Graduation time -- and the dreaded AAR

Well, four days to go. We're out of the field and we've already got the hat issued. I'm looking at 2 uniforms with the famous drill sergeant patch sewed on and I gotta tell ya it looks great!

In keeping with my open and honest policy, I'm posting the hotwash AAR (that's After Action Report for the uninitiated) below. I may post the narrative after I'm done -- it's already hit almost 2000 words -- but I won't post it until after I've excised the names of the guilty! Here goes --

Sustain:
- On-the-spot corrections are tied to lessons from the Initial Entry Training environment, i.e. “Sergeants, if your privates were acting like this, this is what you’d do…”
- Dry lessons required by Program of Instruction were spiced up by Drill Sergeant Leaders with personal experiences from their days downrange – without a doubt one of the most valuable parts of this training.
- However limited in scope it was, continue to expose Drill Sergeant Candidates to Soldiers in Training whenever the time permits. In fact, increase the time allotted in the POI to “on the job training” during Drill Sergeant School.
- Professional, knowledgeable, and for the most part, OUTSTANDING Drill Sergeant Leaders. I could count on less than one hand the number of DSL’s that I would not want to work for (or have work for me) in a basic training company. They were able to communicate their ideas, beliefs, and lessons learned in such a manner as to inspire in me an intense desire to be the best drill sergeant I can be. They helped me grasp the importance of training these young men to be able to survive in combat. I think I understood that concept prior to coming to school, but these top-notch NCO’s really hammered home its importance.

Improve:
- TOO MUCH TIME WASTED IN DSS! A fellow candidate used to run a stopwatch in the times where we simply sat around and waited, be it for trans, for chow, etc., and gave up after NEARLY 80 HOURS! DSL’s should keep track of every block of instruction that didn’t take the complete amount of time required under the POI and submit to higher for possible POI adjustments. This time could be better spent, especially if it were used in the manner mentioned above – OJT.
- Drill Sergeant School (and its leadership, in my opinion) placed far too much value in form over substance. For example, if Field Manual 3-21.5 describes a certain procedure for forming a platoon in a line formation, THAT’S the standard… not this jog-in-place, base-platoon-dress-to-the-left nonsense that’s been required all cycle. If we’re going to have the regs preached at us all 9 weeks, then the leadership should ensure the regs are being used!
- Tying in to the final “sustain” from above, the time we were allotted around Soldiers in training was far too little to actually be able to get a feel for life in the IET environment. For those candidates whose most recent exposure to this world was back at basic training, the DSS actually does them a disservice by sending them partially unprepared to that environment. Combat Support and Combat Service Support sergeants (with a few infantry guys as well) should go to the Basic Combat Training Brigade for several days (to those units that have training requiring 100% Drill Sergeants on site) to assist in the training and to “soak up” some of the atmosphere. Obviously the vast majority of the 11 series sergeants should do the same over at Infantry Training Brigade. When you consider the 2 Fridays (from my recollection) we spent on Sand Hill ostensibly observing SIT’s, we spent more time looking at the EST 2000 and getting the walk-through “this is 1-38’s chow hall” tour than actually seeing the dynamic between DS and SIT. THAT’S the learning point!
- Too much of the course is rooted in the Basic Combat Training environment. When you have such a large class and so many going to the Advanced Individual Training world, there needs to be some balance. In keeping with this, there are no DSL’s with AIT experience (other than One Station Unit Training) to mentor those who are on their way there. Perhaps Training and Doctrine Command can consider allowing some AIT drills to extend for the full 42 months to come here (or the other school for that matter) with a follow-on assignment somewhere else on the installation after their time on the trail is complete.
More later on -- stay tuned!