Photo By Nathan Clinebelle | Staff Sgt. Ashley Buhl, U.S. Army Drill Sergeant of the Year, follows her azimuth to a...... read more read more
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The unfriendly scowl of a noncommissioned officer staring intently with eyes hidden deep underneath a brown round or green bush hat is a vision most would conjure up when thinking about a drill sergeant.
It certainly would not be a happy smile.
But that is exactly what you get with Staff Sgt. Ashley Buhl, the 2023 Drill Sergeant of the Year.
“Honestly, I don’t know why I walk around like this,” she said after receiving the honor. “Honestly, it hurts my cheeks. I wake up and I’m just happy.”
Her smile was evident as she took center stage at the NCO Club on post to receive the honor.
“I don’t have reasons to be sad,” she added. “Of course, there are times when I am sad, but at the same time I want other people to feel happy. I would never want someone to feel sad. So, I just want to be that person that when you see me you can’t help but smile.”
Don’t let the smile fool you, she is “tough as nails.” She has to be firm with trainees.
“Weirdly enough it honestly freaks me out sometimes, but I could be in the office chilling one moment having a great time, and then walk into the bay with all the trainees I become the opposite of what you see today. I am obviously stern; you know but I care for the trainees … it is definitely a switch that you have to learn to turn on and off.”
She credited her win to the help the Holistic Health and Fitness her unit allowed her access to leading up to the competition.
The five pillars of H2F helped her overcome a tough competition.
“It was a very, very arduous journey waking up early, not getting enough sleep,” she recounted after the ceremony. “Every day your mind is running, you don’t know what the next task is. You show up and they execute, and you don’t have time to prepare. So, it’s definitely been a long challenging journey. But I’ve woken up every day. I was just ready to go because there was no time to stop.”
Buhl will be heading to Fort Eustis, Virginia where she will work directly with the Center for Initial Military Training “to improve the lives of drill sergeants and the initial training environment in general.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.21.2023 15:21 |
| Story ID: | 453981 |
| Location: | FORT JACKSON, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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