Nine Weeks: a teacher's education in Army Basic Training (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Drill Sergeant Robertson: A young, gutsy, frat-boy infantry-man who hated being away from combat almost as much as he hated his trainees.
• Drill Sergeant Jackson: The fatherly drill sergeant nominally in charge of 4th Platoon; if by "fatherly" you mean one who is persistently disappointed and tells his young soldiers that they should have never been born.
• SPC Stowell: The author and protagonist is a teacher-gone-Soldier who finds he may not have been fully aware of what he was getting himself into.
• Drill Sergeant Jefferson: By his own estimation, the biggest, baddest drill sergeant in this man's Army.
• Sanchez: All Soldiers were know only by their last name. His first was Baby Joey, spelled exactly like that. He was under five feet tall, but stood up to Drill Sergeant Jefferson like he was a giant. He earned the drill sergeant's lasting respect for it, too.
• Zaccardi: Add a description of this character.
• Walker
• Rogers
• Gulliksen
• Sgt Stevenson
• Rodriguez
• Eppinghaus
• Pastore

Quotes edit see section history

• “You know, I oughta kick your ass, just because you’re a teacher. I would love to have kicked my high school math teacher’s ass.”

  Drill Sergeant Robertson

• “Welcome to Fort Sill, your life as you know it is over.”

• “I felt a little offended that, as a seemingly healthy and intelligent man with so much more to lose at this stage in my life by joining the military than I had to gain, that they would even call into question my fitness to join. After seeing some of the others who were knocking on Uncle Sam’s door, I understood perfectly why. The good folks at MEPS were the gatekeepers, and though it sounds superficial, there was a sizeable element that needed to be kept out.”

  SPC Stowell

• “It seemed like everyone was from North Carolina. Or Mississippi. Or any state that at any point in history had raised arms against the union. I could count on two hands the privates without a drawl.”

  SPC Stowell

• “Perhaps, but the other side of the story is told by the Lawrence Chamberlains of the world, who were and are ready to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose. I hoped I could grow into a fraction of the stature of those heroes, even if I had to repeat silly warmongering slogans while stabbing the air with the tip of my rifle to do it.”

  SPC Stowell

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• The Home of the Field Artillery: Fifty miles north of the Texas border, Sill seemed to be in the midst of endless rolling hills, but it all looked so foreign to me, befitting my apprehension and feeling of helplessness. Established as a fort for US troops engaged with Oklahoma tribes in the 19th century, Fort Sill represented the last Armyoutpost on a disappearing frontier. Cavalry troops defended white settlers in the region from the time the fort was staked in 1869 until it became the home of the US Field Artillery in 1902. The symbol of white advancement and progress a hundred years ago was more backward and stale than any place I had yet been.
• The Starship: Our battery area occupied one-eighth of the entire building, called the “Starship.” The starship looked somewhat like a bloated tic-tac-toe board from the bird’s eye, each protruding wing housing a battery. The battery areas all looked the same, to describe ours would be to describe them all. The view from a marching private entering the area was that of an alleyway, three stories rising up on each side. Straight ahead were a set of stairs that led to a balcony from which drill sergeants could keep watchful eyes on us. The ground level was open space, interrupted by eight pillars that sometimesafforded us a respite from the drill sergeants’ attentive stares.
• Reception
• Oklahoma

Organizations edit see section history

• United States Army: Add a description of this organization.
• 1/40 Field Artillery
• Army National Guard

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• AIT: Advanced Individual Training: the second phase of a new Soldier's Initial Entry Training
• APFT: Army Physical Fitness Test
• BCT: Basic Combat Training: (Boot Camp) all new Soldier must complete this nine-week training phase
• BRM: Basic Rifle Marksmanship
• MEPS: Military Entrance and Processing Station
• MOS: Military Occupation Specialty: a Soldier's military job
• TRADOC: Training and Doctrine Command
• NCO: Non-commissioned Officer

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Teaching: I wanted a phrase that encapsulated the main point of Nine Weeks; that the folk in charge at Basic Training often did a substandard job at teaching. Make no mistake about it—Army drill sergeants do a fantastic job at many things: commanding respect, maintaining order, and yelling. But I have found that teachers on the civilian side are more effective at getting their pupils to really learn.So what I would have written along with my autograph in that copy of Nine Weeks is, “Drill sergeants don’t have anything on teachers.”A good teacher has a constantly full plate, cramped with unit & lesson development, assessment creation and grading, professional development and a host of administrative tasks. That’s all before students even come through the door. A typical high school teacher has around a hundred students. The equivalent number of Soldiers would have four to six drill sergeants who never really have to do any of the above tasks. Drill sergeants don’t even have to develop the curricula. Most teachers would think they have died and gone to schooling heaven if they could team teach, with a handful of colleagues, a fully-developed curriculum.Civilian teachers must deal with a host of behavior issues that rarely manifest themselves in a Basic Training setting, and they can’t go near some of the remedies that NCOs take for granted. If I even hinted that I wanted a student to drop and give me twenty in my math class, I’d be laughed out of school by students, administrators, and parents.So drill sergeants, NCOs, and Soldiers in general often acquire laudable skills. But, as I wrote in the title, in the department of meaningful learning, they don’t have anything on teachers.
• Soldier Training: Americans ought to know how their Soldiers are trained.

Awards edit see section history

• National Indie Excellence Awards (Finalist, 2010: Military Non-fcition)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 355

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Nonfiction › Education › Education Theory › Leadership
• Books › Health, Mind & Body › Psychology & Counseling › Education & Training
• Books › History › Military