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

SFC Hue Green and SGT Earl Coder. I suspect that SGT Coder still hates me to this day. He had a hangup over my last name, at times I would get smoked for that alone. SFC Green was funny, he like to tell jokes.

CSM Michael J. Uhlig
My Drill Sergeant in November 1974 at Fort Leanard Wood, Missouri was SSG Robert Ford in Delta
Company 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment. My senior Drill Sergeant was SFC James Ferguson.
Drill Sergeant Robert Ford reminded me that President Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was president and he was my drill sergeant that I was an insult to both of them:-)
FYI LTC Trent Klug LTC Stephen C. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. CPT (Join to see) SFC Jim Ruether COL Charles Williams 1SG Dan Capri CH (MAJ) Thomas Conner CMSgt (Join to see) SPC Americo Garcia LTC (Join to see) CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SSgt David M. CMDCM Gene Treants MSG Greg Kelly SFC (Join to see) LTC Bink Romanick CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025 SPC Gary C.


Images:
1. 2nd Platoon, D-1-3 Drill Sergeant SSG Robert Ford
2. 1974-12 Ft Leonard Wood, MO - D-1-3 Basic Training - Pvt Stephen Ford relaxing on bunk
3. 1975-01-23 Ft Leonard Wood, MO - Graduation Photo for Basic Training for Private Stephen Ford
4. 1975-03 FT Leonard Wood, MO - view of D-1-3 barracks where I did Basic Training
5. Drill Sergeants for 2nd Platoon, D-1-3 SFC James Ferguson and SSG Robert Ford.

Drafted and reported to the reception center at Ft. Knox. When the DI’s came to get us and formed us into platoons, I thought someone had changed my name to Dick.

CSM: Here is the straight skinny on my experience at the Hawaiian Infantry Training Center, USARHAW Quad "I", Schofield Bks Hawaii. On our first day after getting off the bus we lined up in formation. There were only four kinds of "cruits" that day; RA, US, FR, and NG. Guess who were the "Acting Jacks" and who were the Goats. Beside the normal required training such as CBR, KD Range, Rifle, Pistol, .30 Cal Air Cooled MG, BAR, Bazooka, 81mm mortar, .50 cal MG, Bayonet Training, Combat First Aid, PT, FT, Sqd, and Plt tactics, communications, Personal Health, Safety and Nutrition, UCMJ, POW, and various other events thrown in. Now, no training program is complete without seeing just what you have and will you break under pressure. So, we started off with Chinese Fire Drills, when you went to the Mess Hall you did not tell the cook what you wanted, you took what they gave you. You went to the table and sat on the first inch of the chair; the rest belonged to Uncle Sam. You low crawled across the quad and picked up anything that wasn't green. Each day you ran the hill. That would be Kolekole Pass where the cooks gave you ice cold drinks at the top and you paid for it all the way down. Bayonet training was instructional, but for added emphasis any "cruit" that failed to pay attention was brought up to the Instructor's Stand, his scabbard removed, told to go "On guard." He was told to attack and when he did the Instructor would parry left and give him a light vertical butt stroke and slash; the point of his bayonet got the "cruit's" attention. It was not uncommon to be on the receiving end of a DI's 11-1/2 boot. God help you if they found any Poggi Bait during full field, wall locker, and footlocker inspections. No PX, Theater, or out of Quad activities until AIT. No Time Out Cards, you were recycled until you became a troop. Oh, in case you'd like to know what "Charlie" or the NVA would do to you, your training at the East Range POW Camp wised you up really quick. In the end, day before graduation the DIs said they were hard on us, because the enemy will be harder. Their job was to make sure that when we came home, we could put our grandkids on our knees and tell them about the "Big One." They believed they failed if some mother or wife got "that telegram" that Johnny wasn't coming home. I'm glad I got some kick ass, hard core, training and I knew none of what the DIs did was personal, just professional because they cared. Trust me, the enemy will not give anyone a "Time Out" card.

As an officer in the Coast Guard and also during my enlisted days at SAR Stations and during Desert Storm I did not fear the mission or the conditions because I was ready for it all.

Even though it is kind of blurry, I have this photo of my Drill Sergeants and I on Graduation Day 1985. The one on the left of me is DS Gadsdon which I remember because I went to Basic at Fort McClellan, in Gadsden Al. And the one on my left is DS Lefrancois (Lee France wha) which I remember because when we first got to Basic they made us say his name over and over again (Drill Sergeant Lefrancois, say it. Drill Sergeant Lefrancois, say it) so that we didn’t mispronounce it while in training. I went through during the time basic was transitioning from “old school” Vietnam style to “new school” present day style, so I had them putting a foot on my back, but not allowed to take me behind the barracks for “counseling”. Most young people can’t deal with Basic as it is, much less the way it was then especially at 6 feet and 145 pounds. But I did. They tried to get us to quit & when we didn’t they started helping us to be the best we could. I remember one other recruit was overweight & he would make himself a big plate of food & I would make a small one when we first got there. The DS’s would only let him eat what I had on my plate & make me eat everything he had on his plate. I ended up gaining 15 pounds & he lost enough to make weight to graduate. It was one of the toughest times in my life, but it also was one of the most cherished thanks to the both of them. I wish I had Sergeants like them around when I screwed up & got demoted to give me a kick in the backside and help me get that rank back & maybe more. Unfortunately Soldiers like them had long since retired by 2006.

SSG R. Grey and SSG A. Vazquez. I had great respect for both of them. Sgt. Grey was a towering black man. Sgt. Vazquez was Puerto Rican. I developed a knack for impersonating Sgt. Vazquez. Word got around and I was asked to demonstrate this skill in front of the cadre in the field. Naturally I was terrified, but I did not disappoint. Everyone got a huge kick out of it including Sgt. Vazquez. At that point I realized I was part of a big family.

Sergeant Best. And he was pretty darn good! He came from the Marine Corps where he was a Drill Instructor. Everyone really responded to his leadership. Right out of basic training we would have followed him to hell. And back! Semper Fi !

For some unexplained reason during my 13 weeks at PI my platoon had 13 different DI's. So I remember 3 of the two were Senior DI's and SSgts and one was a Sgt. Lewis and James were the SSgts and Weatherford was the Sgt. Sgt. Weatherford is the one to "blame" for me getting through boot camp. He had us fall out in boots, utility trousers, t shirts and helmet liners with our M1s. He had an M1 and got up on the wash rack and showed us "up and on your shoulders". You hold the rifle at your shoulders in front and lift the weapon over your head and put it on you shoulders behind you. We were being "punished" for some infraction which I do not remember. I started counting the number of times we did it. In the process we had 3 men collapse from the exercise and the heat. I stopped counting at 500. But I told myself that I wouldn't stop until he did and I did not stop until he did. It was during our 3rd week and from then on I knew I would become a Marine. I'm now 86 and damn proud of that title to this day!

I took basic training at Ft Leonard Wood , MO in 1960 after joining the Iowa National Guard in 1959. My unit had been activated prior to my going to basic and I was actually taken out of high school and sent out to shoot looters if necessary in abandoned towns that were flooded. I learned how to load and operate an M1 Garand in the back of a Deuce and a half one dark snowy night to be posted all by my self in a flooded town. That is a whole story in itself. When I got to the Wood, we called it Fort Lost in the Woods Misery, I started basic. Most of my basic company was from Texas and Oklahoma. Into the barracks walked the biggest black NCO I had ever seen with two CIB awards. He was wearing a St Louis Cardinals baseball hat and holding our platoon roster. His name was PSG (E-7) Turner and we were to address him as Platoon Sergeant at all times. He scanned the platoon list and said " I see a lot of you boys are from TX and OK and probably never took orders from a black man before. I will take off my stripes and be out side for 15 minutes. Anyone that can whip me can transfer out of the platoon to a white PSG with no consequences". He was out side for 15m and not one recruit went outside. He was a great leader and person . He trained us well based on his experience fighting the Germans in WW II and the Chinese and NK's in Korea. I used much of what he taught me when I fought in Nam 68-69. When we got passes he told us about all the spots in town where the cheapest booze and most girls were. Most were on the off limits list the MPs put out. When we graduated all the other recruits got tea, soda and cookies but we got to go back to the barracks and he had cold beer for us. The word came down not to sing dirty cadence calls but PSG Turner taught us to march to some pretty profane stuff. He said no good soldier could march without some profane cadence. At the end of our cycle we bought him a very expensive Bulova watch and had it engraved. On the back case it said " To PSG Turner from your No Goods." He used to tell us NG ( we were all National Guard) stood for No Good. He was highly decorated with awards and Purple Hearts. I retired from the active Army as an officer and he was one of the finest NCO's I ever served with. To this day i always address any Infantry E-7 as Platoon Sgt in his honor.

SFC Butler/SGT Butler (same name, different game) Jan, 1976 Ft. Knox, Ky. One white, one black, all balls and prone to attack.