1st memories of Drill Sgts

[StillPete]

I will always remember Basic Training as the best time in my life, Barry Larby was our Plt Sgt, and he once said this would be (We didn't believe it at the time) as he semed like a physco, 1 minute doing Frank Spencer impressions then screaming blue murder!

Funny that a lot of our DWTI we looked up to with awe, on meeting later in our career became a disappointment. Some of our plt staff:
A platoon
2Lt Archer (1st female I believe)
Sgt Bas Larby
Cpl Wayne Dayal 
Cpl Chris Shields PTI
Cpl Scouse Robinson
Some Mad jock but can’t remember his name , but on the day we moved over from reception to A platoon him and Sharkey wandered into a room where we were being shown how to lay out a locker. (Had to have card inside your uniform so it was 9inc x 1 or laid out)  One of the other recruits had left his locker open, and the mad Jock and Sharkey trashed it. Then the Jock lay on a bed with his hands behind his head, and said in a thick jock accent ‘welcome to the f**king British Army boys’ ! Bizarrely he turned out to be a great DWTI! Scared the crap out of me though!

[tomscorer]

Yes I remember chriss shields, he trnasferrede into ACC from RGJs, a very good runner . I only remember him because he was in our squad for catering training

[rubberguts]

Will anyone ever forget the fear the  D.I.'s instilled into our youthfull new recruit's minds? I well remember this one incident.
Sgt. Brown, affectionately nicknamed "Bomber Brown" because he frothed and spluttered a continual volley of saliva whilst issuing orders. Very unfortunate if one happened to be within the line of fire.
One morning before morning parade, Sgt Brown was standing some six inches in front of a recruit's face who had committed the cardinal sin of making a drill error and was giving him the full treatment. He finished his torrent of abuse by screaming, "Answer me Lad. Answer me".
"Visibly shaking, the hapless joker stuttered "I can't sergeant". "Your spitting in my face."
 Undeterred, Brown snorted back. "Well sign the bloody 'Bath Book' then to say you've had a bath!"
In the fifties, we were required to sign a Bath Book once a week to indicate we had taken a bath or a shower which more than often was in cold water because the hot water supply had long since run out. No joke during the freeze up of fifty four.