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Yes, Drill Sergeant!
Feb. 28th, 2015 02:48 pmSomething came to me last week when I was at the YMCA. I owe a debt I can never repay to my Drill Sergeants.
Oh, how I loathed them at the time. Drill Sergeants Redding, Colom, and Rearden made my life as Roster Number 203 of 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 7th Battalion, 1st Infantry Training Brigade, pure hell. They pushed. They yelled. They could see microscopic imperfections in my uniform from 50 meters. Even if they never entered the washroom, they'd know if I had crawled under the washtubs and polished the brass drain covers or not. Senior Drill Sergeant Swanson and Drill Sergeant Chin also haunted my nightmares at Fort Benning. SDS Swanson was always standing there when you screwed up, and Drill Sergeant Chin . . . I can still hearing him saying "Men! Don't cheat your bodies! Do diamond push-ups!"
I can also hear him constantly calling me me "Belly."
But the other day, when I decided to up the weight I was lifting again, I realized it was their voices that were pushing me. Their belief that I was better than I believed I was, and their knowledge that what I thought were my limitations were just the beginnings of what I was capable of. Thanks to them, I never accept that good enough is good enough. What they taught me about myself is why I beat cancer, beat all the other problems, and beat my stroke. Because I Am The Infantry. Follow Me!
I often joke about my service, saying I came out as a trained killer and pretty good janitor, but the reality is what came out of all my training and experiences was pride. Pride in myself. The ability to believe in myself. The knowledge that pain is not a wall, but a passageway. Most importantly, knowing that deep down inside you always have one more ounce of effort, one last measure of will, if you can just harness it it.
This has been a rough life. I've both made terrible mistakes and been battered by chance. I own all of it. Because, thanks to the cadre of A-7-1, I am a United States Infantryman.
FOLLOW ME!!!
Oh, how I loathed them at the time. Drill Sergeants Redding, Colom, and Rearden made my life as Roster Number 203 of 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 7th Battalion, 1st Infantry Training Brigade, pure hell. They pushed. They yelled. They could see microscopic imperfections in my uniform from 50 meters. Even if they never entered the washroom, they'd know if I had crawled under the washtubs and polished the brass drain covers or not. Senior Drill Sergeant Swanson and Drill Sergeant Chin also haunted my nightmares at Fort Benning. SDS Swanson was always standing there when you screwed up, and Drill Sergeant Chin . . . I can still hearing him saying "Men! Don't cheat your bodies! Do diamond push-ups!"
I can also hear him constantly calling me me "Belly."
But the other day, when I decided to up the weight I was lifting again, I realized it was their voices that were pushing me. Their belief that I was better than I believed I was, and their knowledge that what I thought were my limitations were just the beginnings of what I was capable of. Thanks to them, I never accept that good enough is good enough. What they taught me about myself is why I beat cancer, beat all the other problems, and beat my stroke. Because I Am The Infantry. Follow Me!
I often joke about my service, saying I came out as a trained killer and pretty good janitor, but the reality is what came out of all my training and experiences was pride. Pride in myself. The ability to believe in myself. The knowledge that pain is not a wall, but a passageway. Most importantly, knowing that deep down inside you always have one more ounce of effort, one last measure of will, if you can just harness it it.
This has been a rough life. I've both made terrible mistakes and been battered by chance. I own all of it. Because, thanks to the cadre of A-7-1, I am a United States Infantryman.
FOLLOW ME!!!
