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Deployed Troops Enter NCO Corps with Rite Of Passage

By Stephanie Slater
TRADOC

July 15, 2013

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The Army’s top drill sergeants are competing at Fort Jackson to see who can out-drill, out-teach and outlast their fellow command barkers and capture the Drill Sergeant of the Year award.

Army spokesman Pat Jones said the service’s top six drill sergeants are competing Monday and Tuesday. The award will be announced Wednesday.

Contenders endure physical and mental challenges during the 30-hour event, which tests their knowledge of Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills and their ability to teach these tasks to new Soldiers. Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills are the fundamental combat skills that all Soldiers must perform in order to fight and win on the battlefield.

The selection process concludes with each drill sergeant appearing before a board of command sergeants major to evaluate their knowledge of leadership and drill sergeant training tasks. One challenging aspect of the selection process is that the drill sergeants are unaware of the tasks they will be required to perform.

Photo by Senior Airman Wesley Farnsworth

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jarod Moss, 95th Reserve Division drill sergeant, completes an obstacle during the 2012 Drill Sergeant of the Year competition at Fort Eustis, Va. (Photo by Senior Airman Wesley Farnsworth)

The Drill Sergeant School, Initial Military Training Center of Excellence, will host an awards ceremony to announce the winners at 5 p.m. July 17 at the Fort Jackson NCO Club, 5700 Lee Road, Fort Jackson.

The active Army Drill Sergeant of the Year receives the Stephen Ailes Award, initiated in 1969 and named for the Secretary of the Army from 1964 to 1965 who was instrumental in originating the first Drill Sergeant School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. The Army Reserve winner receives the Ralph Haines Jr. Award, named for the commander of the Continental Army Command (forerunner of TRADOC) from 1970 to 1972.

Drill sergeants are the cornerstone of Army readiness, entrusted with the task of preparing new Soldiers to fight and win our nation’s wars. The skill of producing quality Soldiers demands that only the Army’s best and brightest serve as drill sergeants.

The competitors include four active-duty and two U.S. Army Reserve drill sergeants. One winner will be selected from each service component.

Click here → to view the drill sergeants’ biographies and photos.