Sara Small
Private First Class (PFC)
As hard as it is for me to believe, today is already my two year anniversary of joining the Army. Two years ago today I left my local MEPS station and got on a plane for Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, and what I was sure was going to be pure torture. It was only a 4 1/2 hour plane ride with one layover but it seemed so much longer, partially because it was my first plane trip anywhere. We eventually landed at the St. Louis Airport, where I half expected drill sergeants to run at me from every direction screaming. But instead they took our names at the USO station and herded us onto two charter buses for the two hour bus ride to Ft. Leonard Wood. It was almost midnight until we got to what they called "Reception" and I again was waiting for the nasty screaming fire-spitting drill sergeants we all hear horror stories about to materialize. There were drill sergeants there but their main priority was to get us signed in, issued PTs, briefed, and eventually, in our racks. We spent about a week in reception before our real drill sergeants came for us.
Now I have come to respect my drill sergeants more then they'll probably ever realize, but that first day of real basic training was the scariest day of my life. Yeah they screamed, they rushed us around, they dropped us whenever they felt like it, and we all almost quit right then and there. They had a point to it all though, that we weren't in the civilian world anymore. Over the next few days the rest of the soldiers in my company poured in, and each day when the drill sergeants left us to do barracks maintenance and the buses with new soldiers pulled up outside our company, you did anything but look out the window at what they were doing to the others, for fear of having to go down and do it all over again. By the end of the first week I was so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted that I just wanted to find the nearest bus stop and get out of dodge ASAP. But I stuck with it, partially because I didn't have a choice, and partially just because I wanted to prove everything I had ever thought about myself wrong.
My biggest motivator was my head drill sergeant for my platoon, DS Gorgas. I know we aren't supposed to be specific, but she was such a huge impact on me and still is. See, I was the most out-of-shape private you could possibly meet. Our first PT test I could only do 3 situps, no pushups, and my 1 mile run time was about 12 mins. Absolutely horrendous by my standards and the Army's. I still to this day don't know what DS Gorgas saw in me, but from that day forward she pushed me every single day. She had the whole platoon sit down and write her letters telling her a little about ourselves, and from the get-go I wrote that I knew I wasn't in shape or the best soldier, but that I was willing to do everything that it took to become the best I could be. I always thought she was picking on me for my whole cycle, but now I see that she was giving me a chance to do exactly what I wanted but didn't know how to do. She put me at the front of the company formation every time we ran, she would hold the whole platoon if I wasn't doing an exercise right, she even made me go down Warrior Tower-the 40 ft. rappelling wall there- a second time because she knew I was scared the first time and didn't rappel right. At the time I cursed her under my breath, and wished that she would go pick on someone else, but I am grateful that she chose me. But then I didn't qualify for BRM, and when the non-qualifiers were given a second chance, I was on crutches and couldn't go on the range. I had to leave Charlie Co., and go back to a company further behind me, and leave all my buddies and my favorite drill sergeant, and practically start fresh all over again. This time I made it though, and managed to stay almost injury free, and finally graduated basic.
Two years later, I have gone through basic, two AITs, and am expected to deploy within the next year. But there are many days where I can't help but think about Basic Training, and Charlie Co., and DS Gorgas and the invaluable lessons I learned there. So thank you DS Gorgas, and DS Carpenter and DS Hodge, my 1st Plt drill sergeants, and my whole platoon, a few of who I still keep in touch with today, for seeing me floundering and giving me a shove in the right direction, no matter how much I fought. regardless of how much I said at the time I hated each and every drill sergeant I had through both of my basic training companies, I know now that they were given the huge responsibility of training every single civilian that came through their doors to be soldiers, and were using all their resources to do so. Every day I go to the gym, every time I step outside to run, every drill weekend I attend, I do so with all their advice and knowledge in the back of my mind, waiting for the chance to prove to them that they trained me right.
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