What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?

Mine was wounded while with the 1st Cav in the Ia Drang Valley in Nov. '65. A short, baby-faced guy who absolutely suffered no fools. He had a buck sgt. asst. named Camacho from Guam who was in the 199th LIB during Tet '68. Both were tough as nails . . .

His honesty w us and commitment to discipline

Staff Sargent Cliff Conner, USMC. Drill Instructor at Aviation Officer Candidate School, 1975 Class 19-75, Pensacola FL. Put the fear of God in me from day one. Gave me and the members of my class life seasons that have stayed with me to this day. There are many that I came to respect in my 28 years as a naval aviator but non more than Staff Sargent Cliff Conner. RIP my friend.

Is that like some sort of sick joke? He is probably dead by now and I pray he died a miserable death! I won't go into details because he isn't worth wasting my time on!

Nope, I HATED basic training. Waste of time in my opinion. Couldn't wait to complete it so I could get my technical training to do the job I really joined for.

I have been in positions of authority, and I don't like dealing with idiots.
When it was my turn to be yelled at by my CC with saliva spewing from his open mouth. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face; lord knows I tried, so he cold cocked me. He was a little guy and was the spitting image of Don Knotts.
I knew it was just part of the boot camp regimen to reprogram recruits to bow down to the discipline of the line of command. I ended up marching in sand with my full kit, hold my piece over my head. I was never more fit in my life. I gained 20 pounds of solid muscle and not an ounce of body fat.

My DS, by the name of SSG Charles S. Beer, was quite honestly batshit crazy. He was a Vietnam vet with an SF tab and a CIB. In his dress greens, he had a stack of ribbons that went up his chest almost to the shoulder. He was determined to have us push Ft. Knox down into Tennessee form Kentucky, and he almost made it happen. He was a hard but fair man. He never caused any injury to anything except our pride, and he could do that with a word. He was also one of only two Infantry Drill Sergeants in our training Company. We were road marching back from BRM and hit a crossroads where there were deuce and a halfs waiting. Senior Drill said Beer, put them on the trucks. DS Beer replied hell no, this is second platoon, we'll walk. After that, nobody could tell us anything except our DS. Beer was 11B, and his assistant DS was an 11C. I for get the Assistant's name. It has been 45 years. I enlisted when Moses was a road guard.

My DI in 1969 was SFC Thomas. He was a clone of Sammy Davis Jr. to a tee, We were at Ft. Dix (sp!) and in WWII barracks. I was from TN and near day one he walked up to me and began to rub his hands on my face and asked me how it felt to a southern boy to have a black man rubbing over me. My response was of course: "no problem to me Drill Sargent Thomas." It wasn't because: 1. I didn't care; 2. I knew better than to say otherwise if it had been an issue with me.

DI Thomas taught bayonet training and was as fast as greased lighting through the procedure. The last night of BCT a punk-soldier from Cincinnati found some engineering tape and wrapped it around four second floor post creating a rectangle. He then went to DI Thomas' room door and knocked loudly, yelling "SGT Thomas come out here, I want to fight you, NOW!" SGT Thomas opened the door and stepped out, looked the punk in the eyes and said: "Let me explain two things to you. "1. I didn't earn my stripes to lose one because of you and 2. I would whip your ass every which way but loose. Now get that tape down and get your ass into your bunk." Knowing how fast he was at the bayonet training procedure, now 54 years later I still believe SGT Thomas would have mauled the guy.

My favorite one was Drill SGT Moreing who was at Ft. "Blister" (Bliss) TX. He was the DI they sent when someone or the platoon needed to be "smoked." Man must have known a 1,000 cadences. Had a great sense of humor (when you got to see it.) End of Basic and AIT a few of us who he liked and who liked him went to the PX and bought him a 1/2 gal of his favorite alcohol (Old Grandad.) as a thank you. He use to tell us ("if you don't do what i'm telling you, this time next year, you gonna be a 1 year old baby ghost.") Another one of my favs was whenever an officer went by and said "carry on" very quietly, and only to us he would say "think we ain't." Very few HAPPY memories, but always a few GOOD ones to look back on. (Air Defense Artillery 1982)

Our Drill INSTRUCTORS were ALL awesome. I would buy ANY and EVERY one of them a drink anytime. Thanks SDI SSgt Thompson, DI Sgt Williams, and DI Sgt Womack We of Plt. 2040 D Company 2nd RTBN PISC Salute you. Semper Fi