Do you remember your DS, DI, or TI?

I remember mine as well as some of the substitute MTIs we had while ours was away. All great instructors and mentors. All seemed to have a passion for actually trying to train us the right way.

Would I buy a beer for mine? I don't know. Maybe after I got over the initial fear of speaking to him as fellow Airman rather than trainee to MTI I would.

She was very frightening at the time, but I'd love to sit down with her today and chat. I'd buy her a beer to be sure.

She taught me not to step on "MY CENTER ISLE, YOU STUPID BITCH!"

I remember them teaching me and the other recruits in my platoon to "see the big picture", and I think we did. When basic was winding down, some recruits from each platoon sat down with the battalion commander to get feedback on the DSs. Every other platoon in the company ripped theirs to shreds, but the ones from mine stood up for ours. I think we understood they were getting us ready for combat, to do our jobs as Soldiers, which was why they were really intense; after all, if we couldn't handle some yelling and a little extra PT, how could we possibly handle real combat? I absolutely would buy them a drink; heck, I'm friends on Facebook with one of them!