Knox vs Jackson
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This past week I was involved in an SRP (soldier readiness process) that had me shipped to Oklahoma City where my division headquarters is located because i'm a mobilizing soldier. The trip was in itself interesting, and I met a bunch of the other Drill Sergeants I will be mobilizing with and got to know them a little better, though they will be in a different company and probably a different batallion then I will be. But what I discovered most is that I think I will enjoy my mobilization to Knox better then i would have liked a Mob to Jackson. Last fall was my first time in Fort Jackson, and while I was a rookie hat with a grand total of three days since graduating DSS when i set foot on Jackson's soil, I learned a lot from my experience there but often found myself thinking 'is this what the army is coming too?' I was severely dissappointed, and I didn't have a firm idea of what was my lane and what I was allowed to do so I often observed and more often then not didn't do anything when I probably should have stepped up and did something. Like I said, I was leaning on my battle buddies to help me out and tell me what to do. In my two weeks, I discovered I was under the mentorship of two short timers, meaning they had plenty of time on the trail and were just counting the days where they would hang up their hat. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to speak bad about my Battle Buddies, but they more often then not set me up for failure by throwing me out there when I wasn't ready to be thrown to the wolves just yet. I made more then one mistake while I was in Jackson, and looking back, I am realizing how much I flubbed my time there more and more. I think I did some things right, but I wager to bet that my time in Jackson would have been a lot different if I had been there from day one. It didn't help that I was falling in on Week 6 and these soldiers were used to how OTHER drill sergeants did things. And the trouble makers I was told about turned out to not be trouble makers at all. The soldiers I should have been warned about didn't even get a mention in my incoming briefing. I learned who the dirtbags were on my own, and I didn't get enough time to correct the issues I should have corrected, like a certain Private L. Furthermore, when you talk to different Drill Sergeants, they will all basically tell you that Fort Jackson just plain sucks. There is no other basic training post quite like Jackson, I'm not sure why because it's supposedly the head of TRADDOC and Drill Sergeant School and what not. Well, the privates in Jackson get more freedoms and priveleges then any other training post. what's more, you've got females training there. I'm a female, and I can tell you that mixed companies suck, for a variety of reasons. When you got privates writing pornographic letters to each other and all of these distractions, it makes the training more difficult then it has to be. Knox should be interesting. It still has its reputation for being a 'tough' basic training post, as it's home of the Armor School and has been for who knows how long. It is also not a female friendly post. This will prove interesting to me, which means I've got to keep my head up and work extra hard to earn the recruit's respect, because if I don't get that right away, I won't get it for the full nine weeks I'm there and quite frankly I will have a miserable time. So it is quite necessary for me to be a heinous bitch for the first three weeks. I'm not there to make any friends, I'm there to be a drill sergeant and shove my boot up these soldier's asses if they don't listen or do what they need to do. I'm sure I'll get my little pet peeves that they will learn about me, like weapons accountability which was big while I was in Jackson and will probably be an issue in Knox as well, but I will literally have to keep a straight face and just be angry for three weeks. I think I'll have fun regardless, but I have to get my mean on, and I have to work on my physical fitness. I'm dealing with 60 some odd trainees, all male, and I have to lead by example. It will be interesting, but I'll do my best. At least its not Fort Jackson.
Posted by Erickson on 6:36 PM : (((
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1 Comments:
Damn straight Erickson, get your bitch on!!
Be tough, be heinous, be harsh!! You're there to turn little boys into fighting soldiers, not limp wristed poets and troubadors.
Then laff yourself wobbly once they graduate.
But scare the crap out of them, get their respect and get their heads on straight. If you do the job right, they'll be telling their grandchildren stories about how tough you were. Anything less than that and you've done them a disservice.
We won't tell them what a sweetie you actually are.
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