Photo By Cynthia McIntyre | Drill Sgt. (Sgt.) Andrew Webb and 1st Sgt. Shandrel Stewart let an errant recruit know...... read more read more
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By Cindy McIntyre
FORT SILL, Okla. (April 7, 2016) -- "Soldiers, from this day forward, the last words out of your mouth will be 'drill sergeant.' Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes drill sergeant!" roar 188 raw recruits, as Drill Sgt. (Staff Sgt.) Oscar Maynez introduces the cadre to B Battery, 1st Battalion, 79th Field Artillery.
Drill Sgt. (Sgt.) Andrea Webb, Maynez's assistant, and 1st Sgt. Shandrel Stewart stand by to issue correction to any Soldier who needs to get their ducks in a row. Webb walks up and down the rows of Soldiers looking for anything out of place. "Stop moving," she yells to one. "You're still moving!"
A few minutes earlier, they brought these new recruits from the 95th Adjutant General Battalion reception station where they were for about a week. These young Soldiers were issued their clothing, protective gear, dog tags, ID cards and haircuts.
Nobody was getting yelled at. Yet. That happened as soon as the recruits crossed the invisible line between civility and "you're in the Army now."
"We call this day Doomsday," confided Stewart, with a smile.
The recruits ran with heavy duffel bags on their backs, crossing that line from the reception station to Building 6007, their home for the next nine weeks. The yelling in stereo began in earnest. "Hurry up! Hurry up! Go go go!!!" Special "attention" is paid to the slowest runners.
The recruits assemble by vest color into four platoons under the covered assembly area, which amplifies the nonstop yelling considerably.
The drill sergeants make the recruits drop and do pushups. Just because. Stewart, who wears an Airborne patch, is there to oversee the drill sergeants, to make sure they stay within the bounds of the Training and Doctrine Command's regulations, and to do a bit of yelling herself at trainees who can't get with the program quickly enough.
"You lazy, you know that?" Stewart tells one in her best scold.
"Yes drill sergeant," barks the Soldier.
"That's not a drill sergeant," Webb yells in his face. "She's my first sergeant!"
Stewart addresses the assembled recruits. "Your success in basic training is largely hinged on the seven Army values," she says. "Personal courage, you're gonna have to dig deep. You're gonna have to find it. I don't know why you joined and I don't really care."
But she really does care, and so does Webb.
Their affection is obvious in the way they talk about their jobs, and the young men and women they help shape into combat Soldiers.
A few weeks earlier, both women taught boys from Tomlinson Middle School Army-style physical training in Lawton, helping the students prepare for the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.
The two trim women in shorts and T-shirts were laughing and enjoying the banter in the school gym while waiting for the boys to come in. They didn't seem like Soldiers of stern authority and power, who bossed around trainees and made them do push ups and throw GI (barracks cleaning) parties. They seemed like, well, people.
It became apparent when talking with them that being a drill sergeant or the supervisor of drill sergeants is a role, not a definition of who they are. They take young men and women, many right out of high school, break them down as civilians and remake them into Soldiers. The "abuse" is part of the game of toughening them up.
Although Stewart supervises 12 drill sergeants, she has never been one, and she doesn't want to be.
"I see how hard my drill sergeants work," she said. "They're here at five o'clock in the morning for nine weeks, and they don't go home until 9 o'clock at night."
There is a shortage of female drill sergeants in the Army. Many drill sergeants, males included, are "volun-told" for a two or three-year stint.
Webb asked for the job.
"I looked up to my drill sergeant a lot," she said of her time in basic seven years ago. "She used to get on my butt all the time."
Webb said it made her a strong woman and she wanted to do the same for others.
"I was nervous at first," she said, "but if you hunger for something, you just gotta go get it."
Webb said overseeing the transformation of raw recruits is rewarding.
"I like seeing them graduate into a better person. (During training) when they thank me I say "don't thank me, thank your recruiter." But then at the end I shake their hand and say 'you're welcome.' That's what I get out of it."
Stewart added, "These civilians come from all walks of life. Some are homeless, so there is no turning back for them. We have a lot of people coming in to get their U. S. citizenship (in exchange for serving). There's a language barrier or a cultural divide. There are single parents, people going through divorce, different reasons why people join."
Stewart said some have harrowing life stories, escaping from war-torn countries. "From what I've seen, these are the most disciplined Soldiers, because they have been through so much. This little stuff we're giving them (in basic training), it's like 'if you knew what I've been through.'"
Both Soldiers enjoy working with the Tomlinson students.
"These kids need guidance and leadership," said Stewart as the boys and their coach filed into the gym. "We might be raising a future sergeant major of the Army that started right here in sixth grade. I think it's important for females to see females in leadership positions. Even if I never said a word, my presence alone is enough."
Webb added, "Some don't have big brothers or big sisters they can look up to as a role model, so this keeps them out of the streets, keeps them drug free, alcohol free, making sure they stay physically fit."
This is Webb's second training cycle as a drill sergeant. What does she do in her scant spare time? "I like to go to the gym," she said. "I hang out with my fellow drill sergeants when we have time. Sleep." She laughs at that last one.
Even so, she's told several of her battle buddies who are considering wearing the "hat" to go for it. "It's the best thing that ever happened to me," she said. "It's very rewarding. Very rewarding."
Stewart, who enjoys bragging on her cadre, acknowledged the fierce reputation drill sergeants have. "(Trainees) hate them in the beginning," she said, "but in the last two weeks they love them. When we do our sensing sessions they tell everything the drill sergeants ever did to them in the first three weeks. The last two weeks I can't get a word in edgewise they love 'em, they're the best thing that ever happened to them. They'll say, 'please first sergeant, don't be mean to my drill sergeant.'"
For Webb, she knows she's done her job well when the last words that come out of the mouths of her graduates are, "Thank you, drill sergeant."
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.23.2017 12:51 |
| Story ID: | 221000 |
| Location: | FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 188 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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