DIGNITY AND RESPECT: AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT HOW THE ARMY IS TRAINING DRILL SERGEANTS FOR A NEW ERA
Alex Hollings | November 30, 2022
Last month, Sandboxx News was given unprecedented access to the U.S. Army’s Drill Sergeant Academy in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Over the span of a week, I observed as the Army trained its latest crop of drill sergeants to mold civilians into professional warfighters using a new and controversial approach that’s been called “soft, woke, and undisciplined” by critics… but that’s referred to by insiders simply as Dignity and Respect.
As a Marine veteran turned journalist, taking stock of my own biases is an essential exercise when covering changes to America’s military. And I’ll acknowledge right up front that, like many veterans, I winced when the Army announced it was doing away with the longstanding (and sometimes abusive) training methodology we’ve come to refer to as the “shark attack” — a name derived from the way drill sergeants would swarm around fresh trainees, overwhelming them with verbal attacks.
Drill sergeants with 2nd Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, welcome a new Soldier to Fort Leonard Wood on training day zero. (U.S. Army photo)
In fact, it was that very bias that led to my decision to write this story in the first person.
The fact of the matter is, I’m not an outsider at all. Since I first stepped foot on the yellow footprints of Parris Island in 2006 — some 16 years ago now — I’ve lived and breathed America’s military in a variety of capacities: from recruit to Marine; from Marine to veteran; from veteran to defense contractor; from defense contractor to journalist.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/dignity-and-respect-an-exclusive-look-at-how-the-armys-training-drill-sergeants-for-a-new-era/
