 A man sets out to be a soldier, he hopes to accomplish many things. He wants to serve his country, he wants to carve out a career for himself, he wants to see something of the world, he wants excitement, a challenge, he wants to prove himself a man. I think I've accomplished all of this. I've got my campaign ribbons and my sergeant strikes, I've served on three continents and been in 15 foreign countries. About interesting assignments, I've worked with top-notch people, I've been given more responsibility than I'd have dreamed possible. I've had a lot of satisfaction out of being a soldier, and I think I've been a good one. One thing I'm positive of, in my 14 years in the Army, I've never had a more satisfying job than I have now, as a drill sergeant. A year ago, I didn't know what a drill sergeant was. I was sitting in a PX in Kaiserslautern, Germany, wondering where the Army was going to send me next. It was then that the Army's new drill sergeant program was just getting underway. The drill sergeant concept came about following a directive from the Secretary of the Army to U.S. Connarch, Continental Army Command. His orders were to revitalize Army training, and in particular, basic combat training. There's no doubt that our analysis has proved that the basic combat training program can best be revitalized by the assignment of more and better sergeant instructors at the lowest possible level. This new basic combat training program shows much promise. As you know, through the Office of Director of Individual Training, Connarch re-evaluated its own methods. Good, well-motivated combat soldiers. The assignment of additional or more sergeant instructors with their hour-to-hour and day-to-day contact with the basic combat trainees will produce more effective soldiers who have a better attitude towards the Army. Connarch's research revealed that the early attitudes formed by recruits influenced their entire Army career. Soldiers who had a positive attitude toward the Army generally looked back favorably on basic training. So a very simple hypothesis suggested itself. If you could improve the basic training environment, you could improve the performance of the entire Army. For the recruit of today is the frontline soldier of tomorrow. The decision was to change from a system of centralized training committees to unit-level instruction, which is considered the prime recruit training level. And to provide the personal contact needed, Connarch created the role of drill sergeant. The man underneath the broad-brimmed campaign hat became the heart of the new system. The best non-coms in the Army were needed for this program, and Connarch set out to attract them. When my CO in Germany said he was recommending me for drill sergeant school, I didn't know what to think. Met him all, and I'm sure you'll find the standards very high. As you know, the higher the standards, the better the reward. And the Department of Army doesn't expect you to get out there and put out all of this effort without some rewards, some of which will be free laundry, issue of extra uniforms, and it is a stabilized tour of which you'll mean something to you as a family man. Sounds real good, sir. And another advantage is the promotions, there's additional promotions looking out for the drill sergeants, and this will probably offer one of the biggest challenges to your personal leadership that you've ever experienced. When I returned to the States, I was assigned to drill sergeant school, one of just six in the whole country. Good morning men, welcome to drill sergeant school. You're all top soldiers or you wouldn't be here. A lot of you have been in the Army and in charge of troops for a long time. Many of you have been away from the basic fundamentals for a long time, and are rusty on the finer points of training recruits. Is that correct? As far as the Army is concerned, there is only one correct method to conduct dismounted drills. To give PT, to mount guards. At the drill sergeant school, they review every subject taught in basic combat training. They study concepts of leadership and motivation, and most important of all, every student is taught to be an instructor. The complete nomenclature of this weapon, the M-14 rifle, is shown on this chart. Later on, you will learn to disassemble and assemble this weapon. The M-14 is magazine-fed air-cooled. It is also a requirement of the new program that all officer personnel assigned to basic training regiments be similarly indoctrinated. At each of the six drill sergeant schools, there is a short course for company grade officers. In order to indicate to you the magnitude of your responsibilities and the need for superior training, I want you to note, Lieutenant-Colonels and above, who are assigned to Army training centers, are required to attend a three-day senior officers orientation at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Members of the reserve enlisted program. After four months in one of your training centers and receiving basic combat or advanced individual training, approximately 212,000 of these young soldiers enter the replacement stream to supply Army commands worldwide. The remaining 145,000 return to their parent reserve or National Guard units. Truly, your training centers represent the heart that pumps the lifeblood to the Army's ready forces. Upon completion of the required six-week course, new drill sergeants are authorized to don their distinctive campaign hats. Georgia first-class voice, Georgia first-class stout. Another milestone in their professional military careers and another moment of pride to be shared by their families and friends. The new drill sergeants are assigned to a basic training company at one of the Army's basic combat training centers. Gentlemen, you know that the degree of proficiency that each trainee attains during his eight weeks of basic training here depends primarily on how well each of you do your job as drill instructors. Now, we have been discussing the training program for a second week of basic training, and I'm sure that each of you know your individual responsibilities. Now, do you have any questions? Sir, in reference to Thursday's noon meal, we eat on the range or we truck back to the company and have dinner in the mess hall. Thursday's meal? Yes, sir. We will eat the Thursday's noon meal at the range and then we will march back. I plan on departing the range approximately $1,300. Are there any other questions? Mr. Olsen, you're dismissed. I was as nervous as a recruit myself those first few weeks with my new company, but I remembered what they had taught me in drill sergeant school. And as I began to learn more about the recruits in my platoon, I began to see more ways in which I could help them get off to a better start on their Army careers. For the more than 350,000 young men who enter the Army each year, basic combat training is a period of transition from civilian to military life, a difficult period for many. Inductees or reservists in for just six months, the Army is genuinely concerned with each of them as individuals about their health, about the cut of their uniforms, about the type of Army career they are best suited for. Although they are younger, recruits today are bigger, healthier, better educated, usually with high school certificates and more carefully selected than ever before. Do you have a driver's license? Yes. Your date of birth is 20 December 42? Yes. You're a single? Yes. No defendants? No. Do you wear glasses? No. What did you do in civilian life? What was your main civilian occupation? Uh, farm. You were a farmer? Mm-hmm. Did you operate any machinery, elevators? Yes. Large trucks? No large trucks, but large tractors. Did you operate small vehicles such as a pickup trucker? Yes. Would you like to be a light vehicle driver? Yes, I would. You would? Beginning at the reception station and continuing to the time they complete basic combat training, eight weeks later, they are under the constant guidance and supervision of their drill sergeant. His job is to teach soldiering. In fact, he gives the recruit the majority of instruction received in basic combat training. He teaches them the new method of hand-to-hand combat, a combination of judo, karate, and old-fashioned street fighting. It's more deadly because it utilizes a man's natural reaction to kick or strike when under attack. There are 12 drill sergeants assigned to each company, three to a platoon. We get to know these soldiers pretty well, each one. We ought to. We're with them from dawn to dusk every hour of the training day. After hours, we're available for consultation, too. This isn't the kind of a job you can walk away from when retreat sounds. I guess you might say that we're a combination instructor, advisor, friend, big brother, training specialist, and even father-confessor. We have a responsibility to see that each and every one of these recruits gets through, no matter what his problems are. We feel that if a recruit has difficulty, it's not that he failed to learn. It's that we fail to teach. That's why we keep a close watch on our platoon and help each man all we can. Yes, Sergeant. All right, good. We'll have a little bit of trouble with this written test. I want you to go over a few of these questions and answer them for me here. I'd like you to read those questions now and the answers to me. But sometimes a recruit just needs more instruction. If this is the case, we recommend that he be recycled. That is, put back a week or two. That's correct. That's good. All right, read the second one now. Time is the crucial factor in training today. D, if you are now or at any time, it was awarded. That's correct. All right, read the third one now. There are still some people who have this mental picture of Army basic training as it was in World War I, the combat training. To accommodate shorter periods of military service, the Army has streamlined the course to eight weeks. That leaves only 44 training days to turn a raw recruit into a fighting man. Just 352 hours to make a soldier. There are just 12 hours for bayonet. 4 hours for grenade. 8 hours for first aid. And 3 hours for military courtesy and customers. He must also be made familiar with such things as night firing, individual camouflage, and new methods of protection against chemical, biological, radiological warfare. The objective of basic combat training is to develop a disciplined, highly motivated soldier who is qualified in his basic weaponry. Physically conditioned and drilled in the fundamentals of soldiery. Today's recruit needs incentives, just as their incentives for us to become drill sergeants. This is one. Our honor board. We use it to stimulate rivalry between the different companies in our battalion. Competition gets pretty spirited, such as in pugil stick training. This is one place a man gets a chance to use his full strength against an opponent. Other incentives are the rifle marksmanship awards, especially the sharpshooter and expert medals. Every recruit wants to be a hotshot with a rifle. On the 25 meter range, the recruit learns the fundamentals of the M14 rifle. How to aim it. How to zero it in. How to fire it from the basic shooting positions. The second week of range work is devoted to basic rifle marksmanship. The new system substitutes realistic silhouette targets for the old conventional bullseyes. Finally, the recruit is ready to fire for record. Targets pop up at ranges of from 50 to 350 meters to qualify as a marksman and pass basic training. He must hit a total of 30 or more targets out of 84. 45 hits make him a sharpshooter, 60 an expert. In our company of 235 men, we had 108 sharpshooters and 12 experts. Only three men failed to qualify. And after a little more help, they made it two. That's pretty good shooting. We like to think that our personal coaching helps the men score better. Our boys did well on their PCPT too. The PCPT, or physical combat proficiency test, is part of a standardized series of tests given at the end of each training cycle. And combat boots is a pretty fast mile. Along with physical training, the recruit is tested on every military subject taught during basic combat training. However, if he fails to achieve the minimum score, he is dropped back for additional training and retesting. In the Army, this is called recycling. If he does extra well, he may be one of the top 20% in each company, eligible for immediate promotion and an increase in pay. Another challenge to the recruit is the week he spends on bibwag and on the combat courses. Under safe, controlled conditions, he gets a first-hand feel of what combat is like. Or, as the former Chief of Staff said, the Army no longer has time for combat shakedowns. When we go today, we could go shooting. Week cycle came to an end. It felt sort of lonely. We had a good bunch in our platoon, and I remembered all of them. I remembered the ones who were always first in line for Chow who ran into personal problems. I remembered the few who got sick. I remembered the one who didn't make it. I also remembered the fun my gang had whenever there was a few minutes for relaxation. I remembered how young they looked that first day. I remembered how proud I was of them yesterday at the graduation review. And how proud they were of themselves. Ready to go on to advanced training. My job was done. But tomorrow, a new job begins. The job is a job being well done, according to this paragraph taken from a letter written and signed by an entire platoon of former recruits.