MATT WHITE , Task & Purpose; Top Army drill sergeant says basic training isn’t just about being tough: ‘We have to operate with empathy’
"Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Harrington speaks with a clear, even voice, which, if you’ve ever met an Army drill sergeant, might be surprising. When he discusses life “on the trail,” as drill sergeants describe their jobs, his words are free of the raspy or strained tones that many in his profession have adopted after countless hours of shouted “corrections.”
Part of his unblemished voice, he says, comes from good technique and the occasional cup of tea...
Beyond his voice, as the 2026 Army Reserve Drill Sergeant of the Year, Harrington breaks most of the cliches associated with drill sergeants as a campaign-hatted disciplinarian.
“You think of a ‘drill sergeant,’ you think of yelling, and this authoritative figure that’s always screaming,” Harrington told Task & Purpose. “But we’re so much more than that, right? We are coaches, mentors. We’re fathers. We’re chaplains. We have to operate with empathy...
A “decline” in the rigor of basic training is a perpetual favorite topic of veterans of every age. But the issue of harsher, tougher basic training has gotten a boost since Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth promised to revamp basic training so that drill sergeants would “instill fear,” curse, and “put their hands on recruits.”
Harrington, while avoiding commenting on those policies, said he was confident that current training standards give new recruits all they can handle while producing soldiers ready for the army.
“Basic combat training is supposed to be challenging,” Harrington said. “We’re not doing anything that is outside of what we’re supposed to be doing as drill sergeants. We’re just making the next warfighter. Between corrective action and corrective training, teaching, mentoring, coaching an individual up, they’re civilians coming off of the couch, the sons and daughters of our citizens, and we have to make them into a soldier.”
The value of a good drill sergeant, he said, is not in harassment or hazing, but in teaching and understanding how to keep recruits on track.
“You know life happens and these individuals go through, you know, tough times, leaving their families, coming from hard situations, and everything like that,” he said. “And you have to be empathetic and support them and coach them through that, and get them to cross the finish line.”
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