Palmer woman blazes trail in National Guard

CAMP DENALI — A Palmer woman has become the first female drill sergeant in the Alaska Army National Guard.

Sgt. 1st Class Bonnie Cochran originally came to Alaska from Nebraska, where she was a member of the Nebraska Army National Guard. Cochran served as an instructor for what was then called the Primary Leadership Development Course and moved to Alaska in 2003 with hopes of new job opportunities and experiences.

“This has definitely been a new experience for me,” Cochran said about trailblazing the Last Frontier. “I’ve always wanted to be a drill sergeant, because to me a drill sergeant is the ultimate role model with ultimate responsibility. I've talked to people who’ve retired from the service and they can still recall their drill sergeants’ names. To have that great of an impact on someone is incredible.”

Although training soldiers is not completely new to Cochran, training civilians to become soldiers is.

“As an NCO [non-commissioned officer], I couldn't possibly think of anything greater or better than being a drill sergeant,” she said. “I taught PLDC [Primary Leadership Development Course] for four years at an NCO academy full-time, and this is even better. I love training soldiers.”

As for her role in the military, Cochran understands that the quality and expertise of those on America’s front lines begins with her.

“The greatest thing you can teach someone in the Army is how to be a soldier,” Cochran said. “It will affect their soldier skills from there on out.”

Before Cochran could begin to teach new recruits how to be soldiers she had to go through rigorous drill sergeants training herself, learning to be a teacher, mentor and motivator.

“Drill sergeants school was like basic training plus another 8 billion hours of classroom training,” Cochran said. “It was hard, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”

Since returning in July from drill sergeant school at Fort Jackson, S.C., Cochran has joined the Recruiting and Retention Command as the Recruit Sustainment Program (RSP) drill sergeant.

“Every state has a Recruit Sustainment Program,” Cochran said. “One of the ways the National Guard Bureau has found to improve the program is to train and assign drill sergeants to RSP; it helps to ensure that new soldiers are at least somewhat prepared for what they will face at basic training.”

During RSP training, Cochran focuses on teaching recruits everything from drill, ceremony and rank structure to rappelling and basic medical skills.

“It’s almost like pre-basic training,” Cochran said. “Every year the requirements for these soldiers change, and at drill sergeants school we are specifically trained on the things that will prepare our soldiers for their military future.”

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Ray, recruiting and retention marketing NCO, said soldiers like Cochran know first-hand what young soldiers are going to experience when they go to training.

“If we can recreate that atmosphere even in the slightest bit, it will prepare these guys and girls better for when they take off, and the better off they’ll be when they get there,” Ray said. “We would like to see more National Guard soldiers take advantage of the opportunity to become drill sergeants.”

At basic training, soldiers are required to successfully complete certain tasks before they graduate, and that’s what Cochran is training them to do.

“For example, they are going to have to rappel, and it’s going to happen probably within that first week,” Cochran said. “If they don’t rappel, they don’t graduate. So what I’m doing here is kind-of stacking the deck in their favor. I’m saying, ‘OK, we’re going to go rappel, and I’m going to show you that you can do it.’ So when they get down to basic training hopefully they go off no problem and they continue through basic training and graduate. It helps them to take some of that self-doubt off their shoulders.”

Cochran said that aside from teaching civilians to be soldiers, it is important she be someone those in her charge can look up to.

“I want to be a good role model, that's what I want to be for them,” Cochran said. “We only read about the drill sergeants who are doing bad things, but for every bad one there are a dozen more doing the right thing, training civilians and turning them into warriors to defend our freedom.”

Sgt. Karima Turner works in the public affairs office of the Alaska National Guard at Ft. Richardson.