“Once they are trained, Reserve Drill Sergeant missions are the same as active duty Drill Sergeants,” said Command Sergeant Major Travis Williams, commandant of the USAR DSS. “What we want to do is displace a battalion with so many companies. Soldiers will be mobilized to do a full cycle.” A full cycle for basic combat training is 56 days or eight weeks.
In essence, they are replacing structure the Army does not have – 2900 Drill Sergeants – and “back filling” for a year, he said. “They provide the same training the active component does at a reduced cost.”
Unlike the active component that involuntarily pulls Soldiers to become Drill Sergeants, the USAR Drill Sergeant Program is completely voluntary. Williams said he thinks this helps maintain the integrity and excellence of the program. Some of the Drill Sergeant Leaders agree.
Spc. Christina Dion
Sgt. Rachel Martin, USAR DSS Human Resources NCO, recertified her CLS by sticking Sgt. 1st Class William Dennis, Drill Sergeant Leader with the Fort Jackson USAR DSS.
“My dad was a Drill Sergeant and I thought I’d give it a try,” said Staff Sgt. Benny Miller, a Drill Sergeant Leader at the Fort Jackson USAR DSS. “Like the 82nd (Airborne Division) it’s all volunteer, so the people who are there want to be there. Everybody works together.”
Working together so cohesively helps produce a level of professionalism that some Soldiers say they can not find elsewhere.
“I liked the fact it was a group of no nonsense professionals that do the job that they are supposed to do, and do it really, really well and that you actually have a direct impact on the future of the organization. You have a direct impact on the future of the US Army,” said Sgt. 1st Class Marc Fountain, a senior DSL at the USAR DSS at Fort Jackson. “That’s kind of appealing. You get an opportunity to make the Soldier that you want out of civilians.”
Williams said the opportunity Fountain speaks of is what fuels the Drill Sergeants to strive for perfection.
Their opportunity is coming to go out there and do it for a year, Williams said. They look forward to learning as much as they can. He said that the change from wearing a beret to a Drill Sergeant hat comes with more than just a uniform change. The level of knowledge expected out of a Drill Sergeant versus a regular Soldier is tremendously high.
“When (Drill Sergeants) put that hat on in front 250 Soldiers and (are unprepared), that’s pretty intimidating,” explained Williams. “Even though 250 Soldiers don’t know much about the Army, they have expectations. By the way, because you have that hat on, you are supposed to be the most professional, be the answer person to every question that 250 Soldiers have from everything from A to Z. It’s overwhelming to some degree.”
To prepare for that day, the Drill Sergeant candidates go through a train-the-trainer course that mirrors basic combat training. Williams said that in order for Drill Sergeants to complete the mission of properly training recruits, they must go through each phase themselves. The phases are color coded – Red, White and Blue.
As with anything in the Army, even the way Drill Sergeants train Soldiers has changed. With current contingencies around the world, the Army has geared training to better prepare Soldiers, Willams said.
“In the past, Drill Sergeants did a lot of screaming and yelling and people cried. Next phase he was still yelling but you learned he was going to yell. By the end, he was yelling because he was tired of looking at you. We are moving away from that. During Red phase, they come in and it’s all about setting up a task and teaching them what the Army is all about. White phase, they set up a task and the Drill Sergeants say here’s the equipment and you set it up, let you practice being in leadership roles. In Blue phase, Soldiers set it up and do it and run it. Drill Sergeants make sure they got the process down and understand and help,” explained Williams.
“Drill Sergeants’ mentor role has gone from full metal jacket kind of Drill Sergeant type mentality into the Drill Sergeant that says ok, my job is to make sure that every Soldier gets what they are supposed to get. Not to say those Drill Sergeants of the past weren’t able to successfully train Soldiers, because they were. They were good at it. They are just doing it a different way now. What they found out was Soldiers, a lot of times, at that lowest level didn’t have the capability to make quick decisions. That’s what they’ve gone to on this. It’s been good,” he said.
Spc. Christina Dion
Sgt. 1st Class William Dennis, DSL, prepared a DS candidate to rappel down the tower
The reasons for this change are a culmination of what the Army has learned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
“What they looked at was yes, we are trying to stress you out and push you. What they found out is people were coming back from theater with psychological issues,” Williams expl
ained. “They took a different approach. Make this Soldier better and more capable of responding to those situations.”
“Stress needs to come from the task, not the Drill Sergeants with scare tactics. In basic training, suicide issues (often) dealt with making people ashamed of the issues. We created a stigma there. Because he’s admitted to the fact he may have issues, we separated him and everyone looked at him. If you admit to needing help, you’ll be put to the side and set as an example, but the stigma wasn’t intentional. That has changed in the Army. How we are thinking and what we think. Are we taking the right approach? Same thing at the Drill Sergeant School. My instructors are trying to say ‘Hey look: is our purpose out there to intimidate or treat Soldiers any less than they expect with professionalism. Every one of our Soldiers coming through is a noncommissioned officer. They have the Drill Sergeant creed, but there is also the NCO creed – ‘No one is more professional than I.’ You break that down by line.
“That is what the Soldier is here for, even though they don’t fully understand that’s why they’re here. They are here to get the hat and get the badge. They want to get out and be that Drill Sergeant in front of Soldiers and train Soldiers and all that. Sometimes they don’t look at that deeper meaning, I do. Always trying to figure out how we can make this environment as professional as we can. You wear the U.S. Army over your left pocket, the flag on your right sleeve. Those things mean something to me. It’s not just a symbol or decoration. It’s something that I believe in. Soldiers have to find something to believe in. Whether they understand it or not, it’s my job to make sure they understand it. That’s my job.
“At the heart of every NCO, professional NCO, the question (remains): Am I going to be that person that somebody remembers for the rest of their military career as somebody that didn’t have everything right. Before that day comes, I’m going to prepare as much as I can for that day. That’s what they are here for,” said Williams.
Spc. Christina Dion
Sgt. 1st Class Marc Fountain talks to the DS Candidates while on the range at Fort Jackson, SC.