[April 23, 2017] Many years ago before I was commissioned a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, I was an Infantry Drill Sergeant at Fort Polk, Louisiana. There I learned a valuable lesson while teaching the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship to new soldiers. I would explain to them how to shoot the M161A1 rifle … foremost, seeing it done right the first time was the most effective way for them to learn to shoot properly.
It took showing those new soldiers the proper techniques on how to physically hold the rifle for my teaching to be truly successful. I had experimented with numerous teaching techniques design by myself to save time and save the Army money. In the end, I rejected most of them but those that worked – in each successful case – were those that included showing them the right way to hold and shoot the rifle.
At a young age, this led me to the conclusion that the vast majority of people need to “see” the right way of doing things before they can truly grasp it. I also discovered, during those training days, that many of the new soldiers didn’t grasp the basic values of our country; those like loyalty, honesty, integrity, etc. As a result, our group of sergeants took time during our evenings to teach them the basics of good citizenship and camaraderie.
We actually had to tell them, for example, that the best way to earn respect was to give it. We held small-group demonstrations to show them how to act properly in front of others. I was particularly surprised that so many of them lacked the most basic social skills and education. For example, some of the new soldiers thought the only way to get someone to do as you want was to force them; they held this view as a matter of fact. It took considerable effort to begin to make changes.
The physical world was only a part of the issue. We had to teach morality; doing so in a step by step process. Those from rural and religious upbringings came to us with a much better background; their particular race was not a factor. Females did better as did those with all who were raised with a mother and father at home.
There is an old saying that “seeing is believing.” Our slogan was “seeing is teaching.” We had to teach by showing our pupils (new soldiers) how to acquire soldiering and social skills, as well as, ethical conduct; all by the most rudimentary teaching techniques.
I became a firm believer that, at least for the majority of individuals, seeing what’s right is best way of making them a better soldier, citizen, and person.
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