Do you think that a Drill Sergeant who does not use "curse words" or "profanity" would be as effective as one that does?

Had a well-respected SNCO who never cursed. One day he dropped the F-Bomb. There were multiple sonic booms, as Marines decided somewhere else was a better place to be.

Had a well-respected SNCO whose every 2nd AND 3rd word was a curse word. When he was really pissed, the curse words stopped, the volume got real low, and the distance between nose tips was measured in millimeters. The Marine who earned his attention dared not move because rumor had it that the SNCO's eyes fired laser beams that could vaporize a man in a fraction of a second.

If you have earned the respect of those around you, it is all just a matter of style.

Absolutely. In fact, now that I think back, I don't think I ever heard my DIs swear. They might call us every single name in the book and then make up a few new ones, but I can't recall them ever cussing both publicly or privately.

There are a number of factors which make a DI effective. He's at the top of his game both physically and mentally. He has a lot of energy. It takes a lot of effort to run around screaming back and forth without looking tired in front of your troops. He's got to look crisp and clean with a good attention to detail. How can someone judge me on my uniforms if his doesn't scream perfection. He also needs a willingness to turn gross, nasty civilians into fine upstanding military machines.

I may have hated every minute I was in my DIs "care", but when you look back, you can see how every little thing they did made you a little bit better, a little bit faster, a little bit stronger.

You don't need to cuss to polish a turd. You just need to want to do the polishing.

You don't need to curse and yell to be an effective leader. There's going to be those points were you are so frustrated you might slip out a few words here and there, but I honestly don't believe it matters. The focus of being a drill is to train those who might be in your shoes. Minus the recruiter you'll be the first impression that these young privates take from the 'big' Army.

My drill sergeant in 3rd platoon, Delta Company, 13th Battalion, 4th Training Brigade, Fort Knox Kentucky, October - December 1973, SFC Eugene McDaniels, not only didn't curse, he rarely even raised his voice.

In fact he spoke at a level that I think it was his intention to have you lean in and pay close attention to what he was saying.

But he led from the front, could perform almost every training or physical objective better than most of us and he demanded respect.

He let NO ONE mess with his trainees, if someone had an issue with us, they had resolve it through him.

He set the standard of a Drill Instructor, that years later, I tried to emulate when I was in the same position.

Then if there was a need to raise your voice or call on the use of more colorful language, it had a MUCH greater impact.

Yes
The inverse is also possible, one that does need not be ineffective.

The leader or person in position of authority that yells all the time or curses all the time is likely less effective then the one that uses either of those to a specific effect at an appropriate time in front of a specific audience.

Yes. I remember mine swearing on occasion, but for the most part it was more for shock effect to get someone's attention. Most were good enough at their job & knew what they were doing well enough to get points across by other means.

yes Absolutely. Tone and inflection carries weight also

One of the Drill Sergeants in my Basic Training company was silent 90% of the time. When he spoke, everybody listened because we knew he wasn't going to say anything again on the subject. He always had a stern look on his face and seemed like the type to stare down a lion and win. He didn't swear, and yet, we were scared to death of him. If that's not effective, I have no idea what is.

Meanwhile, one of the Drill Sergeants in charge of my platoon did things 100% differently. Cussed like morning would never come, cracked jokes left and right, told comical stories, ect. On top of that, he would express disappointment rather than intimidate or yell. Essentially, he got us to listen to him by making us not want to disappoint him rather than through fear. The only exception I recall was when a particular recruit threw the N word his direction. (Completely understandable. I'm impressed he kept as much control as he did in that situation.) Again, his style was effective. Different things work for different people.

I actually was more impressed by the "cursing without cursing" types who were so clever with words, you didn't want to be a target. They didn't need to use a curse crutch. Their corrective behavior tended to have us more responsible for our own selves. Good method.

I had one Drill Sergeant, I sh!t you not (see what I did there? ;-) ), who had a minor religious epiphany mid-cycle, and stopped swearing entirely.

We still fully paid heed to him, because the consequences of not doing so were no less painful as they would have been before.