ADS-L Digest - 26 Jul 2005 to 27 Jul 2005 (#2005-209)

[James A. Landau]

My apologies for not putting the correct title on my previous mail, but now
that a thread has been Established I can't correct it.

Wilson Gray writes:

>  This may not be very relevant, but when I was in Basic Training in
>  1969 a
> sergeant when he wanted to compliment you said "your shit is up  tight".

You got an actual compliment from a cadre member while still in  Basic?
That *is* up tight, not to mention outta sight! You must have been  some
"sharp soldier," if that phrase was still used in your  day,

> I've
> never been able to hear the term "uptight" since  without thinking of a
> DI.

In my day - late '50's -  "D[ril]I[instructor]" was only a marine
expression disdained by the War  (black GI slang term for the Army).
Unfortunately, I'm having a senior  moment and I can't recall what the
term in use was in those days. I "have  an inkling in the back of my
thinking-cap" that "instructor" was also part  of the Army term, but
that's all I can come up  with.


Yes, DI's gave out compliments.  A DI spends enough time and  energy dealing
with the problem cases that if a soldier behaves himself and is  helpful to
his fellow trainees, the DI pats him on the head and goes off to deal  with his
hard cases.  I wasn't that sharp a soldier, but I never caused my  DI any
trouble.  The first day in Basic he told me "God, you're ugley" and  always
addressed me as "Louisville", but when I got KP the last week of Basic he  pulled me
off and gave the KP to the trainee who had given him the most gray  hairs.

FWIW, during Basic we were told that the idea of a Drill Instructor as a
noncom specially trained to deal with basic trainees (as well as the campaign
hat ("Smokey the Bear hat") worn by the DI) was copied from the Marines.  I
don't know when this copying occurred, but quite possibly after your days in
Basic.

If I remember correctly, a trainee addressed a DI as "Drill Sergeant" but
the abbreviation "DS" was never used.  (Actually "DS" means "direct  support",
i.e. supplies to combat troops).

A linguistic peculiarity that has always puzzled me:  within the  Training
Center there was a unit called "Committee Group" which did the  specialized
training (map reading, land navigation, target detection,  camouflage, etc.)
Where the name "Committee Group" came from I never found  out, but it was the
official name.  The members of Committee Group wore  baseball caps, not the
fatigue cap but true baseball caps with flat unstiffen  fronts.

      - James A. Landau