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My time is a Drill Sergeant is coming to a close in a couple of weeks and I’ve had a little while to chew on exactly what being a Drill Sergeant is and how I felt about being a Drill Sergeant for the last two years. First off I’d like to say that it was nothing at all like I thought it would be....read more
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As I sit here in the Dallas Airport waiting to get on a plane to Portland, I look back at the last couple of weeks and realized just how truly blessed I am. I have an awesome family that truly cares about me and how I’m doing and they tell me everyday how proud they are of me. That’s a really good feeling to hear that even at 30 years old. Even my 5 year old tells me how proud she is that her daddy is a soldier. To hear your children tell their friends my...read more
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July 4th, 1776 is a day that everyone knows. That's the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed and we became a nation. Throughout our 234 plus years of existence as a Nation we've changed many things but one thing has always remained constant. That one constant has always been "The Soldier". The soldier has always been there; steadfast, ready and willing to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear to our...read more
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A shining beacon of light in an otherwise dark place
October 29, 2010
By: Staff Sergeant Derrick Grabener
As most people already know, our school systems are in serious need of some overhauling. The same can be said for the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. This school which is the Memorial High School is filled with inner city students and might be what you call a hard school to go to. Most students are living in poverty ridden conditions and some students are in gangs or on drugs or just in a really hard situation. The bright spot of this...read more
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I got the chance to go back to Minneapolis yesterday to visit with some students from White Bear Lake High School. I was invited to show some students how to do some Physical Training while sitting at home watching some TV or playing some video games. The one thing I've noticed about every school that I've visited is the initial response to seeing me in their classroom or gym. I always get this look like OMG what is he doing here...read more
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From the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to the concrete jungle of Indianapolis
October 25, 2010
By: Staff Sergeant Derrick Grabener
I've had the great opportunity over the past two weeks to visit two beautiful yet distinctly different places. I went from the gorgeous fall colored Smoky Mountains to downtown Indianapolis. I spent ten days in Tennessee and 5 in Indianapolis. While in Tennessee, I was privileged to spend time at the Falls Foothills Festival listening to music from various artist such as Lynard Skynard, Glorianna, Jake Owen, Tracy Lawrence, Jamie...read more
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I got on outstanding opportunity to work with the University of Kansas ROTC program this week. After talking with MAJ Clark I learned that the program currently has 118 students ranging from seniors to freshman. The program is run under the Department of Military Science and currently has roughly 200,000 dollars of scholarship money available. What does that mean for you? That means roughly 15-20 scholarships available for next year. These scholarships are...read more
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There is definitely a buzz going around the City these days and why blame them. Their Chiefs are 3-0 for the first time since 2003 and NASCAR is in town for the third leg of the Chase. Everyone is smiling and people here seem generally happy. It been a great experience for the first two days on the trip. It's been an interesting couple of days in that the event's this week are quite different from what I've been doing. I've spent the last two days...read more
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Drill Sergeant's meet some amazing people at the Fair
September 7, 2010
By: Staff Sergeant Derrick Grabener
I must say that it's been a privilege to work at the NY State Fair. I've had the chance to work with a group of outstanding recruiter's who I have no doubt will turn quite a few of the leads that they recieved into future soldiers. For those of you out there that read this story and don't know much about the Army I wanna tell you a little about the set of Values that we live by as soldier's. These values are called the Army Core Values and there are seven...read more
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Yesterday was Veterans Day at the NY State fair and I must tell you that I found myself in aww of them. I met so many vets from just about every war and all they wanted to do was shake our hand thank us for serving, when all I wanted to do was thank them. It's amazing how that works. So I'm gonna something a little different here and take this oppurtunity to thank them using this as my handshake. It was those that served before us that laid the foundation for...read more
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Profile
Derrick Grabener
| Affiliation: | Active Duty |
|---|---|
| Rank: | Staff Sergeant |
| Branch: | Infantry |
| Badge: | Drill Sergeant |
| MOS/AOC: | 11B |
| Location: | Fort Knox |
About Me:
I joined the Army a few days after 9/11 and shipped to basic training on halloween of 2001. Ive served in just about every Infantry position from rifleman to Airborne Infantry Platoon Sergeant. I am currently a Drill Sergeant at Fort Leonardwood, MO. but was recently chosen to join a program called the Drill Sergeant Exhibitor Program. Basically it is a program designed to send a select few Drill Sergeant around the country to events like Nascar, NHRA, state fairs, colleges and high schools telling the local populations our Army story and giving out the most recent information on today Basic Training. We are there basically to help recruiters get into the hard to reach places and to shatter the fears that young adults have of Basic Training since it is the number 2 reason in which young adults are afraid to join. So far the program looks very promising and sounds like a lot of work mixed with some fun and traveling. Look for me to add updates,stories, and future locations weekly.
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