![]() Of course, becoming a drill sergeant is not an easy task. ![]() “She inspired me and had such an impact on me that it was my mission, once I became a noncommissioned officer, to do all the things I needed to do to get to where I am today and become a drill sergeant,” said Parker who graduated with Popp from The Drill Sergeant Academy March 8, 2017. Parker, a Canton, Ohio resident and a drill sergeant with the 108th Training Command (IET), became a drill sergeant as a result of her experience with her drill sergeant. “From the moment that civilian enters my world, I have the ability to plant a seed to change their entire life.” Briana Kozain, drill sergeant leader at The Drill Sergeant Academy. “Being a drill sergeant is the most important job in the Army, hands down,” said Staff Sgt. ![]() With more and more women paving the way and others joining the Army, female drill sergeants will play a vital role in tomorrow’s Army. Jennifer Sandoval became one the first two females to earn the combat engineer military occupational specialty. Lisa Jaster all became the first female Army Rangers. King became the first female commandant of The Drill Sergeant Academy. Years have gone by since the Army’s first female drill sergeants, and progress is still being made. The personal courage those first six drill sergeants put forth, paved the way for not only female drill sergeants, but just female Soldiers in general, said Popp. “They stared in the face of adversity and never backed down,” said Popp. Briana Popp, an Army Reservist with 3-518th, 2nd Brigade, 98th Training Division (Initial Entry Training), who just graduated as The Distinguished Honor Graduate and Iron Female from The Drill Sergeant Academy March 8, 2017. And I couldn’t think of being anything better.”Ī little over 45 years have passed and those first female drill sergeants are still remembered for their bravery, said Staff Sgt. “In the day, those women not only set the standard, they WERE the standard. Looking back, Dehorty said she wasn’t trying to exceed the standards. And in doing so, she earned The Distinguished Honor Graduate title over her peers. But like a true Soldier trained by some of the Army’s first female drill sergeants, Dehorty pushed hard to do her best. It was stronger….We even carried ourselves different than the trainees from other posts.”ĭehorty was so inspired by her drill sergeants, that she became one herself in 1984. “The esprit-de-corps that we learned from them was different. ![]() “All the cadre we had there were former WAC drill sergeants,” said Dehorty. It’s merely a fact of her own experiences as a trainee at Fort McClellan in 1981. (Retired) Jennifer Dehorty, cemetery director intern, National Cemetery Administration, Veterans Affairs.ĭehorty’s statement is not exaggeration. “Those six women and that hat transformed the entire Army…and my life,” said Command Sgt. Upon graduation, they were authorized to wear the newly designed female drill sergeant hat that was designed by Brig. In February 1972, six Woman Army Corps noncommissioned officers from Fort McClellan, Ala., enrolled in the Drill Sergeant Program at Fort Jackson, S.C. ![]() It just hasn’t been around as long, or as much, but it certainly has history. However, the female drill sergeant hat holds just as much responsibility. The hat that comes to mind for most, is the male drill sergeant hat, the brown round. When people see a Soldier wearing it, they immediately feel respect because they know it is a job that is earned, not given. The drill sergeant hat is an icon in the Army that creates vivid images. ![]()
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