FORT SILL, Okla., March 22, 2018 -- Like a weed, complacency seeps into every organization and takes hold of one employee or more. The drill sergeant corps is not immune to this infestation.
Command Sgt. Maj. Derrick Rankins, 1st Battalion, 31st Field Artillery, may have found the solution: simply change the environment.
To do that, he created a drill sergeant draft and reorganized them among the battalion's batteries.
"My initial thought was, how do I assist with changing the culture of every battery to mitigate complacency?" he said. "This is when I got that 'aha' moment and it came to me. The culture of an organization revolves around its people and what behaviors they are willing to accept or not accept.
"So, by changing the dynamic of every formation, it creates an environment where cadre will now be a little more cautious to do certain things because they don't know if their behavior will be accepted by their new teammates," he said. "As the new teammate, they will be cautious of their performance and behaviors due to wanting to make a great impression, so they are accepted by the new team."
Rankins met with the first sergeants of the battalion and together they dissected the drill sergeants' strengths, weaknesses and end-of-tour dates.
In the end, each of the five batteries moved two drill sergeants. This process began in January and the final two drill sergeants moved this month. The plan was integrated into the off-cycles of trainees so there were no major disruptions to training.
Rankins' decision to shake things up was based on two different ideologies, both of which came from his past mentors.
The first was to pair a complacent drill sergeant with a highly motivated one based on 1st Sgt. Donald Webb's belief that motivation is contagious.
The second reason stemmed from former Command Sgt. Maj. Royal Curtis II who shared the five Cs with Rankins: competence, confidence, cockiness, complacency, and catastrophe.
"Competence leads to confidence which could lead to cockiness," said Rankins, who was quoting Curtis. "Cockiness could lead to complacency, and complacency could lead to catastrophe. Once you are at that level of catastrophe, it is almost a guarantee that there is no safe return,"
Drill sergeant misconduct is rare in 1-31st FA, but Rankins said when a substantiated claim arises he always asks, "Who else knew about this and refused to say anything?"
"At times there may be concerns that need to be addressed, but cadre turn a blind eye to the situation -- acting as if they didn't witness anything wrong," Rankins said. "That is a bigger problem because a true battle buddy would confront you or raise the issue if patterns of behavior didn't change."
The reorganization stopped the idea that time-in-grade automatically translated to a senior position. He placed some of the junior drill sergeants in senior drill sergeant positions based solely on their performance. This upset created a high level of competitiveness to stifle complacency.
"I think we're all kind of bringing our best efforts forward and combining them altogether so it's a good opportunity," said Staff Sgt. John Summerfield, who moved from C Battery, to a senior drill sergeant (SDS) position in E Battery.
Drill Sergeant (Staff Sgt.) Shaniqua Cooper also switched batteries.
"Honestly, when I found out I was going to (B Battery) I was upset." I had built a great camaraderie and a lot of friendships (in A Battery) and I was there for about 18 months, so I was kind of upset that I was moving," Cooper said.
Cooper said if she hadn't moved she wouldn't have been afforded the senior drill sergeant position she now holds as one of the few female SDSs. She added that although the drill sergeants are all taught the same program of instruction, each person's execution is different.
"Having multiple people come together with their ideas and perspectives, I actually think it's going to make B Battery better," said Cooper.
Reorganizing also solved the issue one battery was going to face when seven drill sergeants' end of tour dates were close together, which would've created too much cadre turnover.
Rankins plans on doing one more drill sergeant draft during his tenure at 1-31st FA. He said so far, the results have been positive and it has created a more balanced dynamic among the cadre. He suggested only one move per drill sergeant's assignment time to keep a positive environment without damaging the training structure.
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