Platoon Sergeant

par. 5). I encourage my Sergeants to do two things to prevent failure to document. First, I suggest each keep a working diary of the good and bad that happens each day. Second, before the end of each evaluation period, I ask that each Sergeant have their officers give them a list of their training, accomplishments,…

The Escape It was 1944 in Western Poland, it was 3:53 a.m in the Erwachsene sector in Auschwitz. Obergefreiter (Senior Corporal) Dietrich Merz was on a coffee break. It was the middle of winter. It was a record low temperature that night. -47˚F was the annual high that winter. It was miserable outside. Guards and prisoners were suffering just as the rest of the population in the area. It was a winter that would be remembered for years to come. Ana Baka, ID:10605, was curled under her…

The oldest living being known to mankind, a soldier of a war long since forgotten, Demon Buffalo, also known as Olding Oldington. This is a story of how this war, the war that scared our protagonist, ended. Old was leader of a three man infiltration squad that was sent to go through the ranks of one of the other planets governments and leak information to the populace to cause panic before Old’s government sweeps in seemingly like a beacon of hope, when in actuality it was a ruse in order to…

As the Deputy Exercise Director for the 86th Training Division, I was responsible for training and assessing military units as required by directives and standard operating procedures through assigned large-scale exercises that average over 90 organizations, 4,500 Soldiers, and $3.2 million in expenditures. Safety is a primary concern during training, so I emplaced a strong safety program that prevented major safety incidents. Providing the most realistic and demanding training possible is the…

During my time there, I would have appreciated a break from my Drill Sergeants. I still made it through and graduated with the 11B Military Occupational Specialty. Upon reflection, it was not so difficult achieving the standards of the training and I am proud of my accomplishment. Soldiers of the modern era of Army service…

The number of exercises was absurd as well as the difficulty of them. At sundown the sergeants put our names on a board under squad numbers. We had an hour to group up and find our housing. After we found our squad, I was chosen to be the leader. The sergeant showed up to my squad and gave me a topographic map of the area. Our housing was marked with an X; we had half an hour left to find our housing before lights out.…

“Down, But Not Out.” “There it is Privates!” Drill Sergeant Gonzales yelled. As we all rounded the narrow and winding road through the Ozark Mountains, my heart began to race. All 250 of us slowed down to form a formation in front of what appeared to be the biggest climb we had seen and were not expecting to see for the next few weeks. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Drill Sergeant Galloway said “This is Engineer Hill, and starting in two minutes you all have thirty minutes to make this…

behavior. Every step he took his back straightened more and more, every word he spoke became clearer and clearer. Wes was becoming more and more of a man. As he began to improve and improve working his way up in the ranks, Wes became a platoon sergeant, a cadet master sergeant and also became the youngest senior noncommissioned officer out of the the entire corps. “Three years ago I’d been one of the insubordinate kids first entering the gates of Valley Forge. In an ironic turn, I was now one of…

Being a soldier with multiple combat tours I have seen in some cases the worst humanity can offer. During my last combat tour my experiences helped myself define the direction I wanted to take, both in the military and eventually when I transition back into the civilian world. I made the decision about month six of my tour that I wanted to stay in the Army, but above all that I should return to my roots as a professional computer nerd. In 2009 I was running my own Information Technology Company…

Approximately 1130 I received a phone call from Master Gunnery Sergeant Hernandez informing me that my name was on the Urinalysis Roster. I informed the Master Gunnery Sergeant Hernandez that I had my daughter with me and didn’t have alternative child care, but that I would but able to make it to the urinalysis before 1400. At this point I realize now that i should have told my…