User Panel
Posted: 6/25/2022 9:00:07 PM EDT
DS, DI, MTI, RDC, CC...man or woman, they make an impression.
Me? Ft. Knox '90 - '91, Aco 1-81 AR, each platoon assigned two Drills: DS Pleasant(who could be anything but), a big blocky black SSG built like a brick shithouse. DS Frey, towering white guy, SSG, flat top haircut, built like a f-ing anvil and just as solid. You didn't mess with either of them. Both men taught me to grow up, suck it up with no excuses. I will remember their names, even decades later and so should you. No cheating folks, who kicked your ass, wore our country's uniform and taught you life's lessons? |
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SSgt Martinez (busted down, last I heard), SSgt Donely, SSgt Paulson (was an amateur UFC guy for awhile too).
2003, Platoon 2097. Edit, mine weren't "Drill Sergeants". They were the real deal. |
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SSG Moody from Wyoming and 2 others who were less memorable or respectable
ETA: senior drill SFC Salinas Fort Leonard Wood, MO SEP-OCT '87 D-6-10 3rd platoon |
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Must have not made that big of an impression in me, I couldn't name them or even my company or battalion if my life depended on it. Fort benning school for wayward boys '94.
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1985, Ft Jackson, E-3-1-1, Tank Hill.
MSgt Jose Merrero, Sgt Ken Williams. |
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DS Mejia, DS Binion and SDS Asadullah
B co 2/19 Inf Benning 2002 |
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SSG Fletcher, SSG Bankston and Sgt Hodge.
Ft McClellan A-40th MP from Oct-88 to Feb-89 |
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DS Walker was the lead drill from Montana and DS Muse was the "prick" DS from Tennessee. I was in OSUT in B co 1/81st Armor at Ft. Knox KY August 89-January 90.
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DS Schaul and DS Fuller in BCT, C co 2-28 inf
DS Dicker in AIT at ft Sam, f co 232d med Bn |
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MCRD San Diego 1994
Fox Co Plt 2102 SDI Sgt Hunt DI Sgt Foeckler DI Sgt French DI (Heavy) Sgt Watkins |
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SSG Gibby
SSG Lamay SSG Platero Gibby and Platero were genuinely hard as woodpecker lips. Lamay was a punk. |
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D.S. Tuatasi. Giant Arnold Schwarzenegger of a man, a Pacific Islander. Either Hawaiian or Tongan. Had to be roided out. Big Guy!
Harmony Church 6/1988 |
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Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
I was in his last platoon on the drill field. |
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SDI SSgt. Soto. DI’s we’re SSgt.’s Gilstrap, Baker and Sullivan.
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Pizaña - could bench 400
Dawson - could do 400 pushups Pearson - mostly useless |
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Senior Drill Instructor SSGT Summerill
Drill Instructor SGT Eskola Drill Instructor SGT Lewis I forget my guy's name. Definitely not his face, though. Platoon 3111, India Company, 3rd Battalion. I showed up in the yellow footprints on March 21, 1995. Damn, I'm old. Best, JBR |
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SDI Sgt Johnson
DI Sgt Carrier DI Sgt Lozano DI Sgt Hibbs DI Sgt Opie we had 5 lol. i could only remember the first 3 without going to my yearbook, |
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Quoted: @mountaineer82 Puerto Rican, heavy accent, and only cadence was Captain Jack? If so, I had the delightful experience of spending 16 weeks with him, Pfleger, Prochaska, Brown, and others in the summer of '89, C 1-50 View Quote @garanditis That would be him. My cousin was a drill down the road and knew him. First person I ever saw fall out of a run in basic. But I guess overall ok. |
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OS2 Owen's, YN1 Gowins and EN1 Evans. Navy RTC, DIV 256, May-July 2001
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SDI SSGT Holmes
DI SGT Blackwell DI CPL Lockhart Interesting note: Holmes went on to win the Marine Corps Bodybuilding contest a few years later. He was already built like a tank when he was my SDI, but when I saw the pics of him in Leatherneck mag he looked like a black Schwarznegger. |
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Quoted: D.S. Tuatasi. Giant Arnold Schwarzenegger of a man, a Pacific Islander. Either Hawaiian or Tongan. Had to be roided out. Big Guy! Harmony Church 6/1988 View Quote Roided? I knew a few Samoans in the Army, like Lady Gaga said, they were "born this way". Huge dudes, one taught us how to cook a pig in the ground. Yum! |
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MCRD PI. 1981
SSGT Demaline SGT Dvorak Cant remember the third guys name. He went down with cancer and disappeared. Cant rememer the name of the guy who replaced him. Both were SSGTs though. |
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Sgt. Wilder. Appropriately named because he went off on a private and beat the shit out of him in the shower area. He got removed as our platoon Senior DI and replaced by Sgt. Potendyk. He was always calm and quiet, but that was scarier than his killers, Sgt. Chandler and Sgt. Huges, who got off on making privates suffer.
We only saw Sgt. Potendyk lose his shit once. He was dumping foot locker trays and some 5.56 brass a private took from the rifle range made that distinctive "ping" when it hit the deck. Time stood still for a few seconds and you could hear a pin drop in the squad bay. Then all hell broke loose. All three DIs started dumping foot lockers and tipping over bunk beds. Shit was flying everywhere, privates were dodging the tornado that was our drill instructors. I thought someone was gonna die that day. Yeah, I will remember those three Marines till my last day. |
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SSGT Hollinger ( Senior D.I.)
Sgt. Pfortmiller Sgt Hernandez SGT Swann ( right out of D.I.school) MCRD San Diego 1987 |
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SFC "Mad Dog" McBride
Remember the faces but not the names. COHORT E-6-1 1983 Sand Hill, Ft. Benning |
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