Drill Sergeant Essay

Being a drill sergeant may be the most challenging and rewarding assignment a Noncommissioned Officer will ever experience during his or her military career. The Drill Sergeant Program began as a pilot course. The course was a very selective training school, in which required attendees to possess certain criteria to be considered for enrollment and eventually become a highly qualified recruit trainer- a Drill Sergeant.
Based on an organizational meeting, the United States Continental Army Command (USCONARC) initiated a Trainer Preparation Course to be conducted during the period of 25 May 1964 to 26 June 1964. It was supervised primarily by officers from USCONARC, scientist from Human Resources Research Office, and operated by permanent party personnel of the Third US Army Noncommissioned Officers Academy Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The plan was for each training company to receive twelve of these new trainers, three per platoon. Selectees for the Trainer preparation course had to be 39 years old or younger, had to be physically fit, mentally and morally straight, possess the highest military bearing, and 15 months or more retain ability. Pentagon-level personnel managers looked for these candidates across the United States Army.
A highly competitive, five-week Drill
It was a lightweight pressed fiber or plastic helmet that does not make contact with the head. The Pith Helmet was worn by the instructors of the pilot program and the first graduates of the Drill Sergeant program. The headgear chosen to replace the Pith Helmet was the World War 1 Campaign Hat made by the J. B. Stetson Company. It was not until the second week of the first test cycle of training BCT Soldiers that the Drill Sergeants received their new Stetsons. The first Stetson’s were acquired from a warehouse in Paris Island Marine Corps base, SC. The service campaign hat issued was olive drab felt that was adopted in July