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During my Basic Military Training, one of my Military Training Instructors won our entire men’s dorm over in 60 seconds.
It took place after our initial PT assessment in week three.
“Everyone in the dayroom! Right now!” yelled U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Therrion Grooms, one of our dorm MTIs, as he stormed through our dorm. We all ran into the dayroom as quickly as possible.
He entered the dayroom with a stride that was both hurried and relaxed. I would call it a swagger. It was his default mode of getting from here to there. He was about 5-foot-9 and made of muscle. His clothes fit perfectly to show off every muscle.
He had a beard and a custom haircut that I didn’t see on any other MTI. A few days before this, one of the other trainees in my flight asked a different MTI about Grooms having a beard on active duty.
“Well, that’s Grooms,” the other MTI responded. There were no follow-up questions.
We fell silent upon his entrance into the dayroom. He didn’t have to tell us to – he commanded our respect. We didn’t know it, but he was about to teach us all a lesson that I still remember.
“How was the PT assessment?” Grooms asked us. There were some groans, some laughs and some chatter. “Who did the most pushups?”
We looked around. A few names and numbers were mentioned. The highest we heard was 103.
“One-oh-three?” Grooms asked. “Who did 103 pushups?”
“Master Sergeant Grooms, trainee King reports as ordered,” yelled trainee Shaquaris King, one of my dorm mates. He was one of the most talkative and outgoing members of our dorm. He also didn’t mind having everyone’s attention on him.
“What,” Grooms said. This is how he usually answered us.
“I did 103 pushups, sir,” King reported with a grin. He was very proud. Grooms grinned back.
“Okay, good job trainee King,” Grooms said as he took off his OCP top. “Y’all think I can do more?”
The dorm erupted with anxious laughter and chatter. We all made a circle around him.
“Here, time this,” Grooms said as he threw his watch to the nearest trainee. He dropped to a pushup position.
“Three, two, one, go!” said the trainee with a timer. Grooms started cranking out pushups. The whole dorm yelled each number as he did them.
As he passed 60 pushups, the pace of his pushups had not slowed since he started. I was amazed.
“Ten seconds!” yelled the timer.
It was then that Grooms hit his 103rd pushup. On his 104th, he locked eyes with trainee King and did an extra slow pushup.
The dorm cheered and howled with laughter. King smiled and nodded. He knew that he’d been bested, and the rest of the dorm loved it.
“Time!” yelled the timer. We had just counted his 108th pushup. We all cheered. Grooms stood, breathing slightly harder than he had when he started.
“Look, y’all need to know that I would never ask you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,” Grooms said. “You are all leaders. I hold my dorm to a way higher standard than any other MTI. People look at my dorm and they say that my people have their stuff together.
“I’m teaching you guys to be leaders. Everyone in the Air Force is a leader. Take this stuff serious, and I promise you that it will change your life. My life was a mess before I joined the Air Force. If not for this, I’d probably be dead or in jail. I promise you it will change your life.”
This still stands out to me as one of the most concrete examples of a leader who cared for the people he’s leading. In 60 seconds, Grooms showed us that he took his leadership position serious.
The Air Force prides itself on training and making leaders. Because Grooms took the time to show us an example of real leadership that cares about its followers, I can now recognize how I can improve myself to lead those around me.
Grooms displayed servant leadership to us that day. He did what he asked us to do, and what he said after showed that he cared about seeing us grow and succeed. He embodied one of the Air Force core values, service before self.
Now it is my turn to serve — my leaders, my family and God. Maybe in the future, I will have people that I professionally lead.
When that day comes, I will remember those 108 pushups.
| Date Taken: | 07.14.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2023 12:03 |
| Story ID: | 449224 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Leadership through pushups, by SrA Justin Todd, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
