The different services call them different things -- drill instructors, drill sergeants, training instructors, recruit division commanders.
Their purpose, however, is the same -- to take young men and women off the streets and, in a matter of weeks, turn them into effective Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.
Last Friday, the Army Drill Sergeant Academy on Fort Jackson offered the first Drill Instructor/Drill Sergeant, Joint Service Summit to share knowledge and improve training across the armed forces.
"We do a lot of the same things, except with small differences," said Air Force Senior Master Sgt.
Lezlee Masson, an Air Force training instructor from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. "I am really impressed (for example) at how the (academy) shows pride and heritage in the Army. This is definitely something we can do better."
Three Navy, three Air Force and two Coast Guard instructors attended the seminar that aimed at the "sharing of knowledge" among the services. The Marine Corps did not send representatives because of conflicting engagements, said Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Serrano, one of the school's drill sergeant leaders.
The idea for the summit sprang from Command Sgt. Maj. Lamont Christian, Drill Sergeant Academy commandant, as a way to improve training and "use their best tactics," Serrano said.
Christian said his vision for the summit was to create a climate to exchange best practices among institutions that trained instructors of initial-entry Service members. Similar events with Marine drill instructors from Parris Island had gone so well, he said, that he wanted to start similar events between the Drill Sergeant Academy and its counterparts from sister services.
The event started so smoothly, Christian said, that an initial briefing that was supposed to last two hours was pushing four hours long when he stopped the meeting because the instructors "have to get up in the morning for PT."
The professional interaction continued during breaks in the seminar as members of the different services compared how they used technology. In the Navy, for example, every seaman is issued electronic devices to help him learn.
The instructors toured Fort Jackson facilities such as Victory Tower, where they saw the interaction between trainer and trainee first hand.
"We would like to see this as a yearly event," Christian said. "Hopefully, one of the other services hosts it next year."
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