 Hello, my name is Tom Byrd. I'm with the Fort Jackson Public Affairs Office, and I'm here with Drill Sergeant Panaway today to talk about an upcoming Come Meet Your Army tour on 20 September. Drill Sergeant Panaway, how are you today? I'm doing pretty good. How are you? Good. So what are we doing here today? So here to put out some information about the Come Meet Your Army program that we have here on Fort Jackson, 20th September is the next event that we'll be hosting here. It's pretty much a way for the community to come and see how these young Americans become soldiers. So one of the things that the Come Meet Your Army tour is for is a way for the community to come on to post, see what it is we do here, because as the post commander, Brigadier General Beagle, has made very clear since arriving, is that nothing we do here is a secret. And many people out in the community don't get the opportunity very often to come on to Fort Jackson and see what we do. And we train soldiers. So what is it you do here at Fort Jackson? So I'm a drill sergeant here at 3rd Battalion 39th Infantry Regiment. We're charged with that transformation process. So you're the one that gets them on day one and you're the one that marches them across that graduation field on graduation day, right? That day one pickup and it's both feed into the deep end of the pool. We start teaching them the discipline that's required, basic military movements and marching. Then around week three, we start getting into things along the lines of weapons qualification, being able to shoot their assigned weapon. Then around week six, we start putting it all together, adding movements into shooting and culminating with the forge, which is a four-day continuous training event that they're just going and going and going, showing that they have the determination and drive to become a U.S. soldier. So we're going to touch on a couple of things you just said. And the first one is y'all pick them up on pickup day. But before you get them, they actually go to the 120th reception battalion, which is here on Fort Jackson. And if you come out for the Come Meet Your Army tour, that's one of the things that you're going to get to go see is the process by which they go through and they get their shots, their immunizations, their initial clothing issue, the infamous haircut that they that all the males receive when they get there. And so that that part of the process will be in it as well. The other thing that Drillsar and Panaway touched on was the weapons piece. So before a soldier gets to go out and actually shoot a weapon, what's the first go through the little steps that they go through to be able to do that? So we break them down into pretty much separate little classes. The first class they get is a lot of the characteristics of the M4 carbine that they will be using throughout their time here at Basic Training. We move them on to the electronic skills tester. And it's pretty much a simulator that they have a life size M4 carbine that is operated with a compressed air. And there are lasers that pretty much shoot at a screen. It's like a giant video game almost. And it's one of the the EST is they call it the EST 2000. And it's about the time that it came into being. But it's one of the best tools to judge how, you know, to make sure that the soldiers are operating on the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship that they're trained on. So if a soldier goes out and shoots live rounds and can't shoot very well, you take them back to the EST, they get to get more training on it, very cost efficient and a very good tool. And if people come out for the Come Meet Your Army tour, that's one of the things that they'll get to see is the EST and see how that works. And what it simulates, they, the scenarios here on Fort Jackson actually have the ranges that the soldiers are looking at on those screens. So if they're at range one or range three or range five, that can be simulated in the EST. So other than just getting to see different training events that they'll get to see on the the tour, one of the things that they'll get to do is they get to go to a basic training graduation. So what's the, what are they going to see at graduation? So the graduation is a very historical ceremony in which the entire unit will move out onto a field marched by the commanders and their drill sergeants. They'll line up and they'll be recognized for the accomplishment that they have become a U.S. soldier. And then from there, they will pass the reviewing stand and all their families that are sitting there that have been waiting to see them for these nine long weeks. And it's a very proud moment for the soldiers and the family alike. It's that that's one of the best things to get to come to I think at Fort Jackson is to get to see the transformation that, you know, the drill sergeants and the cadre that are in basic training don't always see the transformation from pickup day to graduation because they're constantly there with that soldier. But all you hear from the parents and the loved ones and the friends is that, you know, this person is completely different than they were when I dropped them off. And that's one of the things that, you know, we constantly get is they're so well disciplined. They're, you know, they look stronger. They look more, you know, confident. And yes. So so that's one of the the main things that we want people to see is that graduation ceremony because it's a very important transition from becoming a civilian to a soldier and every single person who is in the army today and the vast majority that have ever been in the army have gone through that same ceremony of transitioning from a civilian to being a soldier. Other than the graduation, what else can visitors on the come meet your army tour day expect to see? There'll also be tours of the bays where the soldiers live in. So in the hours that they aren't training in those hours that they do get a little bit of that personal time and when they're sleeping they have bays in our company. We have four bays. They're fairly large open areas with bunk beds. Each bunk bed has two little drawers in them that they can keep their little writing material to send letters back home to their family. They have a wall locker to keep all the gear that we give them during this training period. Latrines, small bathrooms. It's a lot almost like a college dormitory kind of bathroom that they would have. For the uninitiated the army calls their restrooms latrines. So if you hear somebody saying I have to go to the latrine that's the bathroom. So other than that one of the main things that a lot of people often ask about is what is the chow like in the army? What do soldiers eat? And if you come out to this to the come meet your army tour one of the things you will get to experience is a military dining facility. So tell us about the the the de facto as we call it. The de facto there has been a lot of science and research that has gone into the nutrition that these soldiers need to not only perform at an optimal level but to build the muscle to increase their stamina. So all that research has been handed over to the dietitians and they come up with a very round meal that they are going to get all the nutrition that they need out of it. And it's a lot better than what I first came through. But they go through the chow line, they have their vegetables, their starches, their protein. And then there's a salad bar line where they're getting more fruits and vegetables, some fibers. And from there it's it's again it's a lot like a cafeteria type of setup. And I personally think anybody that comes out on the tour on the 20th will will really appreciate the the fact that like you said that the meal choices are specifically selected to give optimal nutrition to the soldiers while they're going through basic training. And what you know for the rest of us it's it's a very good meal. You go in there there's going to be baked fish, there's going to be baked chicken, there's going to be you know steamed broccoli and you know all kinds of different good foods in there to eat. So any of the the stories that you know come out about you know how bad the the meals are and the dining facilities are probably a little bit stretched. So but that's the that'll be one of the things that you get to come do while on the tour. And it is it is five dollars and sixty cents for the meal in the dining facility. Our deputy commanding officer Colonel Mclam will also be part of the the tour and be available during during the meal to chat with people. We'll have some soldiers there to be able to chat with as far as you know to tell their experience in basic training. Because one of the things that I always said every school you go to in the Army whether it's basic training or your NCO education system or the officer education system everything is relative to the time that you go through because no matter what it was like today tomorrow it very well could be changed. So getting to come see this is a snapshot of what we do on a daily basis here and if you come back the next time you may see something different. So it's because it's always evolving we're always learning especially on in the part of like body science how things can be done differently and better for the soldiers. So that's one of the good things. One of the last things that we'll get to do on the Commit Your Army Tour on September 20th is the Basic Combat Training Museum which is here on Fort Jackson and I'm not sure if you're familiar with the the museum over there but it's Fort Jackson has been around for 101 years and so the the primary mission of this installation of this Army installation has been basic training since its inception. So we we cover that at the at the Basic Training Museum. Other than getting a chance to go check out the museum what's some of the other training that they that you know we have to offer people. One of my favorite pieces of training that we do here is we call it Victory Tower. It is a very tall repel wall that these soldiers have to navigate their way up to and then repel down with nothing but one rope holding them up and a lot of people have a fear of heights a petrifying fear of heights and seeing these soldiers overcome that fear by the time they repel down that wall and make it to the bottom it's quite a sight to see. And along that lines one of the things that soldiers start getting from day one are the Army values and we have the seven Army values which the the acronym is leadership one of those that they have to do is personal courage and overcoming that fear of heights and displaying that personal courage because you've got three different rope bridges that they have to navigate as well and many of them on the the one rope is the probably one of the most fun things to watch because even though there's a net that's going to catch them if they fall the uh you you always have those soldiers that are like I can't do it I can't do it until they do and then once they do it they're like that was so easy can I do it again that was so easy it's like no you can't do it again you didn't want to do it the first time and so it is really a fun thing to watch to see people overcome that fear and to sit there at the end of it and the we we talked earlier about the confidence that the family members see on graduation day that the the confidence tower is the technical name for victory tower and it's called that for a reason because the confidence that the soldiers show after successfully navigating the different obstacles on that tower is is very apparent so visitors on the on september 20th will get a chance to take a look at that unfortunately we don't allow anyone I you know the uh to to be able to just go and repel as as much fun as that would be we uh we we just don't do that because it would interfere with training and the the most important thing is to get these soldiers through victory tower when they're here so uh other than uh the different training events they're gonna see the uh they'll get to go see the museum they'll get to eat in the dining facility they'll get to see what what happens at the in processing at 120th so what what else would you like to tell people about Fort Jackson here at Fort Jackson uh our primary focus has been training this entire time that I've been here and everybody that I've known who's been here we are dedicated solely to training these young soldiers top 10 percent of the army is chosen to become a drill sergeant the army has put a lot of very proficient people in these positions to ensure the end result is some of the best soldiers that we could ever produce and we are very proud of these young americans that are answering the call and coming out here and doing what very few people choose to do and it's just very I'm very proud to be part of that process and enjoy it greatly when people come out and see the work that these young trainees who are in nine short weeks will become a soldier seeing that hard work that these soldiers are putting in it it makes it all that much worth the while and and just touching on that I can say the same thing I was a drill sergeant here at Fort Jackson as well and even in the the early 2000s when I was here one of the you are proud of the the product that you put out and one of the things that we look at here is it it the saying is as as goes Jackson as goes the army because we are the largest basic training installation in the United States Army and so over 50 percent of all soldiers going through basic training come through Fort Jackson so it's very important for us to make sure that the the soldiers that we're sending to the AIT units and then on to the rest of the army are the best trained best equipped soldiers that we can produce and it's drill sergeants like drill sergeant pan away and the rest of the drill sergeants and cadre that are part of this that make sure that on every single day on this installation except for about two weeks in December we are training soldiers and they they do it day in day out and the quality is always the best that it can be and we as as Fort Jackson are very proud of what we do and we want to share that with the community so please you know come see us we here at Fort Jackson are very proud of what we do day in and day out and we want to share that with the community we want people to come on post to come see what we do because at the end of the day this this is not mine and drill sergeant pan away's army it is the American people's army we we are very proud of the the training that goes on here how we conduct it what we do and we want to share that with the American people we we want you to come out see what we do there's a link below to the online e-invite and you can also go to the Fort Jackson Facebook page and under the events tab you you can see the link as well so if you have any questions uh are wanting to come out and do it the we are doing it on September 20th it will start at 07 in the morning or 7 a.m. and civilian time and will last approximately eight hours so by about two o'clock we we are two to two thirty we're we're about wrapping it up so please come out see what your army does enjoy the time here and relish in what what we are also proud of and then you know you never know you may want to join the army too so this has uh been drill sergeant pan away from uh third battalion 39th infantry regiment and i'm tom bird from the fort jackson public affairs office