FORT SILL, Okla. -- Command Sgt. Maj. Edward Estep, 434th Field Artillery Brigade CSM, can retrace his Army career simply by walking from the brigade headquarters building across the parking lot to Building 6050.
"Some days I have walked and just said you know I remember marching this road as a private, I remember marching Soldiers on this road as a drill sergeant and now I'm walking this road as the brigade sergeant major, and I have the responsibility of all these training units," said Estep. "Who would have thought that when my wife came to visit me for the first time at basic training, that 20-something years later I would be the sergeant major of the brigade in the same parking lot."
Estep also had a stint as the operations sergeant major of 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery in the same building before going to Fort Campbell, Ky., and returning as the 434th FA CSM.
Basic beginnings
Estep married his wife, Erica, out of high school in 1982, and at the time he signed up for the Army in 1990 she was carrying their third child.
"I had two and-a-half kids because back then you couldn't have three children to enlist, so I had to enlist before the third one was born. My son was born when I was in basic training, so the first time I had seen my son was in the parking lot of this building over here, Building 6050."
Estep said to this day he's not sure what possessed him to call a recruiter. He said once the idea to join took root their journey began.
"It's kind of like stink on a skunk - once you get it you're not getting rid of it. They sent me to St. Louis to the MEPS station and they said how quick do you want to go to basic training? And I said right away. "
The Army had no issues with granting Estep his wish and in the same week he was on a Greyhound bus to Fort Sill.
"I can go to the bay and the bed where I was a private and look at it and say I was a private right here. Of course, the building has been renovated, but the location is still the same as 23 and a half years ago."
Estep said he was a leader of sorts even in basic as he was older than most of the trainees at the age of 27. With his bunk at the very end of the row and situated next to the drill sergeant's door it was his duty to alert the other trainees when to be on point.
He also admitted he stayed off the drill sergeant's bad side by setting up his wall locker perfectly for inspection one time, and for the rest of BCT he simply lived out of his duffel bag.
Estep said besides learning all the skills required to pass BCT, he also had to learn life lessons - lessons his drill sergeant carefully weaved into his training.
"I grew up in a small town in Missouri of about 2,600 I think we've grown by about 300 in 25 years. [It was my] first time away from home. Period. I had never been around people who did not look like me, so I was scared. Who was my battle buddy? Someone not like me ... that was by design."
Way of the NCO
"[I] had a great drill sergeant, Drill Sergeant Clark. He was a good noncommissioned officer who happened to be my drill sergeant. [He] took care of me."
After one station unit training, his first duty station was in Germany. Not having a clue of what paperwork to fill out to get his affairs in order, his drill sergeant went out of his way to make sure Estep and his family were ready for the overseas move.
"My drill sergeant, not in his job jar of being a drill sergeant, took me all up and down 'Agency Row' over there by 95th. He did accomplish his mission by training me, but he looked out for my welfare and my family's welfare."
Estep said once they arrived they noticed something was wrong with their middle child Jamie.
"The provider in Germany said when you get back to the states I've got you a one-time consult to the [St. Jude] Children's Research Hospital in Kansas. So we came back from Germany to Fort Riley."
They discovered she had Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects brain development.
Estep said the continuity of care was extremely important while the severity of the syndrome was being explored and it's the reason for his continued past at Fort Sill.
"When I came here as a drill sergeant and started setting up the care for her that's when she went through some of the worst stages. That's how I got into that loop of coming back because since 1997 my family has always been here. I've always left and came back."
Training is training
Estep said he's seen training change over the years to include the new fitness regimen: physical readiness training. He said when he was a drill sergeant the trainees also had to pass a performance test before they could move on to the next phase and to graduate they had to take an end of cycle and physical training test.
"When I went to basic training we still had OSUT here and this was the field artillery training center. And then when I came back as a drill sergeant, as I was coming off the trail, that's when they started gender integration."
Estep said these are all slight variations, but there is one constant.
"The treatment of people has always been the same. You treat people with dignity and respect. That's the biggest thing I tell the drill sergeants and NCOs we have today."
Estep is leaving his position as 434th FA CSM next month.
When asked what the hardest part of leaving his position will be he said, "I guess it's leaving where you started, literally. That's going to be the biggest thing. If you cross underneath I-44 and you come over here it's our kingdom we are 'Fort Sill East' and when I leave it will belong to somebody else. I guess that's what I'm going to miss - having the ability to influence NCOs that are over here making right decisions in their career and helping them."
Social Sharing