What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?

In the Air Force we had TI's, not Drill Sergeants. My favorite TI was TSGT Hite. Why was he special? Well, first off, the females in my flight called him teddy bear because he looked like Smokey the Bear in his hat! But mostly, we loved him because we were his last basic training flight before his retirement. We were special in his eyes as his last, and he was special in our eyes as his last. You can never have more than 1 last flight!

Oh man... the drill sergeants were LITERALLY awesome. Perfect uniforms, amazing skills, and it always put a cherry on top when they had a hilarious sense of humor!

SSG Michael Priestly, FT Benning 1983 D-8-2.

Priestly was just one of the most STRAC soldiers I ever served under. His appearance always seemed perfect. I swear we could spend a week in the mud and he would walk out with shined boots and creases in his fatigues. He knew his job, he was mentally quick. When you reach that "smart assed" stage of Infantry School were the DI's are starting to back off, Priestly could cut you down to size without really insulting you. He was fair, but always expected the best out of you. Priestly and my Father were the two men I strived to be as a soldier.

In short, I would say his infinite patience, his compassion, and his great sense of humor.

One of my BCT DI's was Sgt. Hill at Sandhill, then Ft. Benning. Now Moore. (B-5-1 "Battling Bravos"). He was about 6''3. 200#'s? Airborne wings. Raspy voice. Lean. No fat. He always addressed us individually as "troop". He was hard ass. 5 or 6 weeks into training (December '65), I had a bad cold & was one of the last to fall out of the barracks for AM PT. Hill screamed at me "move your ass trooooop". He proceeded to motivate me by using my ass with his size 14 boot to drop kick me downhill. I believe he saved my life that day. 2+ years later, Tet '68, I remembered Hill's boot in my ass whenever I had to move. Thank you Sgt Hill. May we. all meet on high ground again one day.

My drill sergeant 's name was Staff Sergeant Cave. His first name was given out on a need to know basis.
SSG Cave had served three tours of duty in Vietnam. On his third tour, a bouncing Betty mine had taken out his knees. Despite that, he ran with us, marched with us and taught us what we needed to know to be effective soldiers.
SSG Cave didn't say a word about shining boots or looking STRAC. We would learn that BS in AIT.
He was my hero.

I went through OSUT in 2002, Fort Knox, KY. And was fortunate to have had great Drill Sergeants. They were mean, but were doing a job that few people can perform. God bless every one of them. On the other hand, the Drill Sergeants and 1SG at my AIT were far from professional.
Anyway, in OSUT, I told my DS I was jacking off in the latrine when I was supposed to be moping the floor. He walked off and busted out laughing.

He was fucking hilarious!!

I was an emancipated minor that signed the enlisted papers a month before my birthday and shipped on my 17th. It was in 98. At 17 I didn't know shit. My drill Sargent had to teach me how to shave. Out of everything anyone in the Army taught me, shaving is something I do every dammed day. I was embarrassed to hell because I sliced my face so bad that it looked like Edward Scissorhands AND Freddy Krueger were helping me out.

My Army DI was a staff, with a CIB, two rows of ribbons, 4 combat stripes on his sleeve, Korean War veteran. Sergeant Gorman was tough. I remember one time after lunch the platoon was standing in formation. He was moving up and down the squads, he came to me, and immediately punched me in my stomach. He growled, “don’t throw up on my boots”. I took his punch, remained standing at attention, and did not throw up on his boots or anywhere else. This was 1963. Twenty five years later I was doing a three year tour as a basic Training Instructor (TI)for the Air Force. Many times I thought about Staff Sergeant Gorman. Different eras, different services, but what he taught me stayed with me through a thirteen month tour at PanMunJom Korea, followed by a voluntary twelve month tour in Vietnam.