What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?

DI, I'll be honest with you. I went through Basic Light Infantry and AIT Heavy Weapons Infantry at the Hawaiian Infantry Training Center, Schofield Barracks at Quad "I" in 1960. There were no such things as "Time Out Cards", and other touchy-feely things. You bunked in a squad bay, one footlocker and one wall locker. During the first 8 weeks there would be no "Pogy Bait", Post Exchanges, Movies, etc. You did, however, have Study Hall, KP, Guard Mount, PT, and all manner of weapons and squad maneuver training. Our DI's on the first day of training wanted to know who the "Bad Guys" were and to step forward. They used all sorts of colorful language; they planted an 11-1/2 boot when it was required. They allowed some folks who failed to pay attention to feel a vertical butt stroke. They ran us up Kolokole Pass and back down with full field packs and BARs after drinking Kool Aid. If you couldn't cut it the first time around, you were recycled over and over until you caught on. You ate your meals on the first 2" of your seats and you did not have the luxury of selecting your food items. You ate K-Rations once a month.
At the conclusion of BCT/AIT the DI's gathered us all together in the Squad Bay. It was then and there that they told us that their job was to keep us alive in combat so that when we came home, we could tell our grandkids about "The Big One." They wanted to minimize Gold Star mothers. If we thought that they were hard on us, then they really had no idea how hard the enemy could be. We were trained to be an effective, efficient, deadly fighting machine able to fight alone or in teams.
Drill Instructors do no favors to their recruits if they mollycoddle them or try to be their mothers. They need to be the closest thing to the enemy that their recruits will ever come to before combat. HARD CORE!

Drill Sgt. Baucom was not into shouting, abusing or going overboard. He seemed like he was really not pleased with the situation- this is when the army was really trying to address institutional racism, and
he had the only Black assistant DS in the company. Sure enough our platoon was targeted for every gig possible. He was fucked no matter what he did. He soldieired on, got us all through it- and that little Louisiana dude was a competentant platoon leader DS, in a changing army. 45 years later I remember that man. A relatively quiet leader and instructor that got his job done the best he could. Drill Sargeat Shaw- the assistant- was an awesome dude, that knew exactly what was going on and dealt with it like a professional- both these dudes were just a few years out of combat zones in the RVN

Drill Sgt. Baucom was not into shouting, abusing or going overboard. He seemed like he was really not pleased with the situation- this is when the army was really trying to address institutional racism, and he had the only Black assistant DS in the company. Sure enough our platoon was targeted for every gig possible. He was fucked no matter what he did. He soldieired on, got us all through it- and that little Louisiana dude was a competentant platoon leader DS, in a changing army. 45 years later I remember that man. A relatively quiet leader and instructor that got his job done the best he could. Drill Sargeat Shaw- the assistant- was an awesome dude, tht knew exactly what was going on and dealt with it like a professional- both these dudes were just a few years out of combat zones in the RVN

Drill Sergeant (SSG) Hart. His 3 minute speech included the fact that if you referred to them as my "Drill", the "Drill" or specifically "DI" for Drill Instructor, which is a non-Army term and is mutually exclusive to Marines, you will be pushing until he got tired. 9 Years later I used that speech almost to the letter on my first Trail.

Sgt Briggs was a bad ass

Being the meanest most strack soldier on post Circa 1971, Ft. Lewis, WA

I was a buck sergeant DS and loved to instill pride in my trainees for themselves and the ARMY.

S/Sgt Woods was totally awesome. His military bearing was spot on , but he was an understanding person. His service in the Korean War made him the leader he became.

Fort Ord, CA, January 1968. Cold and foggy. We slept at night with the windows open and the heat turned off because of a meningitis scare. SGT Parker was our platoon DI. He was squared away. He was firm and tough, but he was fair. He earned respect. Then there was his sidekick, CPL Caton. He was a not so squared away weasely little prick who screwed with us for no reason other than that he could. We hated him. One night, several weeks into training, he came to the barracks to screw with us in the middle of the night for no reason other than that he could and he liked to. Some guys met him in a stairwell. They spent some time adjusting his attitude. We didn’t see him for a while after that. When he did come back, he backed off on being a worthless prick. And he seemed to avoid being alone around us a lot after that. I hope the Army had a lot more DIs like SGT Parker. I hope CPL Caton never became one of them.

SSG Coleman, he said can do anything unless caught. Had an idiot who left the service and had to go through boot camp as a E-4. Came back from a long march with backpacks, was hot, everyone sweating, nasty and needed showers. So with a long line to get clean, I slipped into the NCO showers, all alone, plenty hot water, no wit and in and out. Dickhead E-4 got in my face telling me NCO blah, blah, blah. Told him to GFY and get away or would beat his ass. He waited for our Drill Sargent like a baby. SSG Coleman asked if used shower, said yes and that was that. He made the dickhead E-4 stay, locked him up and went to town on him for being a snitch. All smiles. Bet that dickhead was a POS lifer or booted for failing to make rank. Had an alcoholic that was giving the Drill Sargents a hard time and called me in and asked to take care of him. Short time knowing but quickly made friends.