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 Army replaced AIT Drill Sergeants with Platoon Sergeants in 2008, but a decade later reversed the decision.The drill sergeant hat is an icon in the Army that creates vivid images.

Drill Sergeants trained recruits during the first and second phases of their training, Basic Combat Training (“boot camp”) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), as well as at One Station Unit Training (the two phases combined). The most recent edition of the Army’s uniform regulations-the edition of DA 670-1-is notable for a rather astonishing list of entries that should have been deleted, and of course there is no way of knowing what errors of omission need to be corrected in the next edition.ĭiscontinued following the conclusion of World War II, Drill Sergeant Hats were brought back after the Army introduced Drill Sergeants in pilot programs held at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1963 and then implemented Drill Sergeants service-wide. However, this should not be presumed to be conclusive proof that plastic rain covers are not authorized for wear with Drill Sergeant Hats. All that is said regarding plastic rain-cap covers is that (1) they are an optional purchase item, (2) they must completely cover the crown and visor, and (3) males may wear them with the Blue Service Cap. Army uniform regulations do not provide wear guidance regarding clear, plastic rain covers for the Drill Sergeant Hat, also referred to as a “Campaign Hat” or colloquially as a “Round Brown” (World War II regulations called them “Service Hats”).

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