What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?

I had Drill Sarget Bais. A legend in his own mind.
He held the post pushup record and invided anyone to take him on. When he dropped us, he went until he was tired.
We had Drill Sargent Munn. He didn't let the Drill sargent thing get to him. He was an excellent instructor, approachable, easy to workfor. When someone in the platoon let him down or disappointed him, the whole platoon felt it.
Drill Sargent Macnally He had a heavy accent, and couldn't relly sing cadences. Everyone was terrified of him and really knew how to send a message. When he looked at you, you could tell he was figuring 10 ways to kill you.
Our company also had Drill Sargent Walker. Big guy. PT monster. Any "motivational" exercise he did with us. He could go longer and faster than anyone. His pushups actually got faster an=s everyone started to fall out. When he started to smile, we knew we had a workout coming, and he was a very happy guy.
At AIT we had a female drill sargent for our barracks. Her name was Drill Sargent Honey. "Not Hun, Not Honey, Drill Sargent Honey" Boy, could she lecture and make you feel like a total irresponsible kid. She was a killer.

" What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?"

Be called a Drill Instructor.

For me it was calling them a Drill Instructor and not a Drill Sergeant .

I had SSG Jefferies at Ft. Jackson in 1994. He was the strongest and most fair person I had ever felt with. I was a tad older than most of my class, so I felt he and the others, SSG Cleves and others expected myself to step up and guide the young soldiers. This helped me grow by being more responsible and see why quality leadership is very important. I am still in as a National Guard member now with soon to be 30 yrs.

Ft Jackson, 89-90. Can’t remember his name, but our senior was a male secretary with a drinking problem.

I had three Drill Sergeant’s that made a difference in my career. DS Yeomans taught us how to march and call cadence. DS Johnson taught us how to wear a uniform with pride and look sharp. DS LaFlore was the toughest on all of us. He conducted PT every day and ran us until we were exhausted. He was there waiting for a decision on a medical discharge. He had one lung and could out preform all of us no matter the tasks. I remember our last day he was extremely hard on us. I asked DS Johnson why, he said that DS LaFlore was being discharged under medical conditions. All three of these NCO’s started me a path that served me well for 26 years. There were others in my career but they made a difference in my life!

He scared me into manhood.

Sgt Wallace was our "DI" at Ft. Lewis, WA for BCT, AIT and beyond, starting at the beginning of January, 1966. The Army was building up the 4th ID mainly with draftees. From day 1, he said pay attention, you're going to Vietnam. The cadre that was training us were all going to Vietnam with us as our leaders. He was tough but fair. If we screwed up he always said "you done stepped on your dick".

Both of my Drill Sergeant's were awesome. (1985, Ft Jackson, Tank Hill). They pushed hard and seemed to really get to know each soldier and 'personalize' their conduct to each of us. I was the only JROTC in my platoon, so they used the hell out of my knowledge without letting me feel like a teacher's pet. I taught so many classes! I was also one of the youngest kids there (17) so there were times my mentoring was a little more parental. I feel they really pushed me to be independent and a leader. One thing that stands out - I was an excellent shot. Captain of the marksmanship team in HS and I found hitting the comparatively LARGE popup targets much easier than anything I'd shot at on my HS team. On qualification day they were short-handed, so I was pulled out of my platoon and put in the washout shed to retrain everyone who failed at qualifying. I was there ALL DAY and got pretty much everyone through. At the end of the day, it was finally my turn to shoot. At first, they couldn't find my rifle (!). Turns out it had been loaned out and used by numerous others throughout the day. It was visibly dirty, inside and out, and I had no time to clean it. I got on the range and started shooting, I hit every target until my rifle jammed. I could not fix it. One of my DS got on the ground, grabbed my weapon, and worked hard to get it unjammed, but to no avail. Time ran out. Turns out, I'd hit just enough targets to earn marksman and 'qualify' anyway, and the crew in charge of the range wouldn't give me a re-do for a better score. My DS, then my company commander, and the DSs from other platoons all went off on the range crew... I mean, they really lit into them, enough where they could have got in trouble for disrespect, yelling about all I'd done to help out that day and how my training had helped so many get through.... well, in the end, I did not get to re-qualify. I think it was something personal between the range guy and my CO. My DSs were so mad. I mean they were genuinely pissed off. So, yeah, it sucked that I walked away with a much lower score than I could have earned, and they knew it, but it showed me what it meant for a leader to have their soldier's back, and that was a lesson I never forgot and used often.

Correction to Herself - Dragon Lady encouraged me through two obstacles in the Confidence Course that were rough for me, as I am short even for a woman. I will never forget her for that, thank you DL.

Thanks for acknowledging female warriors, smh.

My everyday DS SSG Luise Perez had the quickest witty sayings. I got in trouble many times for laughing. My favorite quote: "Trainee Gust you're as useful as a slug's trail without a shine". He was a vet of the Ia Drang valley. Nothing but respect and I will never forget him or the skills he taught me.