked right at me and started walking very fast at me...I froze and he walked right through me like I wasn't even there ( I went through the rack and out the other side) he kept going to the wall and said who made this scuff on my wall pointing at a spot. I don't think I ever broke POA again.