Best Drill Instructor/Drill Sergeant stories

HAHA, Maybe that DI was a supply sergeant before he opted to a DI. You never know!

I mentioned this one before on a different post. There was a VERY attractive female Drill Sergeant in BCT at Fort Sill that I liked. I think she knew it, too. Because she often went out of her way to walk by me most days. This particular day, I saw her walk past and forgetting where I was, I said out loud, "DAMN! You got ASS, Drill Sergeant!" The bad news is that I was yanked out of line and didn't eat until dinner chow that day because I was having a one-on-one smoke session with her. She even had me singing her love songs and s*** while getting smoked! The good news is that my voice didn't falter the entire time. It was painful, but I feel like it was worth it!

Crazy, but here goes: we were in white phase in BCT at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Co-ed BCT, too. About a 3:1 ratio male to female. Most of the females were having sex with someone in my training battery, but not me. Well, a health & welfare/contraband inspection came up and the drill sergeants came through to look for stuff we weren't supposed to have (condoms, pot, cigs, watches, etc.). While the drill sergeants only looked through a few items of everyone else, they tore my whole g--damn wall locker apart! They also checked the ceiling tiles and every inch of my bunk! I'm thinking, "WTF did I do? It ain't like I got a girlfriend here like my most of the other guys in the platoon!" I'm sure they were trying to find proof of sex and relationships in my battery because they'd heard that (insert trainees names here) were f---ing on the regular. I'm still confused as to how or why my name came up in it. I mean, yeah. There were a BUNCH of female trainees wanting to get down with me, but I wasn't ready for that in Basic. I never dimed out the ones WHO WERE having sex with female trainees because I knew they'd slip up soon enough...and they did and got caught.

I was on a weapon cleaning detail and one of the DS inspecting the rifle asked me.
Son when you shower do you wash the crack of your ###.
Yes I replied he said when you clean your rifle just like your clean the crack of your ### clean the cracks on the rifle

During basic training, we marched everywhere at Lackland AFB, Texas (yup, back in good old 1973). I’m sure many of you weren’t even born yet (smile). On one occasion, our drill sergeant, who we all feared greatly, stopped our marching for some kind of break. I honestly cannot recall why. In the meantime, some of us gals starting chatting and took our berets off and set them aside on a nearby window sill.
We were quickly called back to formation & I recall our drill sergeant yelling about someone stealing her beret. Of course, we were all wondering, ‘who the heck’ would do that as we feared this drill sergeant with our lives. We were frozen in place as she walked down the rows of our formation and I kept thinking to myself, ‘what idiot’ picked up her beret & why doesn’t she ‘fess up?’ Lo and behold, as the drill sergeant walked down my row, she stopped right in front of me-Yikes!! Guess who accidently grabbed the wrong beret off the window sill? Yours truly

I got the same reaction when I told the recruiter I wanted to enlist in the Infantry to dodge the draft. But it was really very simple: I knew Service was going to be required because I’d had student deferments for six years and LBJ ordered the Selective Service Director to begin conscripting married men. I wanted a commissioning program,since I had a batcheor’s degree; but the personnel office at Air Force Security Service where I was employed would only give me “military leave” for 48 months, and the Air Force required 48 months of active duty after completing Officer Training School, which was four months long. And the Navy required 48 months of active duty after Abiation Cadet Training, which was ten months long. The army recruiter told me I would only need to serve 24 months of active duty after ten months of enlisted training,and he would garauntee me an OCS class date if I code a combat arm-
artillery, Armor or Infantry. I’m 6’3” and didn’t think would fit in a tank,and I didn’t want tot to drag cannons around a battlefield, so that left the Infantry. That’s what I chose. And as promised, Iwas released from active duty two years and ten months after I signed up. I have no regrets at all.

I think something that was "cool" or interesting: back in the 40s and 50s, the Marine Corps had Junior Drill Instructors who were Pfc's. Our Jr DI was Pfc Kelly here shown on the right in this photo. Our Sr DI was S/Sgt Kendall shown on the left. He was indeed "senior" being over 40, with gray hair. He had served in China in the 30s, and in the Merchant Marines in WW2. But he returned back to the Marines during Korea. I never understood why the Marines had him as a DI because he was 15 + yrs older than his Jr DI and the recruits in his platoon. He just was unable to relate to Marines who were teenagers, so handed out punishment as his way of communicating with people 15 yrs younger than him. In 1956 after the S/Sgt McKeon Court Martial for the Ribbon Creek Incident, the Marine Corps dumped many of their DIs for mistreating recruits. I often wondered if Kendall was among them????

My favorite DI at Ft McClellan for OSUT MPs in 1980 was SSG Cato. When we first started basic he was clean shaven and anyone that had or attempted to grow a mustache was told that it was nothing but a shock absorber for a c*ck sucker. Well, nobody grew a mustache during basic. We had a four day break between basic and AIT, we all stayed in the same platoons as it was One Station Training. Anyway, when SSG Cato returned to start AIT Low and behold he had a near full mustache grown in four days!
One of the guys made the comment wondering if it was real or if the DI had taken up sucking and was heard. Let’s just say that did not end well for him and within a week just about everyone that could was growing a mustache.

My girlfriend just bought frames for some pictures she found of mine in boxes, and it's currently sitting on my desk (right next to me) as we just painted the basement walls of our new house and hasn't been hung yet (never thought I would even bother hanging up my Basic Training picture, but might as well now). But, back in Sept 1999, being part of 3rd Platoon C Co. 795th MP BN OSUT training, in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo (aka Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, Misery), we were conducting MOUT training. That is, Military Operations in Urban Terrain. My Drill Sergeants were not rookies, and all have been training soldiers for many cycles. Drill Sergeant Rhine (or perhaps Rhein) had never been "captured" or "killed" in MOUT training before. Until he met me. >:)

I was rear guard for my squad, quite frankly, because I didn't trust any of them to watch my a55. I punched the guy in front of me after they came out of the first room being cleared, because they all breached the room without his physical contact. He was supposed to pat either my arm or shoulder, when the squad was proceeding forward, and he didn't. He did from that point on though. The building was a long hallway, with appx 8-10 doors down it that the squad would have to search. At the far end of the hallway was a partial stairway up, a flat landing to the right, and then the rest of the stairs up back to the 2nd floor directly overhead. The squad cleared the 1st floor without contact, or at least without incident, I cannot remember which. However, once they proceeded up to the 2nd floor, I was at an impasse.... I didn't trust their search of the 1st floor, and so didn't want to leave it unprotected, however they were on the 2nd floor and still needed me to cover their 6. Seeing as how there was a landing halfway up the stairs, I decided to stand up on the landing, (so I can see my squad), and simply lean to the right around the wall back down the stairs (so I can also watch our 6 from the 1st floor). Good thing too. VERY shortly after they started searching the 2nd floor, I saw a pair of boots walking towards the stairwell. As the person got closer, I saw the knees. Then I saw the thighs. Eventually I saw the blouse. As soon as I saw the Brown Roun', I knew it was a DS, and the squad failed at searching. I already had him in my sights. Remember I'm already 5-6 ft up on the landing, and another 5ft up behind the wall, only leaning out - he didn't see me yet. As soon as he stepped up on the first step, I yelled, "Bang! You're dead!". He froze, whipped his head up to see me leaning around the wall, and had him dead-to-rights! (1st kill). He Swore so much, it was music to my ears!!!!! He stormed off. At this point 1) my squad was moving a little farther down the hall and 2) He knew I was there. So, I did the only thing I could.... I moved up to the second floor. The 2nd floor has an open railing up top, blocking the stairwell from the 2nd floor, so you have to go down the stairs. Good!!!!! It's open! I simply stood behind the railing above the stairs, looking straight down onto the first steps up. I knew he would come back, so I had to be patient. Good things come to those who wait. Sure enough, very slowly I saw the Brown Roun' poke into the stairwell. He was looking up and down that partisan wall to see if I was still on the landing. I wasn't. I was looking down on him like death from above. The moment he took that VERY CAREFUL first step up, I shouted down to him, "Bang! You're dead!" (2nd kill). He screamed and swore again and stormed off back into the 1st floor. The DS, who had never been killed before, was now 0-2 to a Private E-2 rookie. There's not much else for me to do now. I can back up to my squad and be shoulder to shoulder with them, but that left the stairwell defenseless. Regardless whether or not someone was missed during a search on the 2nd floor... I KNEW there was still someone REALLY pissed off still on the 1st floor. I remained where I was as I still had a tactical and position advantage over him. I didn't know what to expect, surely not what was actually coming my way. The next thing I know, I see an arm coming flinging into the stairwell, throwing a grenade off of the back wall of the landing, bouncing it off toward the side wall to the 2nd floor stairwell, ricocheting it to land only about 2 feet from my boots. Well, sh*t. Most people would likely have shouted, "Grenade!!!" and dove away, perhaps dove on top of it, who knows. But I decided to kick it back down the stairwell, exactly in the path he tossed it up. I bounced it off of the sidewall in the 2nd floor stairwell, only to bounce off the back wall of the landing, to fall down the 1st floor stairwell to land, assuming, within 1 yd from HIS boots!...then BANG!!!. Of course being, well, ME.... I shouted "You're Dead!!!" (3rd kill. From his own grenade) He was screaming any and every profanity one could muster the entire way back down the hallway, out of the building, and down the street, until he was finally out of earshot. Our senior drill sergeant, DS Smith, came in the building and asked what was going on. So I told him. I don't think I'v ever heard of a DS breaking character to badly before and showing their human side. He was practically doubled over from laughing so hard. Needless to say. Drill Sergent Rhine (or Rhein) was now 0-3 vs. Pvt. Fleischmann. First time(s) being killed in MOUT training. Three times, with the final Salt-In-Would added by being finished off by his own grenade.

I went to boot camp 40 years ago, 1980. The Vietnam war was freshly over. The Army was " remaking itself " as a result while at basic instead of the usual crew cut and no facial hair. The Army allowed a " short hair cut style " and we could have a mustache. Since I had a mustache since I was able to grow one I decided to keep mine. As a result my Army ID photo showed me with my stash. Later that same year I attended Jump School. There the standard was buzz cut and clean shaven. Back in the day we wore the green pickle suites. We did not run or workout in a PT uniform and running shoes as they do today. The morning inspection was in fatigues, buttoned all the way up, highly shined boots, helmet, dogs tags out and holding your ID card in your left hand. This was done the same way each morning. Soldiers who had a deficiency found themselves low crawling through the gig pit. You first low crawled through a field of cold. cold sprinklers, then down into a pit of sand and saw dust. The black hat made sure to fill every inch of you with this great mixture. The first few days i was lucky enough to pass inspection.However it is impossible to avoid the gig pit for ever. One day as I was being inspected, the black hat yelled you didn't shave this morning. Knowing I had in deed shaved that morning, I replied, Sgt. black hat, I did shave this morning. He said you didn't shave you mustache on your ID card. Off to the gig pit I went, every day, for not shaving my ID mustache. LOL, Jump school was very hard back then. All the black hats were combat vets, back then they could do just about anything to you. They, of course swore at us, and would beat the shit out of us. Getting a slap to the head and punched in the gut was just part of the training. They would step on our hands when in the front leaning rest doing push ups, knee you in the side when down. It was a different jump school back then. We ran every where we went, you could never be walking. I hear now they run in PT gear and running shoes, and of course they can't use " bad " language and can't touch the trainees, and they don't run every where.