Are drill instructors ever nice?

Are drill instructors ever nice?



I present Drill Instructor Sergeant Winston, USMC

(Sadly, no photo of him, but here is a perfectly adequate DI webperson to give the feel for him)

Drill Instructor Sergeant Winston was one of the two bottom drill instructors in my platoon. Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Simms was the lead, he’s supposed to be the one who is nice periodically, but not in my platoon.

Sergeant Winston was a hard-ass. He was happy doling out punishment for the most minor infractions. But his true passion was comedy. Seriously. After the first 3 weeks, the break-in period where we were learning the most basic aspects of being a Marine, his comedic side started to show.


When it was his night to monitor the platoon, after dinner until reveille the following morning, we would have some independent time to clean our rifles, polish boots, and do basic other things we were always behind on keeping up with. 

Every 7 minutes, or so, he would call the entire platoon to stand at attention on line (just in front of the bunk beds, in parallel lines down the squad bay), and would walk up and down the center aisle telling jokes of his own making. If you cracked a smile, laughed, or moved, he’d send you up to the quarterdeck. Once he got 8 people up there, he would dismiss the platoon, and PT (physical training) the crap out of those poor 8 Marines (we were 2nd Battalion, which in 1989 were called Marines before graduation). After ~5 minutes of PT, he’d bring the whole platoon back to attention on line and do it again.

He had serious potential as a comic. It was everything we could do to avoid laughing. If you started to look in distress, he’d zero in on you and direct his attention towards your weaknesses. Nobody lasted long with his full attention directed towards them.

Was it fun? Yeah, it was. It was the highlight of bootcamp. He was still a hardass, but he was a fun hardass.


Update in response to comments: Sadly, it was over 30 years ago and I don’t remember his actual jokes. I really wish I could.

It is not uncommon to give your DIs a present at graduation. As a “thank you” I secured him a bottle a Johnny Walker Black as a present the night before (I had it brought to the Island for him). He may have been really hung over at the actual graduation.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS:US Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmond.

Image
 RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS:US Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmond. Here is America's only soldier to ever receive Israel’s highest honor conferred on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.  77 years ago, facing the threat of immediate execution, he and his men displayed an act of courage and character that exemplifies what it means to take a stand against evil. US Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, 422nd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, the “Golden Lions”, was captured by German forces at the onset of the Battle of the Bulge.  A native of Knoxville, TN, Edmonds was 25 years old. He had only been on the front line for five days when his unit was overrun. Edmonds' captors marched him east where he was transferred to Stalag IX-A, a camp for enlisted personnel just east of Bonn, Germany.  As the senior noncommissioned officer at the camp, Edmonds found himself responsible for 1,275 American POWs. On January 27, 1945, the Camp Com...
Read more

Perched atop the deck of a ship in the year 1910, a sailor shares a moment of companionship with the ship's cat and its tiny kitten.

Image
Perched atop the deck of a ship in the year 1910, a sailor shares a moment of companionship with the ship's cat and its tiny kitten. Throughout maritime history, ship's cats have been valued members of crews, providing both practical assistance and emotional support to sailors during their voyages. Beyond their role as cherished companions, these feline sailors played a crucial role in maintaining the ship's integrity and protecting its cargo. With their keen hunting instincts, ship's cats helped control the rodent population aboard, safeguarding vital supplies and equipment from damage. Their presence also brought a sense of comfort and camaraderie to sailors far from home, offering a brief respite from the rigors of life at sea. In this timeless scene, we glimpse the enduring bond between seafarers and their feline companions, a testament to the shared journeys and mutual reliance that defined life aboard the ship.
Read more

🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Honoring the Service of First Sergeant Floyd Talbert of Easy Company♠️

Image
 🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Honoring the Service of First Sergeant Floyd Talbert of Easy Company♠️ Floyd Merrill Talbert, of  Kokomo, Indiana, enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 24, 1942 at Fort Benjamin Harrison, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division at Camp Toccoa under the direction of Captain Herbert Sobel. Talbert made his first combat jump on D-Day. While in Normandy, he was bayoneted by Pvt. George Smith, who mistook him for a German. Talbert had been trying to wake Smith while carrying a pistol, and wearing a German poncho.  Also, Talbert jumped in Operation Market Garden in Holland, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne. Talbert had quickly risen through the ranks, making the rank of Company 1st Sergeant, he would later turn that rank in, when he thought he could do better to be with the men he had fought alongside of during the war, self-demoting to St...
Read more

🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: Three War Veteran: Colonel Ed McMahon of the US Marine Corps:

Image
 🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: Three War Veteran: Colonel Ed McMahon of the US Marine Corps: You may remember his signature line - "Heeeere's Johnny!! For nearly 30 years Ed McMahon was the co-host of the popular television series "The Tonight Show" with fellow World War II veteran Johnny Carson. While Johnny served in the Navy - Ed served with the US Marine Corps.  McMahon served with the Marines during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. According to the US Department of Defense: "In 1944, Ed McMahon was commissioned in the Marine Corps and earned his pilot's wings.  He became a Marine Corps test pilot and a flight instructor in F4U Corsair aircraft at Lee Field, in Green Cove Springs, Florida." "McMahon remained in the Marine Corps Reserve after the war and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War.  He was awarded six Air Medals for flying 85 combat missions over North Korea in an OE-1 unarmed observation aircraft." "Afte...
Read more

One day, a math teacher from Minnesota gave her students the following assignment:

Image
One day, a math teacher from Minnesota gave her students the following assignment:  One day, a math teacher from Minnesota gave her students the following assignment:  make a class list, think about what they like most about each of their classmates, and write down this quality next to their last name.  At the end of the lesson she collected the lists. It was on Friday.  Over the weekend, she processed the results and on Monday distributed to each student a piece of paper on which she listed all the good things that their classmates noticed in him. The guys were reading, and here and there a whisper was heard: “Is this really all about me? I didn’t know I was loved so much. They didn't discuss the results in class, but the teacher knew she had achieved her goal. Her students believed in themselves.   A few years later, one of these guys died in Vietnam. He was buried in his homeland, Minnesota.  Friends, former classmates, and teachers came to say goodbye t...
Read more

🇺🇲A Salute to Melvin E Biddle. Recipient of Congressional Medal of Honor and Hero of the Battle of the Bulge.

Image
🇺🇲A Salute to Melvin E Biddle. Recipient of   Congressional Medal of Honor and Hero of the Battle of the Bulge. Serving as lead scout during an attack to relieve the enemy-encircled town of Hotton, Pfc. Biddle aggressively penetrated a densely wooded area, advanced 400 yards until he came within range of intense enemy rifle fire, and within 20 yards of enemy positions killed three snipers with unerring marksmanship. Courageously continuing his advance an additional 200 yards, he discovered a hostile machinegun position and dispatched its two occupants.  He then located the approximate position of a well-concealed enemy machinegun nest, and crawling forward threw hand grenades which killed two Germans and fatally wounded a third. After signaling his company to advance, he entered a determined line of enemy defense, coolly and deliberately shifted his position, and shot three more enemy soldiers.  Undaunted by enemy fire, he crawled within 20 yards of a machinegun ne...
Read more

On this day 10th March 1945.

Image
On this day 10th March 1945. 67 Germans tunneled out of a prisoners of war camp at Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales, United kIngdom; all were captured within a week, including two who were caught by an unarmed girl working with the Auxiliary Territorial Service. From the outset, those in charge at Island Farm were acutely aware of the risk of escape by the prisoners and the potential risks that an escape would pose. Sabotage of vital war work was feared as the camp was within a mile of the munitions factory which employed 39,000 and in the heart of industrial south Wales which was so crucial to the war effort. Their fears were well founded. In January 1945, a tunnel was discovered and though the camp commander and guards realised that it was likely to be a diversionary tunnel, they failed to find the other. It was through this second tunnel, with its entrance in Hut 9, that the officers made their escape in March 1945. On 10 March, the German soldiers gathered in the hut to make their wa...
Read more

Reg Curtis, No. 2 Commando, 11th SAS, 1st Parachute Battalion:

Image
 Reg Curtis, No. 2 Commando, 11th SAS, 1st Parachute Battalion: Reg Curtis fought through France and Belgium to Dunkirk as a Grenadier Guardsman before volunteering in 1940 to join No. 2 Commando and become one of Britain’s first paratroopers.  He took part in experimental parachute training as a member of the 11th SAS Battalion, later to become the 1st Parachute Battalion, the founding battalion of The Parachute Regiment.  In 1942/3 he fought with 1st Para as part of the 1st Parachute Brigade in Tunisia, where they earned the name ‘Red Devils’ from the enemy. He was part of the group who held the Primosole Bridge in Sicily in 1943.  He was badly wounded trying to reach the Arnhem Bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 and after the battle had his right leg amputated.  He was one of the few members of the original 1st Parachute Battalion to survive the war and when he passed away in 2016 was the last man standing from the small group who remained close-knit ...
Read more

1944: The Hurtgen Forest - slaughter of the U.S army on German soil...

Image
1944: The Hurtgen Forest - slaughter of the U.S army on German soil... 79 years ago today in 1944, a bloody clash of arms that was set to become the longest single battle ever fought by the U.S army and the longest battle of the war fought on German soil began as American troops entered the jaws of the Hürtgen Forest.  Though largely overshadowed due to the wider coverage given to the subsequent Battle of the Bulge, the battle at Hürtgen was to be one of the fiercest fought on the Western Front with many soldiers coming to call it the ‘Death Factory’ or ‘Meat Grinder’ of the U.S army (U.S troops pictured). In the aftermath of the D-Day landings, Allied forces had swept over much of France and the Low Countries in a seemingly unstoppable tide.  Within a couple of months, they were faced with the western frontier of the Reich itself.  Eager to keep the momentum going and to defeat the enemy as swiftly as possible, the Americans chose to cross the Rhine and invade Germany....
Read more

Man divorces 14-year-old girl for allowing male doctor attend to her during childbirth.

Image
Man divorces 14-year-old girl for allowing male doctor attend to her during childbirth. A 14-year-old girl was reportedly divorced by her husband after she allowed a male doctor to attend to her during childbirth. The teenage mother experienced complications during delivery, leading her to be rushed to the hospital. The teenage mother experienced complications during delivery, leading her to be rushed to the hospital. The Executive Director of Nana Women and Girls Initiative, Dr. Fatima Adamu, disclosed the distressing incident, expressing her concern over the lack of gender equity in the recruitment and deployment of medical personnel to rural communities. According to Dr. Adamu, the young Fulani girl faced difficulties during childbirth, prompting her immediate transfer to a medical facility. The male medical practitioner available at the hospital successfully delivered her baby.However, when the husband arrived and learned that a male doctor had attended to his wife during labor, he...
Read more