Who was your Drill Sergeant/Drill Instructor in Basic Training?

SFC Crudiup at Ft. Leonard Wood. Oct. 68 to Dec. 68.

Lackland AFB 1971, SSgt. Wynkoop. When I was growing up my parents taught me to be honest and own up to my mistakes. He expected the same and was fair when it came to punishment. He had a voice like thunder and was as big as a mountain. He was exactly what I expected when I stepped off the bus.

Though it was way back in 75 Our boot camp CC was MM 1 Paul House. In my opinion he was one of the best examples of senior petty officer that I encountered. Tough but fair and always led by example. I am sure he turned a lot of kids into young men.

SFC Washington, he was a former USAREUR boxing champion. Dude had like a 20” waist. I saw the plaque in his office and explained it to everyone, no one screwed with him. SSG Johnson, I was getting ready to retire and heard him on the TV, chill went down my spine. He was talking about his daughter getting captured in Iraq. Her name is Shosana(sp). That Panamanian accent still scared me 20 years later.

MMC SS Oliva

SFC Simons, SFC Roberts and the guy that rode me like a $2 whore for 8 weeks SSG Brewer. Not because I was a shit-bag but because he liked me as I came to find out later in my career

Ssg/DS Ramon Angulo, Ft Polk 1975. It wouldn't be unkind to say that I was a hopeless case. He commented, in front of the platoon, that I ever got lost they could find me by following the trail of gear that I dropped along the way. Within the first week about a dozen trainees had either given up mentally or been deemed unsuitable and were mercilessly singled out and harassed (to encourage the others). Sergeant Angulo quietly took me aside and asked me if I wanted to go home, noted the problems that I having and said that I didn't have to be here, no questions, no harassment. I replied that I would like to stay until he told me it was time to go. He said that it going to get a lot harder and before I was out the door I was assigned my own personal demon, a PV2 awaiting a jump school slot who through rocks at me whenever he thought I was slacking off. It was exactly what I needed. There is more I'd like to say about the man, his two tours in Vietnam( 82nd and 101st)and the scar above his right eye, but I am afraid that I have already gone to long.

SSG "Big Jim" Jimenez and SSG Callahan. We were terrified of Jimenez, especially since the rumor was he had just come back from "forced leave" after abusing a previous recruit (great psyops in hindsight). His mantra was "don't do it to yourself", meaning don't screw up and make me come down on you and your squad like a tone of bricks. Regardless of our fear, we respected him immensely.
SSG Callahan would always push us to believe we could do whatever the task was in front of us. He was also a great cadence caller on runs, "when I die on the Russian front, bury me in a Russian .....". Probably not allowed anymore.

Master Chief Gunner's Mate C.A. Rizzie. As he would add, "E-9, Two stars"

It was November 8th 1970 and I can't remember their names anymore, but after I think 3 days into this whole basic training thing they finally had a meeting with us in the barracks and gave us those wonderful words we all wanted to hear back then "liight em if ya got em". Somehow some of the guys had some and shared with the rest of us and we all bonded after that which is what I think they were going for. They reallly seemed like hardasses at the time, but looking back I always remembered how they were able to make a point get us to learn a leason without us really knowing that we were really suppossed to be learning. I always tried to follow that both in the military and in my civilian career.