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

They tried and succeeded in turning me into a fine soldier.

But their language skills...

SSG Hall was exceptional though. The man was in his 50's but he would run us into the ground and outpush-up our 300+ studs..

DS's Barnes, Trevino, and Moore, 1985 Ft. Sill, Ok. DS Moore was a complete sadist who read torture technique books for fun. DS Barnes was the quiet, helpful DS. DS Trevino was a fireplug who you would never quit on. All three had their pros and cons but I can honestly say that I wouldn't be where I'm at today if it wasn't for all three of them.

Can't remember his name. He was a first class petty officer at NTC San Diego. We were his last company before retirement. He had a short timer's attitude. Not your typical experience. I was kind of disappointed.

2nd Plt, C Co, 5th BN, 10th INF REG....SSG Lopez, SSG Terrance Murphy (CSM Murphy of the Engineer School House), and SFC Grove.

Roger that - SGT Briggs

SSG Charles Baker was my DS, assisted by SGT Johnson and SSG Swinnie. Of the three, SSG Swinnie was the most influential and mentor-like. HE"s the type of DS I wanted to be when I grew up. I tried contacting them all when I made State Soldier of the Year, very shortly after I graduated, but never heard. I actually had fantasies of returning to Ft Sill as a DS or 1SG, hoping to at least visit my old OSUT unit. Nope, that didn't happen either. MAYBE I'll get one of two last wishes - one is to put my campaign hat back on, the other is to execute a fire mission.

SSG De la Pena is one of the most professional NCOs that I have came across so far. He honestly had a way to teach and instruct that no one else did. I seemed to have learned more in just his blocks of instruction than in all of Basic Training. The little informal bits of information he said throughout the day made a huge difference in my development as a soldier.

CSM Michael J. Uhlig, my Drill Sergeant was DS Jimenez, an Infantryman (pictured above). Even though he scared the daylights out of me, I only had the utmost respect for him. His military bearing and appearance were always on point. I can't even repeat many of the words he used, but he taught us a lot about combat, maintaining integrity, being reliable, being a good battle buddy, how being a Blue Falcon would always come back to bite us in the A, and that accountability is critical in the Army. When it came to corrective training, OH CRAP... all I can say is that he's the most creative NCO I've ever known.

He told us every day how F'ed up we were and that he hated our guts, but near the end, I started to doubt that he hated us as much as he claimed. He showed us what right looked like for 18 hours a day, every day including weekends. I'm pretty sure he never slept. I got my standards from him, and I owe all of my success in the Army to him.

All three of my Drill Sergeants had an impact, both positive and negative. I learned that NCOs were not infallible, that they were leaders in progress too. I had three DS; SFC Lawson; He was only there for a short time because he went to ANCOC and joined us later. He was my first impression of a Senior NCO. He was strict and could be unfair at times. The lesson I took from him was that standards matter and you needed to let your people know what they are; SSG Prichard, he was one of our main Drill Sergeants. He made a few mistakes along the way (he “lost” us one morning when we marched ourselves to chow) but showed me that leaders have to be flexible and use situational leadership; SSG Parkhurst, he was an ass. He wanted to be a bad-ass. But because he was “unreachable” we worked hard to make him laugh and get him to show his human side. He taught me that professionalism was as much about appearance as it was about performance. I went to Basic in 1992 at Fort Leanardwood, Echo 2/10. Good times.

SFC Zippler at Ft. Dix NJ 1980. SFC Zippler was an ex Marine and had the most unique cadence as any of the other DI's. We all had a hard time marching to it at first. He was by the book, hard but fair.