Will bringing back Drill Sergeants to AIT change the level of discipline in Soldiers?

Drills have not been in AIT for many, many years. Drill Sergeants have a distinct place in Basic training, AIT comes in many forms, this is where young Soldiers must learn how to cary themselves in manner which will be there throughout their career. They must learn what it means to take orders and act appropriately in the absence of orders. The Army needs to fix the ratio of NCO to Soldier in AIT-Teams, Section/Squads and Platoons, to replicate that of regular units.

Being lower enlisted, I don't think my opinion counts for much, but since I came from AIT about a year ago perhaps I can give some insight on my personal experience. I agree for the most part of what SSG Stampfly is saying. I don't know if I necessarily agree that there was a lack of NCO presence, but rather an inconsistency of NCOs. Drill Sergeants are with the trainees day in, and day out, which personally helped me to develop a healthy level of respect for our leadership. You could basically never escape them. Whereas in AIT, we would only interact with our PSGs during morning PT and after POI times for an evening formation brief. During POI times we would be with an entirely different set of instructors/NCOs. After evening formation, we would receive soldier's time, and then promptly hit the rack after final formation. I still enjoyed getting to learn from the experiences of my PSGs, but it wasn't to the same degree I got to learn from my Drill Sergeants. I think because of that inconsistency, I saw a lot of dumb things take place. Essentially, IET soldiers acting like depraved animals because they can't stand to train for a few more weeks. Pretty pathetic. If discipline is the issue the Army is facing today, a structural re-working of AIT would need to take place so that the PSGs are also the same instructors of our MOS training during POI hours. On a positive note, I do think that AIT PSGs deserve the recognition and extra pay that Drill Sergeants receive.

I agree. When I was an AITPSG at Ft Lee we were so undermanned it was ridiculous. It was myself and one other NCO for a company of 300-500 Privates almost the entire two years I was there. 75% manning the MTOE was acceptable in TRADOC according to the leadership at the time.