Playing Drill Sergeant with DEP
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For a quick update on me, I'm an army reserve soldier that is currently in a drill sergeant unit that is training to be a drill sergeant. I was supposed to go to school in March but because of circumstances a little outside my control *ie broken foot* I had to delay the process of becoming a drill sergeant. I'm slated to go to school in August. Ironic as it is the same place I did Basic Training, Fort Leonard Wood. Now you would think the process of becoming a drill sergeant would be somewhat blog worthy. Actually, some drills are not that exciting. Most drills I modulate ver batum how to do certain positions like the Position of Attention and the Rest Positions at the Halt, among others. We sit in a room and pitch these to each other a few hours each day. And we take a PT test every weekend. Not my idea of an exciting time, but then there are days like today, which are just a whole lot of fun in general. There is a type of soldier in the army that is termed as being a part of DEP. DEP is delayed entry program. Basically, they enlist two months or more from their ship date, so they are in the army, but biding their time. Because of this, the recruiters get with the Drill Sergeants and have the Drills get these new recruits familiarized with what they will be going through when they get to basic training. And furthermore, they get some pretty good training out of it too, kind of a leg up per say. Because I leave for Drill Sergeant School in little over a month, I got some training out of it too. I got to demonstrate for these new recruits what the Position of Attention looks like, and then I got to turn around and traing them on the Rest Positions while at the Halt. I'm up in front of these troops pitching these modules to them and I have six full fledged Drill Sergeants backing me up. And they were in full drill sergeant mode, motivating those soldiers and getting them into the correct position and so on and so forth. I got into the mode myself a bit, but not to the full extent of some of these drills. I still noticed that these soldiers were scared, heck I saw terror in a few of their eyes! I had a blast training with them, it got me motivated within that unit to a point where I can't wait to get that badge. Afterwards, during chow, I stuck behind instead of going to the Chow Hall (which in the reserves, is contracted through Old Country Buffet) and hung out with the troops, talking to them and answering any questions they had. I did admit it has been a while since I've been through, and a few things have changed since I've gone through basic myself, but I noticed how much these troops relaxed around me and talked once the Drills had all left. I'm pretty easy going, and as long as the troops give me respect, I don't think I'll be a big yeller when I get my own hat, unless of course they really screw up. These troops seemed to have realized that they were having fun despite their initial terror (the Drills were in full drill sergeant mode, one of them came in and barked orders immediately and started yelling at a soldier for smirking when they first came in) and they seemed mostly curious. I have discovered that my favorite troops are those that are new to the army. I think that's one reason why I'm so drawn to being a drill sergeant. Passing for younger, a few of the troops asked me how long I've been in and when I mentioned just shy of eight years, they were shocked to learn that I'm 26. Several of them thought that I was 20 or something. I'm sure as time goes I'll get more comfortable in this role of Drill Sergeant Potential (and hopefully in three months or so that will be upgraded to full fledged Drill Sergeant) but in the meantime, I'm having a blast!
Posted by Erickson on 5:03 PM : (((
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1 Comments:
Comments retrieved for this post (I think?):
welcome back! I see you have re-enlisted. I know next to nothing about the military but what I have learned, I've read on your blogs and at B-5. Very educational.
Again, it's good to see on the net.
Chris
Chris | 07.29.07 - 6:59 pm | #
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I went to Fort Leonard Wood in June of 1992 on my way to becoming a combat engineer...
And on September 13th, after a 12 year absence I'm on my way back to Leonard Wood and then off to Bragg to become a PsyOps specialist.
I'm honestly more terrified of BCT than I am of going into combat, mainly because I know what I'm getting into.
I hated that place the first time through I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Good luck, being there and maybe I'll get lucky enough to spy you in your smokey the bear hat.
Apollo18 | 08.01.07 - 6:45 pm | #
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