Laurie Trahan: welcome to Camo and Crayons. We are here with Annika and Sherry and our guest is our very special sergeant first class, George. How are you today? SFC George: I'm doing really well. I'm excited to be here. Laurie Trahan: Good. good. I'm so glad to have you. Can you kinda just give us a little background on who you are and what you do and then we'll jump into things. SFC George: Yes, so I'm sorry for Class George. I've been in the army for nine and a half years. I'm a nineteen kilo, which is a tanker. I'm in Fort Store, Georgia, currently, as my current assignment. I'm previously coming from Fort Benning, Georgia as a drill sergeant, where I served time there for two years. I went from one eight one to two fifteen, so from nineteen kilo training to therefore training nineteen deltas. So it was a really good experience and it gave me some more knowledge to put in my toolbox. Laurie Trahan: Awesome. Awesome. Sounds like you've had a a pretty good career so far. So I know I want to know a little bit about the drill field. When you became a drill sergeant, and excuse me if I say drill instructor because being a marine mom, I kind of sometimes flub them up. But what is the one thing that you see when kids or recruits come into your squad bay? What are they not ready for? when they're coming to see you in the army. SFC George: I would say the most important thing that they're always never ready for is the culture shock and the environment change that we that we kind of put them into. And it's kind of a we have to force them into it because transitioning from s civilian life on the outside from your day-to-day activities going now into a you're in a trade-off environment is what they would say. And it's all pre-planned. The schedules are cut and dry and they're laid out. So when we get these kids That we're trying to turn from civilian to soldier, they tend to bring their outside experiences in to see if it'll work. And it's our job to turn them, like kind of like turn it off Laurie Trahan: Mm. SFC George: and kind of shift their focus to be like, okay, we have a set schedule. You know, we have to abide by the set schedule. And we just make it as chaotic as possible. So if we stress them out a little bit more than they than they like are used to. it tends to kind of shift their focus towards, wow, this is real. We need to get with the program. Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. What do you think they're they could do to prepare themselves before they even come see you, before they even get on that bus and get to you? What are some things that some of these recruits can do to prepare themselves? SFC George: a few things off the top of my mind. One thing is their personal life. So any any debt that they're in, they need to make sure that they handle that with auto payments and making sure that if they can't handle that, they have a significant other or a family member that can take care of that to alleviate the stress from them shipping out and then finally arriving to us. the next thing would be spouses. If they have a spouse and children, make sure that the spouse has Access to the bank account or the spouse has access to forms of money for payments and make sure the more the mortgage or the rent is paid. Make sure your phone's on, automatic payments for your phone. Make sure that you have the the the tough discussion with your spouse and let them know, hey, I'm gonna be gone for this amount of time. I don't know how long or when I'll be able to contact you, but I will make sure that I contact you as much as I can when possible. So get their spouses ready for that. And then for the soldier themselves, coming in with a positive attitude, and I get everyone's gonna be nervous and everyone's gonna have a different outlook on it, and they're gonna sit there and kind of like play it over in their heads, like what if I can't do this? What if I fell? What if I mess up? And that's just human nature. And I would be lying if I didn't say that drill sergeants do the same thing on pickup days. eventually, if it's your second cycle or your fifth cycle, you still get nervous, but you have a rush of energy inside of you. Hey, I don't want to mess up this cycle. I want to make sure that I do all my pitches and all my classes. They're fluid and like the trainees are actually receptive to what we're teaching. And drill stars get nervous just like the trainees coming in and get nervous. It's just you got to sit yourself down, take a few breaths and then just kind of like ask yourself, all right, are you ready for this? Go in wholeheartedly knowing that you know, you're gonna kick ass and you're gonna just run with it. Army Sherry: I know like one of the things that my son said he wished his recruiter would have told him was the stop the smoking and vaping, stop, you know, utilizing social media, get start taking yourself away from social media because you don't, you know, you get that withdrawal and like the caffeine and his his person was pretty good about the exercise, but not didn't emphasize like getting used to carrying the ruck and things like that. Is that do you see that a lot with new recruits? SFC George: Yes, more times than not. So the nicotine withdrawals, the new generation of soldiers coming through, being called iPad kids, with the electronics and the tablets and the screen time and stuff, yes, it is it is a huge problem because they do have a sort of withdrawal from from those few things and I've had a few discussions with some really good recruiters and and they do kind of hone in on that on that message of like, hey, take yourself away from the sodas and the energy drinks. try to get outside more, be be more proactive while you're outside, run, do a fast jog, even walking helps. Any stint of like low-level cardio will get you in the right direction. So for when you get to basic, your s your transition into the environment and the chaotic like culture of it will be less of a shock because you from there water's your best friend. Laurie Trahan: I don't think most of these kids know how to drink water. Army Sherry: Yeah. Laurie Trahan: They're all hooked to those caffeine drinks. Do you have another question for him, Sherry? Army Sherry: so another thing I wanted you you to kinda like reel in on, how do you feel about like, you know, the Marines, they have a hard cutoff, you know, from calling parents and loved ones and stuff like that. What is your aspect on that, you know, at basic training? Because like I wish, you know, my son went army and I wish we would have had that hard cutoff. Do you see that coming down the t the the turnpike with the military on the army side of like maybe taking that phone privilege away and going to just I mean, personally I wish you guys would because it's it's It was a harder thing for parents, I and and loved ones, I think. SFC George: So to speak on that portion of it, so they did change the phone policy. So now instead of actively getting their phones every Sunday, the new memorandum or policy that was pushed down stated that you get one phone call per phase. So you're in red phase, you get your phone call at the end of red phase, let them know, hey, the experience was amazing. It's good to go. I'm having fun. And whatever else they want to tell them, and then come white phase, they do all of white phase, and at the end of white phase, they get their second phone call. That's what they've turned to. So I think they are moving in that direction. So far, from what I've heard, it's been it's it's been more receptive on the soldiers' end because they're more focused. They're not Army Sherry: Mm-hmm. SFC George: taken away from I miss home, I miss having. TikTok and Facebook and Snapchat and I miss all that stuff. It's to where they are there now saying, Hey, I don't want to do this. I quit. I can't continue. So it's helping the soldier, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, it is making the spouses of the service member worry a lot more because they don't know when that next phone call is coming. And it's completely different from getting letters back and forth whenever mail calls happen and We all know old school, you send a letter by a pigeon, you know it's awesome, but we're so receptive to these cell phones and face-to-face, I guess face-to-face time that we're doing now. And it's just like, I can see you guys. I I know you can see me. We might be miles apart, but it's I guess it's the emotions that you can cry on screen and you can like, you know, say, I miss you and I love you, and it's more receptive. And it's like they can almost feel it. But in those Army Sherry: Mm-hmm. SFC George: letters, it's just how they how people perceive what they're reading. So it's a lot different. Army Sherry: We try to tell our parents no news is good news. Keep that thought. Laurie Trahan: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. SFC George: That is that is very true. Army Sherry: Mm. Laurie Trahan: Do you have anything, Annika? Annika Lyon: my husband and I both did Marine Corps boot camp. He's still in, he's a warrant officer in the Marine Corps. I just got out last year after almost ten years, got out as a staff sergeant. obviously we know there are differences across the board of all the branches with boot camp and things along those lines. in your like your own words as a drill sergeant, what would you say are like the big biggest differences and the biggest similarities you have like heard of slash seen throughout the recruit training process of one like what you do versus like the Ring Corps or somebody else and then what do you think like what do you think is the most beneficial thing about the differences? SFC George: So starting off with what are the similarities of the two sides of drill sergeants from the Marines to the army is I would say, in personal opinion, the energy that is brought not just during training, but the entire time that they're there with us, the energy never stops. It's always, you know, go, go, go, upholding the standards, making sure we make those minor corrections. making sure that we're holding not only them accountable, but ourselves accountable. and then I guess going into a small detail of similarity, I I would say that the way the way we present ourselves as drill sergeants, you know, how we have to make sure our uniforms look good, make sure that before we can correct somebody, we gotta look at ourselves first and be like, hey, are we messed up? Let's not make that correction if we are in the wrong as well. Because that's not that's not what we want to be about. Cause then the soldiers will catch on after a while. They're so far into the cycle. And once they hit AIT portion, OSAT portion, then they kind of they're receptive to the military lingo and to the military itself. And then they do get their phones. And when they have their phones, some of them don't call their parents. Some of them start researching FMs, ARs, DAPAMs, and they start going. These kids are smart. They start going in and be like, okay, the drill star corrected me on this. But that states here in page four, paragraph three, subsection two, that they were technically in the and it's just it's a whole mess. Now, if we are constantly on ourselves to make ourselves presentable, and I feel like the Marines are really good with that, then we can be on the same page with that. So the trainees don't have a leg up on us. Now, the differences, that is a long laundry list of differences. So starting out with appearance. So in the army, the drill sergeants have the campaign hat. That is the signifying stature of, okay, I know that is a drill sergeant because of that campaign cover on their head. Okay, I can see that they have the pumpkin patch that is on their uniform. That is another clarifying factor of that is a drill sergeant. Now going to the Marines, they have they don't wear a patch. They have the hat. Looks a little bit cooler than ours, but please edit that out. and Army Sherry: Mm. Annika Lyon: Believe in it. Army Sherry: Yeah. SFC George: And they have the belt. They wear a belt around their waist. Now, what could be a similar difference if it counted was the drill sergeant academy. Now, the drill instructors that teach us how to become drill sergeants through the academy, they wear belts, just like the Marines. But the Marine instructors that instruct those classes for those young soldiers, they wear the campaign cover and they wear that fancy nice green belt with a shiny buckle. And then how they present their training and what they do on a day-to-day basis is completely different than how the army operates in a sense of like POI. MOSs are completely different as well, but the Marines don't go by like an MOS title. and then another thing that I've noticed by just going out into the community and talking to Marines is the wake up. When we do wake ups in the morning. The Marines are Annika Lyon: Yep. SFC George: over a thousand. We max out at Army Sherry: Ha ha ha. SFC George: a hundred. Those guys are animals. So Annika Lyon: Yeah. SFC George: that is that is a big difference how how they, you know, direct themselves as drill drill instructors. But I'm just gonna let you know that the Marines and in Army, we do keep it a hundred all the time and the pace is constantly vamped up. Annika Lyon: Absolutely. My my husband did three and a half years as a drill instructor here on Paris Island. So like I obviously I did not do a B billet. I just witnessed the madness of a B billet and watching him be a drill instructor and all the things that come with that. So he did about nine cycles and it was no thank you for me. I'm good. I'll just be here to support. did you want to be a drill sergeant? I don't know how the army does it. We always obviously like the Marine Corps has the hiss list where you're either volunt told or you volunteer to go Was it something you wanted to do? SFC George: So the army's the same way. You volunteer or you're volunteered. I volunteered because when I came into the army and I watched how my drill sergeants operated and I watched how good of leaders they were and how they presented themselves, I knew at some point in my career I wanted to follow in their footsteps. And thankfully I was able to keep a steady head on my shoulders to be able to what's it called? Be selected. I didn't get in trouble. My PD tests were always good. And I kept a good character about myself that the Army saw me as, okay, you are one of the 1%. We want to invite you to the Drill Sarden Academy. So I 100% called my branch manager and I told him, I want to go to the Drill Sword Academy. Annika Lyon: I love that. My husband was somewhere. He from I mean, I didn't meet him till our first duty station, well into it, but he was I'm gonna be a drill instructor. I said, Okay, what let me know when you go. I'll somewhere somehow get there. See you there. But that's really cool. Love that. Laurie Trahan: That's all SFC George: So another thing that I will speak on that kind of ties into this is for the spouses of the drill sergeant. So not only is it hard on the drill sergeant, continuous cycles, it does and will take a toll on the family members. As a drill sergeant, you carry yourself in a certain light that you also cannot forget about your home life. You are constantly gone early in the morning all the way to late at night. The cycles, the trainees, there's constantly something going on that'll always keep you busy with your time. But what what I can tell anybody watching this, if you want to become a drill sergeant and you want to pursue that line of work in any so matter what branch you're in, if you want to pursue it, please make sure when you get home and you take that hat off. The hat stays at work because when you come home, your family is not a trainee. You need to make sure that you just uphold the same standards before you left to when you get to the trail and even after you leave. You're not a drill sergeant twenty four seven. Laurie Trahan: That's a good point because I'm sure that there's plenty of them out there that come home and they think that, you know, they're gonna treat their children that way, they're gonna talk to their wives that way, or husbands that way, you know. I I'm sure that that's a b a big problem. That's good advice. I like that. All right, so what else do we want to talk about? Army Sherry: I have a question. we have a lot of parents that come to us and talk about their child's mental health, we've had kids that like, I'm gonna shoot my leg off or I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that. So in the army, what do you guys do you guys watch for like mental health? And if you start seeing something about these things that kind of you know like what do you guys do? SFC George: So from the drill series that I've worked with, phenomenal people, amazing. You know, they are always spot on. We have classes, we have online training and personal experiences that we use in our toolkit to be able to see signs of mental, like I wouldn't like mental health issues, or if the trainees are like really struggling from like missing family or their spouse. Or while they're with us during training, if something happens that, you know, a spouse steps out of the relationship or the spouse files for divorce or the children get hurt or the spouse gets hurt at work and they're on the phone call and they hear about that, we can see the demeanor of them change because we're around them 24-7. So we see all of their mannerisms, we see how they are receptive to like what we say or how they act with the platoon. what they're doing at training, and it's a huge, huge underlier when white phase week starts and we start doing the marksmanship billet, as some would say. So yes, we make sure that it's a point that we take the hat off sometimes and we sit there and we're like, hey, private so and so, specialist so and so, how are you doing? Did you have, you know, a good weekend? How did you like the training? Are you okay? Is everything good? But now we're not going to pry and ask them about home life because it's none of our business. But those are just some like qualifying questions we start asking if we do see a switch in the demeanor of how they act or how they're representing themselves during basic training, but especially again during marksmanship week. Laurie Trahan: I got a question. Army Sherry: Thank you. Laurie Trahan: So I had a mom I was talking to the other day, and she was like, her son is going to actually to Navy boot camp, but it kinda we can just kind of talk about just being a boot camp in general. And the first letter she got, it was absolutely terrible, and he wanted to, you know, come home. And I mean, Annika saw the letter, it was ridiculous, you know. It was I wanna come home. Maybe you can call the Red Cross and convince them that there was something wrong and I needed to come home. How do you deal with parents that are like that that want to do these things versus kids that are like writing to their parents and telling them that stuff? I mean, that was it was a whole situation. Like it was pretty it was pretty ugly for a little while. And we had to get a a drill instructor to give mom some hard cold truths to tell her son and it straightened itself out. But how is how would you deal with a situation like that? SFC George: Are you asking how would I or how have I? Laurie Trahan: How well, how have you? If you have done it, then let's hear it. Army Sherry: How have you? SFC George: Okay, so Is an open platform. This is all honesty. So I we get phone calls all the time. Laurie Trahan: It's an open platform. Open and raw. SFC George: The commander gets emails, first sergeant gets emails. It it comes down from the Colonel and Sergeant Major about how you know Private Joe Snuffy's mom, grandmother, sister, dad, brother, the fish, the dog, all of them, right? They're sitting here calling them, asking them where's my kid at? What's he doing? I don't see any pictures. We can't talk to him. He's not calling us. And we just we just sit there. We get that phone call at the CQ desk. We pick up the phone. We give them the greeting of the day. Let him know, hello, this is Drill Sergeant George, Alpha 250 or Echo 215. How may I help you, sir, ma'am? And we start hearing the where's my kid? He's in third platoon. His name is so and so. I'm sorry you feel that way, ma'am. Have a good day. Boom. And then we carry on with the training. And then yes, we go to the soldier and we're like, hey, Private Joe Snuffy. We need you to understand to let your family members know when you get your phone back. To let them know that you are alive, you are okay. If you choose to not be calling them, you need to take one time to sit there and call your loved ones and let them know that you have made it, you are okay. I get people come from different backgrounds, and we understand that as drill sergeants. People tend to or they fail to realize that we were also privates and specialists at one point in our career. You have to also realize. The drill sergeants also came from different backgrounds, and we were also in the same basic training bay. I slept in that same bed you're sleeping in right now, 10 years ago. You have to understand my parents were the same way. His parents were the same way. You you have to understand, call your family. You can give them one phone call. Hey, I'm okay. I don't feel like talking to you guys right now. I want to focus on this and that. I want to focus on private Joe Snuffy's girlfriend. he wants to call her and be like, hey, hello, I miss you. Keep the relationship going, that's fine. What we tell them, we pull them aside. We don't ostracize them in front of everybody. We pull them aside one-to-one and say, hey, contact your family, tell them you're okay, and move on. Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. SFC George: We don't we don't we don't sit there and hear the sob story. We don't have time for that. We're just politely saying, Yes, ma'am, yes, sir. I'm sorry you feel that way. Put the phone down. We have kids to worry about. Laurie Trahan: So if you could go back in time and talk to your younger self the day before you left for boot camp, what would you tell him? And what do you wish you had known before you made that move and made that journey a little bit easier for you? SFC George: The Lord. All Laurie Trahan: Yeah. SFC George: right. So if I had Private George sitting to my left right now, excuse me, let me back up. If I had George sitting to my left right now, about to walk into the recruiter's office tomorrow to start his military journey, I would turn my chair around, I would look at him, and I would tell him that he needs to slow down. He needs to he needs to know that actions have consequences. Words do in fact hurt people. And to make sure that You make amends with friends, enemies, family members. Cause once you step on that bus to go to MEPS and you get to your reception battalion, there's no turning back. You will not have contact with them on the daily like you have been. You will not sit there and be able to go to the convenience store and get your candy bar and your soda. and to let him know, like if you have questions, please don't don't be afraid to ask. Cause there's an answer to everything. Now what This young 21-year-old kid needs to know, you're not gonna always like the answers to your questions. And that's okay, because it's a tough life people lead. But just understand if you slow down and you think about what you're doing first, you'll have a whole hell of a better time moving forward if you're not so full of yourself and you just leave that ego to the side for 20 minutes. Laurie Trahan: I love it. I love it. So what would you what would you wish that you knew before you left about boot camp, your experiences, that you could tell your younger self? SFC George: So, what do I wish I would have known prior Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. SFC George: to going into basic combat training? Well, I would tell my 21-year-old self that there are a group of guys out there heading in the same direction that you are. And those are gonna be some of the most classy, funny guys you've ever met in your entire life. And to make sure that you have fun, make sure like it's a competition, you can make it competitive. But make sure that you check on them too, because again, they're human beings. They're missing the same amount of people that you are. They're leaving the same amount of people that you are. And I would say, you know, go in there with your head held high. Don't go in there quiet, trying to duck and dodge. Make a name for yourself. That's the whole point of what the army is. You have to put yourself out there in order to receive the benefits or just to receive anything like that that you're chasing. And again, I would look at him and tell him to set realistic short term. And long term goals for just himself. Laurie Trahan: That's good. Army Sherry: A lot of parents are like, I told my kid not to volunteer for things. I told my kid not to do this. I told them to fly under the radar. Like my son was opposite. He went in there and he's like, I'll do that, I'll do this, I'll do that. And would you explain to some of the parents why you would have them volunteer? Because, like my son said, I got to do some pretty cool shit that if I didn't volunteer, that I wouldn't be able to do. SFC George: So, Ms. Sherry, that's a phenomenal point. So for the parents that are telling their kids to fly under the radar to not volunteer, doesn't matter what to degree of the job or the task is, they are essentially telling their child to skip out on army experiences, like you just said. And we'll go from a personal experience for Soran First Glass George. I volunteered for absolutely everything. I made sure that I didn't need the recognition. I didn't peep need people to know my name. I did it because my mom raised me to work hard and to work for what I want. And for her being a single mom, she showed me what hard work can get you and what you know how you can reap those benefits. So I took that and put it in my toolbox to use as a young kid going into the military and Being able to volunteer and do all those tasks, even though they weren't great jobs or they were like they were waste check the mark, you know, check the box kind of tasks, you know the amount of experiences I got just by being a hard worker and putting myself out there. I got to go on Chinook rides. I got sent to air assault school as a as a specialist, a brand new specialist, and I got to experience all types of aircraft and helicopters repelling out of planes. repelling off of 80 foot to 100 foot walls. I got to like do zero gravity in the Chinook that, you know, my heart sank to my asshole. And it it it was probably it was probably the best experience I've ever gotten in my entire existence, minus minus being a drill sergeant. And amongst of other things, I gotta go to Greece. I got to experience what Greece was like and and the culture over there, Poland, Romania, Austria, Germany. I gotta go to the Auschwitz camp and I gotta relive that history. Now, was it crazy? It it was intense, it was sad, it was quiet. But if I wouldn't have put myself out there and dug my feet into the ground and just made sure that I stood to what I believed in, what my mother taught me, I would not have those experiences and I wouldn't be able to talk about them. So I feel like Laurie Trahan: That's so awesome. I love that. SFC George: as a parent, you should not. Tell your kid to fly under the radar. Let your kid experience whatever they want to experience and be proud of them when they come back and be like, hey, mom, dad, that was very hard. But guess what it taught me? It taught me how to be a better leader, a better man or woman. And it just taught me how to like carry myself in a light that I want to see myself as. Laurie Trahan: That's Army Sherry: Know, like Lori and I tell our kids, go live off the military, go see the things, let them pay for things that you you know, like we couldn't afford to send our kid to. And and I mean, just the short time, you know, the three years that he's been in, he's been to the border. He's going to right now, he's in the box in California, and then he'll be going to Korea. And I'm like, go live life off the military, go have fun, go. And I, as a parent, I love. I don't wanna say I'm living vicarious through him, but like I'm jealous because of the s the things that he gets to do that I know that I could have never done for him. SFC George: I hope my mom is living vicariously through me because she she deserves it. She earned it. You know, she put eighteen years of hard work into me and my two sisters. And I hope she one day can reap all the benefits and I can pay her back for everything. But I hope she is living vicariously through me because she deserves it. every deployment, every rotation I go on, she always gets something from one of my deployments from their trademark. I've been to Korea. Been to Europe, she always gets something, and I bring it back for her so she has a chance to experience that, even even though she can't go herself. Laurie Trahan: My God, you just won every mom Annika Lyon: Right. Laurie Trahan: that's listening to this, you just won their heart. That is so sweet. I love that. That is such a cool idea. So if you're listening and you're gonna be going on a rotation or deployment, you better start buying your mom something. Annika Lyon: So it's always every time it comes for us to PCS, my parents are like all excited. They're like, where do we get to go see you next? What vacation do I get now? And I'm literally, Army Sherry: Mm-hmm. Annika Lyon: I'm my flight's at 7 a.m. tomorrow to get ready to PCS to Japan. So my parents are like, we get to go to Okinawa. We get to see this. We get to see that. I'm like, this is the least I can do is offer you a room and you can just go explore and do your thing. Cause all of everything you guys gave me, the least I can do is bring experiences to you. So I get what you're saying. Laurie Trahan: That's so cool. I love that. It's just a big family and being able to to do that. And I love that you recognize your mother over that, you know, because parents do work very hard to raise our kids and make them, you know, the people that they are. And if it wasn't for parents raising our kids the way they are, you guys would get a bunch of, you know, uneducated, yeah, I'm trying to be nice about it. Army Sherry: Ding dongs. Laurie Trahan: You know, y you you're no 'cause we do all this work and we raise them and we give them the values and the morals and the courage to go volunteer to join one of the branches and then you guys as drill instructors and drill sergeants have to take over from there. So, you know, parents, I know a lot of people like to say, Well, it was the army that did it and it was the Marines that did it, but we as parents do so much work beforehand that you just take that value and you just emphasize it and make it even better, you know. And as a parent, I appreciate that. I really do. SFC George: And s funny enough, you said that, right? So we'll do a small stint off of what you just said. So education, very, very important. Now, an 18-year-old coming into the army doesn't have college experience, but they have high school experience. They have elementary again through high school experience. They have education in the sense that they know how to They know how to be a human being. They they are educated enough to know how to treat people the right way or how you would like to be treated. everyone talks about the golden rule: do unto others as you would want done to yourself. And in the army, I think it magnifies by 10 in the sense of now you are representing more than just yourself. Now you wear a uniform every day. You're a soldier on and off duty 24/7. So, how you represent yourself off duty speaks volume for your character when you're on duty. And for the people out there listening, moms, dads, younger siblings, I'll I'll give you this. Don't go off of trying to constantly impress somebody or going out of your way to, you know, seek recognition. Because at the end of the day, army, civilian life, it doesn't matter what it is. Do stuff for yourself. If you see something on the side of the road, pick it up. If you're out at the park or you're at a sporting event and you're walking out and you see some trash, pick it up. You don't need someone to say, thank you so much for doing that. You're doing it because it's the right thing to do. And and I try to tell my soldiers, you know, do stuff that you would want your younger self to be appreciative about. You know, try to make your younger self proud. Everyone wants to make their parents proud. And I'm sure everyone is doing such by by whatever occupation that they have. But again, don't go out seeking validation just because you feel like that would, you know, boost your ego or it'll boost your street cred. Do it because it's the right thing to do. Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. That's true. That's very true. I like that. Okay. Do you ladies have any other questions that you wanna ask Army Sherry: Just one what is one of the most memorable moments throughout your career? SFC George: One of the most memorable moments throughout my entire Army career. And I would have to be very transparent with you that I would lie if I said if it it wasn't, you know, going through air assault school and then coming back and going straight to Europe to go to Auschwitz. But I have to be honest with you, the most rewarding time in my Army career was being able to put that campaign hat on when I got to my unit to become a drill sergeant and train over 4,000 soldiers by turning them from civilians to soldiers, while also Every single one of them taught me something along the way. That's my most memorable and cherished moment of my army career. Army Sherry: Hell yeah. Laurie Trahan: Cool. I like it. I like Army Sherry: I love that. Laurie Trahan: it. I got a couple more questions for you. So the whole reason that we do this TikTok thing, and now that we're doing the podcast, is we want young recruits, we want young service members and families to realize that people that are ranked like you and higher like you and Sergeant Butters and Behind the Curtains and all of the higher ranking officers, you're not scary. You're real people. And they can come to you and talk to you. And so and I know that's what you do on your platform too. You want people to talk to you. You want these kids to ask questions and and get a a sense of, you know, if something's bothering them that they can come to you and you're just because of your rank, it's you're not a scary person. What is some advice that you would tell some of these recruits that say, you know what, I want to go talk to Sergeant First Cap Class George? But I'm nervous because he's higher ranked than me and I'm a brand new soldier. What is something that you would tell that that young man or young woman, you know, about coming to you or somebody higher up? SFC George: So the first thing I would start out with, I would tell them that anybody, despite their rank, should always make sure that they uphold themselves and make sure that they are approachable people. You need to be approachable, not just in the military, but as a human being, you need to be approachable. And it starts with how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you say, the energy that you give off. Now, if you're going to use your rank or position, To, you know, gain some profitable or personable things off of it, then you're automatically doing it wrong. And people around you will see that. just because we wear the rank on our chest does not mean that the rank is who we are. At the end of the day, like Miss Lori just said, we are human beings. And I've told all of my trainees that if you have an issue and your first line leader is not fixing it. It is called the open door policy. And every commander should have one, and every commander does have one. You can walk in there respectfully using the military customs and courtesies, address yourself as cordonly, and sit down and have a conversation with that said person. Again, hiding behind your rank or using your rank for ill reasons or like unlawful reasons should never be a thing. And if and if service members are out there doing that, that is wrong. Laurie Trahan: That's good. So you mm-hmm. SFC George: Your rank isn't who you are by any means. Laurie Trahan: That's good. I like that making it a safe environment for somebody to come to you and say, hey, this, this, and this is going on. You know, I I'm I'm not feeling safe, or I have something going on in my personal life and it's affecting my service. You know, I need to talk to somebody. And I like that you're say that open door policy to allow these young recruits to to talk it out with somebody that they trust. So that's really good. SFC George: Senior leaders, senior officers need to understand that they need to work on how to become approachable. Laurie Trahan: Mm. SFC George: That's another aspect of like can that leader be that person I can lean on? Can I trust them to confide in them and they can fix my problem? Or if they can't, they know who can. So being approachable in the military is a huge, huge tool that you can put in your toolbox. And if you're approachable, your soldiers will move mountains for you. Laurie Trahan: Yeah. SFC George: If they trust you as a leader and they know that you have their back, you have no issues and your career will be amazing. Laurie Trahan: That's what I like about the TikTok and how like you and like Sergeant Butters and all of these higher ranking officers, how you guys have these TikToks and these kids can actually see, hey, you're a real person 'cause sometimes you're not in your uniform, sometimes you're in your civilian clothes. And I like you know, I like that kind of stuff because they actually get to see, hey, you know what? He is a real person, you know? He's not just a drill instructor, a drill sergeant, or, you know, a sergeant's major all the time. He's a real live boy, you know? SFC George: Yeah, we're just over here being goofy goobers. That's that's Laurie Trahan: Yeah. SFC George: we we have we we have lives outside of the army and and I do love the army, but I don't want to you know, I don't want to live army all the time because it's it's you know, it it it wears us down sometimes. It's Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. SFC George: just how it is. Laurie Trahan: Yep, I agree. I agree. All right. So as a dad, how do you feel if your children decide to join a branch and maybe not even just your own branch? How do you feel about that? SFC George: So Laurie Trahan: Mm. Army Sherry: Ha ha ha. SFC George: I personally don't have an opinion on that. If if my children want to join and serve, then that is their own, their their own, you know, they're pushing themselves to do that. Never will I sit here and tell them you have to join and keep on, you know, keep pushing the legacy because I like I got tell all the time, like I'm building my legacy and I'm leaving a torch once everything's done. I'm gonna place that torch down. And you can pick up the torch, it doesn't matter what direction you go in. You can take the torch and be a famous rock star, or you can open up your own bakery for Oprah Infree, whoever it is. You can be a clothing designer, a TikTok influencer, a doctor, a dentist. It doesn't matter where that torch goes, as long as you know you're doing what makes you happy. I just want that torch to go with you so you can start, you know, continue building that flame. For when you have your own kids and your kids pick up the torch and they continue on. Just because I was in the military and I served, and it doesn't matter what rank I end at when I retire, it it it's it's it's not a hey, let's play a game. Can you outrank me in your military services? That that's that's not what I want to see for my kids. All I want to see is that they're happy, they're healthy, and they succeed in life. And if I can start being the foundation for them to do that. They can see how hard I worked and how hard I pushed to get to where I am to give them the life that they deserve, then by all means, they can do anything. They're honestly, you know, the options are endless. The possibilities are, you know, I can't even begin to fathom to just make an excuse of how far those endless possibilities are for them. Laurie Trahan: I like that. I like that a lot. do you wanna tell us where our viewers can find you on social media? SFC George: yes, ma'am. So I stream on TikTok. That is my main source where I push out all my content, my military content and my videos. the handle is drill sergeant nobody on TikTok. If you want to come over, drop a follow and just sit there and run through some of the videos. There's a lot of knowledge I dropped and there's a a lot of information that can be receptive to you guys watching. Laurie Trahan: Awesome. And we'll put that in the show notes so people can click on it and find you right away. I appreciate you coming to joining us. We enjoyed talking to you and we thank you for your service. And I thank you for being such an open ended book for some of these young military service members and in parents too. Because you answer every single time. You're another one. I bug the life out of every single time I have a question, I'm always like, Hey, can you answer this for me? SFC George: A hundred percent and I'm always there. I know I'm busy, but I make sure that when I see it, I'm like, let me pause and let me make sure I can, you know, just spread some positive knowledge. And like, sometimes out there, some some some leaders don't have all the answers. And it's okay. That's why you continue to ask questions and research. And if I don't have an answer and I know that you're trying to find it and no one else has it, I'm gonna go find it for you and I'm gonna educate myself along the way so then we can both gain some knowledge and help someone else out. Laurie Trahan: I love that because that's my one of my biggest things. I tell everybody, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room because you can always learn something new all the time. And that's why we're so lucky with this community is we have people like you and Annika and all of our veterans and active duty that come in and we all put a little bit of something in the pot and everybody's learning something. And I love I've learned so much I've learned so much about the the Marines, but I've also learned so much about the army from you and Sherry and it's just nice to be able to To have all of us learn something new all the time. Army Sherry: we want to be those parents SFC George: Mm-hmm. Army Sherry: that aren't the annoying parents. We want to educate the parents like it's okay. Let them go be and let them go learn and let them just have life, you know, and that's what we want you active duty people to to know that we're not those hovering helicopter parents like we're trying to break that cycle and help them understand like it's okay. Let them go. Laurie Trahan: Yep. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We are so honored that you SFC George: Yes, ma'am. Laurie Trahan: came. And please, anytime that you want to come back and talk about anything, let us know because you are definitely welcome back and we appreciate you. Army Sherry: And let the other guys know, like, hey, it wasn't that bad. We didn't bite that hard. Come on over, Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Army Sherry: you know, send them our way and we would love to talk to high stakes and all those guys, so SFC George: Hundred percent. Laurie Trahan: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well thank you so much. We appreciate you. Thank you for your service and Annika Lyon: Thank you. SFC George: Yes, ma'am. Laurie Trahan: we appreciate you so Army Sherry: Thank you. Laurie Trahan: much. SFC George: Thank you ladies for having me. Laurie Trahan: Thank