Preparing for Challenges: Story 4171

Summer of 1985. Our Senior Drill Sergeant, Senior Drill Sgt E had voice of an opera tenor, the cadence of an evangelist, and the southern drawl from the deep south. At about week six one of the recruits developed the ability to imitate him perfectly. So perfectly to the point of scaring the sh*t out of other recruits. One day in the evening we had a little down time and most of us were sitting outside in the cool summer heat. Senior Drill Sgt E comes walking by so we all snap to parade rest. He immediately tells us to relax and he continues to walk on by. Suddenly this beautiful voice echos from the barracks.It's Senior Drill Sgt E in the barracks yelling at some privates. The only problem is he's standing outside with us. His eyes light up and an ear to ear smile splits across his face when we hears this. He puts his finger up to his lips and motions for all of us to shut up and sit back down. He goes into ninja mode and vanishes into the barracks.Seconds later we hear him inside preaching brimstone and fire. A stream of privates come running out the back as the sermon continues. Then the cadence begins as Private D begins pushing the Earth. For about the next week Private D had to stand in front of the company imitating Senior Drill Sgt E, calling out the days training schedule.