Drill sergeant contest sees fewer participants

[unhappycamper]

Drill sergeant contest sees fewer participants
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 6:16:28 EDT

This year’s Drill Sergeant of the Year Competition at Fort Monroe, Va., will have only five active-duty contestants from each of the Army’s five basic training posts and two from the Army Reserve.

The small number of competitors compared to past years — the 2007 competition had 20 competitors — is due to the elimination of drill sergeants from the Army’s Advanced Individual Training centers and schools since Jan. 1.

Soldiers coming out of basic training and into AIT are now met by platoon sergeants who look and sound more like the noncommissioned officers they’ll meet in the operational Army rather than the continuation of drill sergeants.

This year’s competition, though lighter on contestants, promises to be just as grueling as past events.

The 2008 Drill Sergeant of the Year Competition is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. on June 16 with a physical fitness test and after the first day, the contest will move to nearby Fort Eustis for a variety of events that test a soldier’s knowledge of warrior tasks and battle drills.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_drillcontest_060808w/

[Aviation Pro]

1. This is actually a good thing....

...because AIT should be competency-based and not endless drill qualification-based. The guys and gals under the hat still have the most important job in the service - indoctrinating trainees to the discipline of the Army - but after basic training the newly minted soldiers should be exposed to the quiet side of the discipline they just acquired.