Army's Top Drill Sergeants Compete at Fort Jackson
The State (Columbia, S.C.) | Sep 10, 2015 | by Jeff Wilkinson
FORT JACKSON -- Staff Sgt. Eric Hulien's work on Wednesday began at 3 a.m., when he completed PT (calisthenics) and a brisk 5-mile run.
Then came 15 stations where the Monmouth, Ill., native was graded on such things as reciting long sections of the Army training manual, inspecting a recruit's uniform, and teaching a combat squad how to clear the enemy from a room. After that, he conducted a first aid exercise -- complete with all the special effects of a Hollywood war movie -- that recreated a grisly bomb explosion in a Middle Eastern market.
Next was an obstacle course, where he crawled through culverts, climbed cargo netting, negotiated monkey bars, battered through blocking dummies and crawled through the dirt for 30 yards before scaling a timber wall. All before noon.
"I have no idea what's going to come next or when the day will end," said Hulien, Fort Jackson's representative in the U.S. Army's Drill Sergeant of the Year competition here -- one of six drill sergeants and eight advanced individual training, or AIT, platoon sergeants from across the nation seeking to be named the best trainers in the Army. "I'm good, but I'm exhausted."
Hulien's day ended at 10 p.m., just as it did on Monday and Tuesday, and likely will on Thursday, when the grueling, four-day competition could end with a body-breaking 10-mile hike carrying a 50-pound rucksack. (The competitors won't know for sure until it comes.)
The winners -- one active duty drill sergeant, one reserve drill sergeant and one AIT platoon sergeant -- will be named Friday during the commemoration of the 51st anniversary of the drill sergeant program.
"They are sacrificing sleep, sacrificing time with their families to compete," said Sgt. First Class David Stover, the 2013 Drill Sergeant of the Year. "But if they win, they know they're going places."
"My life changed"
Fort Jackson in Columbia is the U.S. military's largest basic training post, turning out 60 percent of the Army's new soldiers. It is also home to the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Academy, where all drill sergeants are trained.
The other active duty basic training posts are at Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; and Fort Sill, Okla., which each sent representatives to compete. Drill sergeants are gleaned from the top 10 percent of staff sergeants and sergeants first class in the Army. Most have multiple deployments, high levels of combat experience and are motivated to put their mark on the Army through the soldiers they train.
Becoming drill sergeant of the year can be the achievement of a lifetime for a non-commissioned officer.
"This is a shot to be the best of the best," said Staff Sgt. Franco Peralta of Anaheim, Calif., a 10-year Army veteran with two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan, who was representing Fort Sill. "I will separate myself from my peers."
The payoff for winning the competition is pride, career advancement and appointment to the Training and Doctrine Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. There, with experience from the parade ground up, they can influence training techniques and policy set by Army brass.
"My life changed significantly," said Staff Sgt. Jonathon Miller of Warsaw, Mo., the 2014 Drill Sergeant of the Year. "I went from working 18 hours a day at Fort Leonard Wood to a two-star (general-led) strategic command."
"Training at the highest level"
This week's competition is the fifth time these soldiers have advanced in a year. Each drill sergeant won at the company level, the battalion level, the brigade level and the post level.
But it is not just a test of toughness. The physical aspects of the event often take a back seat to the mental ones.
"The modules can be the toughest thing," Staff Sgt., Jacob Miller, who is representing Fort Leonard Wood, said of the long passages of Army regulations that have to be recited.
It's a tough thing to do fresh, Jonathon Miller said, but even tougher to do after sleep deprivation and near exhaustion -- hence the five-mile run to start the day.
"The key is to never quit," he said. "There are going to be times when you are mentally and physically exhausted. But if you don't quit, you'll be able to do things you've never done before."
For Fort Jackson's Hulien, who lives in Columbia with his wife, Molly, and four-year-old daughter, Brooke, the challenge is nothing new. He completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, the last in 2010 and 2011 after his daughter was born.
Hulien completed Drill Sergeant School, which is essentially taking basic training again, with the challenge of teaching the basic training classes and leading the exercises layered on top of the physical training. A drill sergeant, after all, never asks a soldier to do something he won't do himself.
Hulien, who has been a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson for a year, has completed four 10-week training cycles leading recruits. His day often begins at 3 a.m. and ends at 8:30 p.m., leaving an hour or so to be with his family before getting five hours sleep and beginning again.
Winning the drill sergeant competition would not only be a great personal achievement, he said, but also would be important for his family.
"I've always heard it would be great for my career," he said. "It's training at the highest level."
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/09/10/armys-top-drill-sergeants-compete-at-fort-jackson.html
