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More than 100 Clemson University Reserve Officer Training
Corps cadets at the very beginning of their Army careers got
a close-up and personal look at authentic military bearing
with a visit from a group of seasoned drill sergeants from
the U.S. Army Reserve's 98th Division (Initial Entry
Training) Sept. 3, 2015. The drill sergeants traveled to
Clemson to give the cadets a crash course in drill and
ceremony – the time-honored practice of moving a unit or
individuals in an orderly, uniform manner from one position
to another or one place to another.
Army Reserve drill sergeant, Staff Sgt. Robin Brown of Belton, S.C., with Company C, 1st Bn., 518th Inf. Reg., 98th Training Div. (IET), briefs a group of first and second-year Clemson University Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets during a drill and ceremony lab conducted by the division, Sept. 3, 2015. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ken Scar) |
Drill procedures used by the United States Army today were
developed during the Revolutionary War. The purpose of the
drill then was to instill discipline. As soldiers mastered
the art of the drill, they began to work as a team and to
develop a sense of pride in themselves and in their unit. In
today's Army, D&C is used to accomplish the same objectives
-teamwork, confidence, pride, alertness, attention to
detail, esprit de corps, and discipline.
1st Sgt. Anthony Childs, a former drill sergeant now with
Co. C, 1st Bn., 518th Inf. Reg., 98th Training Division
(IET), said he made the trip to Clemson with three drill
sergeants from the 98th because the seemingly simple
movements and commands that they would be teaching would
serve the cadets throughout their military careers.
“Drill and ceremony is the foundation,” he said. “It's the
building block that everything else flows from, going all
the way back to Baron Von Steuben and the Blue Book. In the
old days [armies] would line up in rectangles and fire at
each other until someone ran out of people or bullets. Now
[D&C] is about the ceremony, the tradition, the discipline,
the image of the Army as the profession of arms, and the
pride we carry ourselves with.”
That pride could be
seen on the faces of the cadets as the day progressed and
they realized the intimidating men in the immaculately
canted hats were there to help them be better soldiers, not
make them drop and do push-ups with every missed step.
The three drill sergeants - Sgt. 1st Class Ervin
Brewster of Simpsonville, South Carolina, and staff
sergeants Michael Howell and Robin Brown, both of Belton,
South Carolina - started by going through several of the
most common commands step-by-step, using cadets who had
prior experience with D&C from their high school junior
reserve officer training corps units as demonstrators.
In an impressively short amount of time that could only
be achieved by experienced leaders, each drill sergeant had
a formation of cadets snapping to attention, facing left and
right, doing about faces, and marching in unison across the
grass of Bowman Field, the iconic lawn in the middle of
campus where Clemson's very first students drilled in the
late 1800's when the school was still an all-male military
college.
Childs' noted that the 98th - and him
personally - have a long history of working with Clemson.
“I was stationed here as a young sergeant back in 1998.
The [3rd Bn., 323rd Inf. Reg.] was headquartered on
Perimeter Road, where the National Guard center is now. The
ROTC cadre would see us around and one day said, hey could
you come out and teach the cadets, and that's how we got
involved,” he said.
That natural partnership would be
rekindled again after he moved on from the unit and rose in
the ranks.
“When I became a first sergeant we reached
out to Clemson again. A drill sergeant sitting in a drill
hall is a wasted asset. We've done this lab two or three
times now, and we run their range and help with their [field
training exercise] - so we have a great relationship with
the Clemson ROTC and I think the cadets get a lot out of
it.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Henry, brigade command
sergeant major for 4th Brigade, U.S. Army Cadet Command,
happened to be visiting Clemson that day and was able to
observe the 98th drill sergeants do their thing with his
cadets.
“I truly appreciate the 98th coming out and
being a part of teaching soldiers how to drill,” he said,
watching the progress from the high side of the field.
“We've worked with this organization before at cadet summer
training, and it's always excellent for cadets to come out
and see what it is a drill sergeant projects down onto a
force-oriented element. It's pretty neat.”
Henry
echoed Childs' view of the importance of D&C to today's
fighting force.
“Under Baron Von Steuben and George
Washington, drill was for battle, and it also instilled
discipline in the ranks. That enabled the fighting man to
close and destroy the enemy. Now it's a tradition, but we've
translated to utilizing it for discipline, and it instills
pride and esprit de corps in the organization.”
The
cadets themselves all agreed that learning the basic
movements of D&C from Brewster, Howell and Brown was hugely
beneficial, especially considering they would be putting the
skills they learned to use the very next day when every
cadet in the ROTC would be marching in one large formation
in front of thousands of people for the First Friday parade,
Clemson's traditional kick-off to the football season.
“If we learn the right movements and techniques here, we
will be able to use that,” said cadet Jonathan Day, a senior
from Greenville, South Carolina studying financial
management who plans to commission into the Army Reserve
upon graduation. “We've done drill and ceremony for years on
Bowman Field, and we always keep the mentality ‘we train how
we fight' - so we train to be perfect.”
Senior cadet
Brian Goetz, a supply chain management major from
Woodbridge, New Jersey, put the value of the training even
more succinctly; “It's a way to instill order and
discipline, but when people see us marching in a parade, or
for graduation, it makes us look good.”
More photos available below
By U.S. Army Sgt. Ken Scar
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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