thedrifter
12-02-03, 11:36 AM
A big 'Little General'
Gunnery Sgt. Whitcomb rated tops among 1,000 Marine drill instructors
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 2, 2003
At 5 foot 5 and 145 pounds, Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb probably isn't recruiting-poster material.
But "The Little General" – as he is respectfully known at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot – is the top drill instructor in the entire Corps.
"I have 121 drill instructors and there is no doubt that he is the best I have," said Sgt. Maj. Raynard Watkins, the ranking enlisted man for the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion.
"Recruits gravitate to him because they believe he is sincerely concerned for them – and he is," Watkins said. "The other drill instructors watch him and learn. He's small in stature, but he is one of the most fit Marines we have – and on top of that, he's just a good person."
Whitcomb, recently named the best among the service's 1,000 drill instructors, is also known throughout his training battalion by another nickname – "The Law."
"Gunny got that nickname about three (training) cycles ago and it stuck. He is The Law around here," said Capt. John Black, his immediate supervisor. "What he says is the law."
Whitcomb oversees 14 drill instructors training 317 recruits. As he recently strode through "the pit," a wood-chip-filled area used for hand-to-hand combat training, his drill instructors had one eye on their men and the other on Whitcomb.
"The first word that pops to mind to describe Gunny Whitcomb is 'demanding,' " Black said. "He strives for excellence in everything he does. He's a Marine's Marine."
A Marine's Marine, but not a screaming head a la "Full Metal Jacket."
Said Whitcomb: "If I yell at a recruit for three months, what have I done? Nothing. I haven't trained that recruit to function as a Marine. I have basically failed. We are about training, not screaming, and certainly not about failing."
Whitcomb's metamorphosis from Nebraska teenager – whose grandfather once scolded him for not standing during the national anthem – to the builder of Marines is another part of his story.
"I was about 15 and went with my grandfather to a college football game. The national anthem was playing and he was standing up, and I was sitting down. My grandfather hit me in the head for not standing up.
"He was raised in the South and had lived through all the struggles of being an African-American there. He had been through the marches and all of it and knew the price that had been paid to achieve equality.
"He drove home the point that we as young adults have some moral responsibility for what we do and to the people who have gone before us. He asked me what was I going to contribute. I said that I would serve my country. He was proud."
The way Marine recruiters carried themselves – and their sharp uniforms of white hats, tan shirts and dark blue pants – sealed Whitcomb's future. Well, almost.
Years later, it would take him three tries before getting into Drill Instructor School. He'd need a waiver to get in because he scored two points low on a test. But once a drill instructor, Whitcomb quickly made an impression.
Fellow drill instructor Staff Sgt. Harold Lucas hung the title "The Little General" on him because "he is headstrong, a ball of fire and he's short. He is ... a true leader, like a general."
Whitcomb's struggle and rise flashed through his mind when he heard his name read Oct. 28 as the drill instructor of the year.
"Shocked, total disbelief," said Whitcomb, a Marine for 10 years. "I knew that I had done well, but I was competing against the best of the best." He received a meritorious promotion to gunnery sergeant.
He won the honor through a competitive board system in which panels of senior noncommissioned officers quiz candidates on everything from current events to the ceremonial use of the noncommissioned officer's sword.
Three times he faced the boards and three times he won hands down.
And Whitcomb will need that same determination for his post-military career – kindergarten teacher.
"At first I thought about doing something in law enforcement," said Whitcomb, who plans to retire from the Marines at the 20-year mark. "But then I thought, if I can do something with young kids, maybe I can keep them from having to deal with law enforcement."
Just as with his recruits, Whitcomb wants his future charges to get the right instruction the first time.
"Kindergartners are little sponges. They just absorb everything, and I want to help them get off to the right start," he said. "After doing this (drill instructor) job, you have the patience to do anything."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/images/031202whitcomb.jpg
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
At 5 foot 5 and 145 pounds, Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb probably isn't recruiting-poster material, but the Marine Corps Recruit Depot trainer has been named the top drill instructor in the Marine Corps.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/images/031202whitcomb_hat.jpg
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20031202-9999_1m2whitcomb.html
The Drifter
:marine:
Gunnery Sgt. Whitcomb rated tops among 1,000 Marine drill instructors
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 2, 2003
At 5 foot 5 and 145 pounds, Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb probably isn't recruiting-poster material.
But "The Little General" – as he is respectfully known at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot – is the top drill instructor in the entire Corps.
"I have 121 drill instructors and there is no doubt that he is the best I have," said Sgt. Maj. Raynard Watkins, the ranking enlisted man for the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion.
"Recruits gravitate to him because they believe he is sincerely concerned for them – and he is," Watkins said. "The other drill instructors watch him and learn. He's small in stature, but he is one of the most fit Marines we have – and on top of that, he's just a good person."
Whitcomb, recently named the best among the service's 1,000 drill instructors, is also known throughout his training battalion by another nickname – "The Law."
"Gunny got that nickname about three (training) cycles ago and it stuck. He is The Law around here," said Capt. John Black, his immediate supervisor. "What he says is the law."
Whitcomb oversees 14 drill instructors training 317 recruits. As he recently strode through "the pit," a wood-chip-filled area used for hand-to-hand combat training, his drill instructors had one eye on their men and the other on Whitcomb.
"The first word that pops to mind to describe Gunny Whitcomb is 'demanding,' " Black said. "He strives for excellence in everything he does. He's a Marine's Marine."
A Marine's Marine, but not a screaming head a la "Full Metal Jacket."
Said Whitcomb: "If I yell at a recruit for three months, what have I done? Nothing. I haven't trained that recruit to function as a Marine. I have basically failed. We are about training, not screaming, and certainly not about failing."
Whitcomb's metamorphosis from Nebraska teenager – whose grandfather once scolded him for not standing during the national anthem – to the builder of Marines is another part of his story.
"I was about 15 and went with my grandfather to a college football game. The national anthem was playing and he was standing up, and I was sitting down. My grandfather hit me in the head for not standing up.
"He was raised in the South and had lived through all the struggles of being an African-American there. He had been through the marches and all of it and knew the price that had been paid to achieve equality.
"He drove home the point that we as young adults have some moral responsibility for what we do and to the people who have gone before us. He asked me what was I going to contribute. I said that I would serve my country. He was proud."
The way Marine recruiters carried themselves – and their sharp uniforms of white hats, tan shirts and dark blue pants – sealed Whitcomb's future. Well, almost.
Years later, it would take him three tries before getting into Drill Instructor School. He'd need a waiver to get in because he scored two points low on a test. But once a drill instructor, Whitcomb quickly made an impression.
Fellow drill instructor Staff Sgt. Harold Lucas hung the title "The Little General" on him because "he is headstrong, a ball of fire and he's short. He is ... a true leader, like a general."
Whitcomb's struggle and rise flashed through his mind when he heard his name read Oct. 28 as the drill instructor of the year.
"Shocked, total disbelief," said Whitcomb, a Marine for 10 years. "I knew that I had done well, but I was competing against the best of the best." He received a meritorious promotion to gunnery sergeant.
He won the honor through a competitive board system in which panels of senior noncommissioned officers quiz candidates on everything from current events to the ceremonial use of the noncommissioned officer's sword.
Three times he faced the boards and three times he won hands down.
And Whitcomb will need that same determination for his post-military career – kindergarten teacher.
"At first I thought about doing something in law enforcement," said Whitcomb, who plans to retire from the Marines at the 20-year mark. "But then I thought, if I can do something with young kids, maybe I can keep them from having to deal with law enforcement."
Just as with his recruits, Whitcomb wants his future charges to get the right instruction the first time.
"Kindergartners are little sponges. They just absorb everything, and I want to help them get off to the right start," he said. "After doing this (drill instructor) job, you have the patience to do anything."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/images/031202whitcomb.jpg
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
At 5 foot 5 and 145 pounds, Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb probably isn't recruiting-poster material, but the Marine Corps Recruit Depot trainer has been named the top drill instructor in the Marine Corps.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/images/031202whitcomb_hat.jpg
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
Gunnery Sgt. Terrence Whitcomb
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20031202-9999_1m2whitcomb.html
The Drifter
:marine: