Army's new drill sergeants teach rather than yell

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/armys-drill-sergeants-teach-rather-yell-091306477.html

By BROCK VERGAKIS | Associated Press – 1 hr 12 mins ago

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Army Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Heilman kneeled down in a wooded section of Fort Eustis and calmly told six soldiers he had never met before to prepare: They might find an improvised explosive device on their way to relieve some other soldiers at a checkpoint.

"If you encounter an IED before it explodes, make sure you don't make a ruckus. Don't scream," Heilman said as the young soldiers listened intently. "Remember someone put that thing there. They're trying to kill you and if you react to it and they know that you reacted to it, they're going to try their best to get whatever result they can. You might be running away from it but they're still going to blow it up and try to catch you."

Less than a foot away, an evaluator from the Army's Training and Doctrine Command stood with a clipboard in hand and listened to every word Heilman said, evaluating whether he had the right leadership and critical thinking skills to be named the Army's Drill Sergeant of the Year.

Noticeably absent from the test scenarios last week were any of the yelling, screaming and order-barking associated with drill sergeants in popular culture. To be sure, Army drill sergeants can still instill fear in new recruits. But as the Army focuses more on developing the critical thinking skills of its soldiers and less on rote memorization and one-size-fits-all training, some of their top drill sergeants say bellowing is a last resort.

"I really consider myself a new generation of drill instructor. I mean, unless you do something really, really out of place I don't think there's any need to do the whole yelling and screaming," said Staff Sgt. Danneit R. Disla, who is part of the 98th Reserve Division based in Rochester, N.Y. "I just think if you talk to them like a person, like a man, they will act like a man, like a grown man."

There are about 2,400 drill sergeants in the active duty ranks and about 3,000 in the Army Reserves. Six drill sergeants spent the past week in a physically and mentally grueling competition to win top honors in their division, writing essays, answering questions and marching for miles with 50 pound rucksacks on their backs, all the while never knowing what's coming next.

Heilman was named the winner Friday. He will spend a year assigned to the Initial Military Training Center of Excellence, part of the Training and Doctrine Command, where they will help shape the future of the Army. The new breed of drill sergeants means a quiet and unassuming soldier — who can still be vocal when he or she needs to be — is just as effective as the classic drill sergeant.

Sgt. 1st Class Adam McQuiston, who is based at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., acknowledged being shy before becoming a drill sergeant. He said he's fought that by constantly leading and teaching new recruits, but that doesn't mean he has to be loud.

"Maybe there's a time for the screaming and yelling and constant pushing, but you also need to be that expert trainer at those skills they're going to need out of basic training," McQuiston said.

Part of the drill sergeants' evaluation focused on what they would do if a trainee refused to do as they were told. One drill sergeant tackled the scenario by simply saying "let's talk" and listening to the recruit and then providing mentoring.

The top drill instructors, who each won competitions at the posts where they're based, say being a trainer who excels means finding a way to relate to individual soldiers who come from a variety of backgrounds.

"You have to realize that not every single trainee that you deal with is going to be the same. They're all not all going to relate, take the information the same and relate the same," said Staff Sgt. Jarod Moss, a reservist from Dallas who is part of the 95th Reserve Division based at Lawton, Okla. "Look at it as a different way to teach it."

Underscoring the importance of being able to relate to soldiers, the drill sergeants were evaluated on the correct actions to take in response to a role-playing soldier who was suspected as suicidal.

Among other things, the drill sergeants were also evaluated on how to move soldiers under fire to cover and then return fire, how they would teach soldiers how to enter and clear a room and how to conduct a medical evaluation.

"You don't really just want the most physically fit, or just the smartest. It's got to be a very well-rounded, intelligent, articulate individual that's going to get through this. Much like our basic training has changed from being a mindless basic training, really all about blind obedience, to more of teaching them to think and make decisions under stress," said Command Sgt. Maj. John R. Calpena from Fort Eustis. "In the fight they're in they can't be looking back for the sergeant to know what they're going to do when they come under fire in a marketplace. They have to make a decision, shoot or don't shoot and report. Same with our drill sergeants."

That's not to say physical endurance isn't still important.

On the third day of the competition following a run through an obstacle course filled with ditches, walls and cargo nets similar to the ones recruits go through, McQuiston was so exhausted that he vomited.

Heilman, who is stationed at Fort Jackson outside of Columbia, S.C. and is originally from Philadelphia, complained of having blisters on his feet the size of half-dollars.

"My feet are pretty much just nubs, but I'm able to push through it. Pain, shmain. I don't care. It's a competition," he said during a brief break. "I'm just going to keep pushing until they tell me I have to stop or until I fall over and stop, but I'm not going to quit."

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

More of the pussyfication of America

[Karee 4,191]

More of the pussyfication of America

Yep. Maybe they can give the enemy {hugs} to bring them around. Sickening.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Yep. Maybe they can give the enemy {hugs} to bring them around. Sickening.

All this namba pamby PC ####### has given men a headache.

AND P>S If you can't understand how subjecting trainees to severe stress to weed the sick lame and lazy out of an infantry platoon is a good thing, then you have never been there.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Run Herschel Run

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Yep. Maybe they can give the enemy {hugs} to bring them around. Sickening.

I think if they would just go reason with the enemy and explain their feelings it would end with a positive note LOL

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

When I was going through basic, the drill instructors told us they could no longer make physical contact with a recruit, but could do anything up to that point, including adding extra duty and additional "training". One DI admitted to cold-cocking a stubborn recruit. He lost a stripe, and forfeited six months pay.

If they can't create an artificially stressful and confusing environment, how will the recruits learn to deal with a confusing and stressful battlefield situation?

[X Factor 1,112]

When I was going through basic, the drill instructors told us they could no longer make physical contact with a recruit, but could do anything up to that point, including adding extra duty and additional "training". One DI admitted to cold-cocking a stubborn recruit. He lost a stripe, and forfeited six months pay.

If they can't create an artificially stressful and confusing environment, how will the recruits learn to deal with a confusing and stressful battlefield situation?

When I was in basic training in Kentucy at Fort Knox, we felt that our drill sergeants could lay their hands on us. In fact they challenged us one on one if we were up to it that they could take anyone of us on - in private. No one took up the challenge. And they never did physically beat up on us, but they were right in our faces screaming and no one dared challenge their authority.

[Karee 4,191]

When I was in basic training in Kentucy at Fort Knox, we felt that our drill sergeants could lay their hands on us. In fact they challenged us one on one if we were up to it that they could take anyone of us on - in private. No one took up the challenge. And they never did physically beat up on us, but they were right in our faces screaming and no one dared challenge their authority.

I think that's how it ought to be.

My mom and and I used to have massive arguments about women being in the military. I was totally against it.

Then I met my Thai wife. After a few #### kickings from her, I figured she could hold up with the best of them. Anger is a necessity in the military. Women have that market cornered.

[X Factor 1,112]

I think that's how it ought to be.

My mom and and I used to have massive arguments about women being in the military. I was totally against it.

Then I met my Thai wife. After a few #### kickings from her, I figured she could hold up with the best of them. Anger is a necessity in the military. Women have that market cornered.

You must be a very confident man to handle a whipping from your wife

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I can remember my DI putting a whipping on me right in front of the entire company at the range when we were getting ready to qualify and the Senior DI asked me if I was going to press charges. Of course I said no, and later on the DI apologized to me and asked if i wanted to box him in the ring. That was two ####### whooping I got from that guy in the same week.

When you start messing with the military your asking for trouble. These are the people who defend this country and if they aren't prepared then the little liberal yuppies here are going to be in for a big surprise one of these days seeing how we all know just about how useful that bunch is when it comes to defending this country. They don't have a clue yet they keep messing with the military. First it was women in combat situations, then gays and now this.

[Operator 1,927]

"Lets talk"?..."Lets talk"? Are you fu**ing kidding me?!?

I'd listen to one of my privates after he refused to train...I'd listen to him gasp for air.

[Marilyn. 340]

"You don't really just want the most physically fit, or just the smartest. It's got to be a very well-rounded, intelligent, articulate individual that's going to get through this. Much like our basic training has changed from being a mindless basic training, really all about blind obedience, to more of teaching them to think and make decisions under stress," said Command Sgt. Maj. John R. Calpena from Fort Eustis. "In the fight they're in they can't be looking back for the sergeant to know what they're going to do when they come under fire in a marketplace. They have to make a decision, shoot or don't shoot and report. Same with our drill sergeants."

the part in bold seems like a good thing to me..

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

the part in bold seems like a good thing to me..

The Dutch military was the first to try this ####### and this is what happened when the Dutch finally got their chance to show off their "modern politically correct military".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/10/warcrimes1

Netherlands and UN blamed over Srebrenica massacre

The Dutch government and the UN have been criticised for their role in the events leading to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in a report released today.

Some 7,500 Bosnian Muslims were systematically killed by Serb troops who overran the so-called safe enclave, where the UN had pledged its protection to any Muslim who sought sanctuary.

The report, commissioned by the Dutch government from the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, blames Dutch army officers for handing over Bosnian Muslim civilians to Serb forces despite fears of widespread killing, and the UN for failing to give the troops the support they needed to defend the local population.

Hans Blom, director of the institute, said the Dutch government and the UN disregarded the danger of mass killings once Srebrenica was overrun by Serb troops.

"The broad circle of those involved with this policy, and particularly its advocates, must bear a considerable responsibility for disregarding the difficulties once the behaviour of the warring factions got out of hand," Mr Blom said in a speech preceding the presentation of the report.

The Dutch soldiers were inadequate in number and armament, and had no clear instructions on how to carry out the pledge of safety to Muslim refugees. They were sent on a mission to keep the peace where there was no peace, the report says.

Mr Blom put primary responsibility for the massacres on Bosnian general Ratko Mladic, who ordered and supervised the evacuation of Muslim men from the enclave, and later oversaw the murder of thousands. But he said there was no evidence to link the massacre to political leaders in Belgrade.

"The events that occurred cannot be described as an act of vengeance that got out of hand. Although they occurred rapidly and in an improvised way, the scale and course of the murders clearly indicate they were organised.

"Places of executions were sought, transport was arranged and troops were ordered to carry out executions," he said.

He said the involvement of Bosnian leader Radislav Karadzic was not clear.

"It is unclear whether he was informed in advance about the mass murders. Karadzic's relations with Mladic were poor and they did not communicate effectively. No evidence had been found that suggests the involvement of the Serbian authorities in Belgrade."

Mr Blom did not directly link the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, to Srebrenica. But he blamed Milosevic's ambitions to remain in power for the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Milosevic is on trial by the UN tribunal at the Hague for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, including a charge for genocide for Srebrenica. Karadzic and Mladic, who remain fugitives, also have been indicted by the court for genocide.

It was at Mladic's insistence that thousands of Muslims who took refuge with the Dutch battalion, known in the report as Dutchbat, were separated by gender. The men were taken away to camps where they were killed, and the women and children were deported.

The Dutch soldiers, Mr Blom said, "did not oppose separation of men from women outside the compound gates", but did not participate in it.

"It was also clear to Dutchbat that the Muslims had only one choice: to leave as soon as possible. It was the natural task of Dutchbat to supervise that and to collaborate with it, even though in the given circumstances it was tantamount to collaborating with ethnic cleansing."

Dutch commanders had "recognised the danger of excesses" once Serb troops had begun the evacuation, but had not anticipated mass murder. "From fear of panic and a direct catastrophe," they remained silent about these fears "and assisted with the evacuation in full awareness that the fate of the men was uncertain," the report says.

When it was over, military commanders were reluctant to admit their responsibility to the defence minister, it adds.

"There was not only an incapacity but also a deliberate attempt by the army to, contrary to the wishes of the (defence) minister, to limit the flow of information and, where possible, to avoid sensitive issues," the report says.

"The army top had different priorities, such as preserving the image of Dutchbat and of the army, as a result of which the minister was informer relatively late, often inadequately, and on a few occasions was not even informed at all."

Failures at Srebrenica were "more the fault of the inadequate resources and the policy of the United Nations," says the report. "Dutchbat grew less and less able to carry out its task. The military balance of power was such that, without outside support, Dutchbat would have been defenseless in a serious confrontation" with the Serb attackers.

The Dutch commanders had overestimated the willingness of the United Nations to use force, including air strikes if needed, and the government in the Netherlands failed to authorise intelligence support. Later, the army turned down offers by the CIA in Washington to smuggle in communications experts who could monitor Serb conversations, the report says.

The mandate of the Dutch battalion only authorised the troops to use force when they came under direct fire, but the Serbs were careful to avoid that confrontation.

The report says the battalion received some reports of killings in the immediate area of their compound, but failed to act on them.

"The battalion command received limited information about this, but what was reported was alarming enough: two sightings of nine or 10 corpses and indications that assaults were taking place during interrogations in a house near the compound."

In a building across the street from the Dutch base in Potocari, known as the White House, between 100 and 400 Muslim prisoners were murdered, the report says.

"Concern about their own survival in this hell will have meant more to them than the fate of the Muslim men," the report says about the Dutch troops.

Even in the week after the evacuation when events around the compound had calmed, the Dutch commanders made no attempt to find out what happened.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[Karee 4,191]

You must be a very confident man to handle a whipping from your wife

When I lived in Bangkok at first I battled with the first girl. For the most part I won. I kept showing up for work looking like someone threw me into a lion pit, this old Thai guy told me "You can't win" After a year I ended up at the police station with a knife wound.

Now I'm happy.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

When I lived in Bangkok at first I battled with the first girl. For the most part I won. I kept showing up for work looking like someone threw me into a lion pit, this old Thai guy told me "You can't win" After a year I ended up at the police station with a knife wound.

Now I'm happy.