What made your Drill Sergeant awesome?

He cared and remembered where he had started. SSGT Woolery......WILD WOOL! HUBBA BUBBA!!!!

I went thru basic training twice. It sucked both times.

Mine was way back in 1964, and I don't even remember his name. I do know that he was tough, but fair, and I had a lot of respect for him.

His breath!

I did not have a DS in boot. I had a DI. Several in fact! ;)

I went to boot camp in 1984. I was the tender age of 23-1/2. I had done several years of college, 1 year of Navy ROTC (non-scholarship), and was out of money and lacking direction in my life. While in ROTC during Spring Break, our senior Marine Officer took anyone that wanted to go to Camp Pendleton and MCRD San Diego for a tour of the Marine Corps. There I learned a lot of the inner workings of what each DI does in a platoon. You have 3 main figures: Father, Hammer & Knowledge. Then, each DI will usually have an area of focus as well.

Platoon 3056, M Co, 3rd Recruit Battalion, 1st Recruit Division, San Diego
SSgt Atondo, Sr DI, "Father Figure", Drill Expertise
SSgt Guerrero, "Hammer", Physical Fitness
SSgt Shute, "Intern", fresh from DI school, did not know his left from his right, aghhhh!
Sgt Wilkerson, "Prac/Knowledge", knowledge, knowledge, knowledge

Our 3 DIs not only had to get us squared away but also had to get the new DI proby squared away. What I remember most was our 3 DIs ALWAYS demanded the best we could give, would not accept less, and KNEW it was more than what we thought it was. We started with 98 kids, dropped to the mid 60s for head count by week 4 and graduated with 86 at the end of week 13. We were the best Platoon of the 8 in our series (2 companies, 4 platoons each) and proved it by taking 1st in PFT, 1st in Practical Knowledge and setting a new Drill score record for the base, and came in 2nd (0.1 points behind platoon 3057 who also set a new record.) Both platoons were put on the plaque for best ever Drill.

Our DIs were never our friends but the respect we earned from them is priceless and set the stage for the rest of our time in. I never thought I would run 3 miles, let alone finish it in 20 minutes! I never thought I would be able to do 20 pull-ups yet I was averaging 85 pull-ups every time I got on the equipment, and my DI would have to order me to stop. I never thought I could truly be a Marine - they scared me to death growing up when I did; Vietnam in your face day-in and day-out. But a Lt Col in Seattle (NROTC) showed me what was possible. The DIs whose names and faces will forever be burned into my mind pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed. But, that 1st day, they DID say it was up to us to make it through. I listened, I learned, I became a Marine.

Semper Fi!

In addition to my (S)DS being a total badass, as posted before, I also had one, I'll never forget him, SSG (DS) Dylan Browe. This man would not just rip us apart if we were ate up, but he would also take the time to take the Hat off (He used to say that if we saw him without the Hat then he wasn't Drill Sergeant at the moment, he was SSG) and mentor us. From Marksmanship, to Combatives, to Land Nav, to life in general. So my PLT really had the Good Cop / Bad Cop thing going. But we were never surprised. We knew who Good Cop was. My stubborn ass, however, always went to Bad Cop for advice or questions. He was the most badass guy in the company, so I trusted that he would square me away. I was never disappointed, and I absolutely appreciate everything those men did for me.

In the Navy we had company commanders. We were his last boot camp company and I don't think he cared. If he finished high school I would be surprised. Everyone of us recruits had at least one year of college. I was in better shape before boot camp than after.

SSG (Join to see) When I went into the Navy, I was at the limits of acceptable. I have been a large person since I turned 13. For me what stood out was the attitude of "You are not going to fail on my fucking watch recruit!" attitude. It made me want to push through and succeed to prove to them that I appreciated the effort. After passing the PRT test, and knowing I was going to graduate, best moment of Boot Camp was when myself and another recruit who was in the same situation I was were told by our RDC that the "Recruit" cover we had put us out of uniform. He then took the Recruit cover, and we received our "Navy" covers, and joined the rest of our division in receiving our post boot camp orders.

Compassion.

DS Jones had it. On the other hand, our Junior DS had to get it, and when he did, things began happening faster and better. Rather than let me be a TC holdover, coming off crutches for the final PT test, I NEEDED a personal driving force to keep me moving, despite pain from an undiagnosed herniated disk AND a fractured leg. He KNEW me, and used EVERYTHING he knew about me to push/pull and cajole me through that day of absolute pain and misery. I got that PT test FINISHED. Being on crutches for the final forced-road-march, I would have washed-out, if I had to continue in full gear. Crutches, Basic web gear with gas-mask and butt-pack was pushing the limit, but doable, rather than a fully-loaded Alice pack. I finished on crutches. I still had to mask-up and swing crutches even when masked..

Dang I was at the rite aid picking up prescription for the wife and wearing a cavalry ball cap and turned around to greet a Nam Vet that asked were I took basic and I said Ft. Knox and he said he was a DS at that time .. I wish I got his name because I had a short Black E-5 as a DS ...