Best damn DI ever

[hypnotist]

plt 279 San Diego 1957 SSGT Kania and Sgt. Jerry welch were the best ever DI's that ever pushed recruits around the grinder.. bar none...

[riceke]

Most of you Marines are too young to remember this Drill Instructor. He was assigned as a DI at Parris Island 2nd Btn 1962-1964. He wasn't my Drill Instructor but was in the next squad bay during my boot camp. The reason I put him up for the best DI is not only his duty as a DI but what came afterward in Viet Nam. His heroic action in VN awarded him the Medal of Honor. His heroics are far to much for me to print here but you can read about him at ********************* or "googled" Medal of Honors receipients. He retired a Captain but if there's one Marine who exemplified what we stand for it is him. Please take a look at his profile...it will make you proud to be a Marine.

[Dick Jennings]

I was in the 3rd Battalion in 1963 platoon 332. What was the name of your DI?

[riceke]

Dick...my SDI was Ssgt Ferrari, Cpl Corbit, Cpl Hoffman and one other I can't remember. We were @nd Btln K Co.

[dmellow45]

this is funny, of course we are all gonna say ours was the best, how bout this one, i think that perhaps one of the dis from another plt was better then both of mine.
also i was dropped for illness and my second sdi was a complete ****bag in comparison to my first.

[ronr418]

Sorry to bust your bubbles Marines, but the best DI was Senior Drill Instructor SSgt Phillips, PLT. 3051, H Co. 3rd Batt. Parris Island MCRD.

[ronr418]

Apr 15 to Jul 10 1983

[ronr418]

i knew a ssgt palmer 2nd bn, but this is almost 20 years later, we refer to him as tazmanian devil

I had a DI named SGT. Walker, we called him Darth Vader. He was pure evil but if I was to see him today I would shake his hand and thanked him for helping to become a Marine.

[Trucrimsongold]

I don't have any clue about my recruiter, I don't even know his name or rank. All he did was sign me up.

EXACTLY...like i said somewhere in here earlier mine was actually a staff sgt WM named Dewitt..she didn't have to sell me on any of it..i was ready to go when I signed up..The one good thing though she did was instead of letting me do what I thought I first wanted to do and go straight 03 she suggested "security forces" because it guaranteed me a break from a full time gig with a line company and offered me a chance at sea duty to see the world or Barracks duty over seas dependending on my security clearance level...I had a decent background so I got to do sea duty and tour the Med before I went to a Heavy Guns Platoon then on to A co..If she hadn't have done that I probably would have spent my whole enlistment at Geiger though I still would have been a 0331 vs a 0311, had i made NCO while i was in I know i would have reinlisted but it was hard at the time in the infantry even with taking all the MCI courses so im glad i got a to go all the places I did within my regular four years. She did make that possible.

[ridingcrops]

I hate to burst your bubbles but the best DIs n the Corps where Gunny Mcglaughlin and S/Sgts Sterling and Napier from platoon 1082, San Diego 1969. These guys were tops and taught us how to go from boys to being Marines.

[Englishts]

Tinson, Paul Drake
Sgt MCRD Parris Island
2nd Bn K Co Plt 2008
Grad: 12/29/1965

KIA--Hue City, RVN 2/6/1968 outside the University w/ F Co. 2/5 (SSgt at time).
ONE HELL OF A DI AND A MARINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Semper Fi

Paul Drake Tinson was my father. He died 4 months after I was born. We never met.

[Loum]

Sgt Herring ( a squared away black DI) & Sgt Stamper another good DI, Plt 104 Paris Island 1962

[jamielang1951]

I beg to disagree
S/Sgt Dower, Platoon 3107 MCRDSD, 1969 was the best.


Second row, second photo,
On the left is S/Sgt. Dower, best DI in the Marine Corps.
On the right is S/Sgt. Blankenship, meanest g*d damn DI in the Marine Corps.
And yes, that's me in two of those.

S/Sgt Dower was so good they put him in a beer commercial. I guess you could say he really was a "Hollywood" Marine.

[FistFu68]

Sorry too Bust Your Chops Ladies...But without a Doubt Tha Best D.I.Evaaaa...Was My MaMa...She wore Combat Boot's was tougher than a WoodPeckers Lip's and Would not take any Chit from Any Man...Especially My PaPa Who was a Lifer before You were Born...Chit She even had Permission from All tha other Mothers on Base too Whip their Kid's Asses to,If they were outta Line...Then She Whipped My Ass just for Practice...2nd would Be My Plt.Sgt.in Nam...S/SGT.Karl G.Taylor (CMOH) 8 Dec.68,He was a D.I...At Quantico knocking tha Chit outta OSSIFER's He was 2nd.too NONE!!! SEMPER FI

[DinkyDauMarine]

Please be advised. Best Drill Instructor was Ssgt Baines. Platoon 392 MCRD San Diego June 67-August 67, Honor Platoon. In hand to hand going up against each other, round Robin he recognized I was Martial Artist. As supernumery of the guard with him he showed me things that I still retain 44 years later. His cadence is what I still mimic to this day. He was what squared away is all about. Would love to see him now and I would still ask permission to speak