We had a forced march. I was the fourth squad leader of the 4th Platoon. When we were given the order to halt, I never heard the fill-in drill sergeant's command. He grabbed me by the collar, threw me into the ditch and said when he says halt, we are to halt.
The next day our regular drill sergeant was back. During a break, we told him we had a forced march the day before. He said it was good for us. Someone said I will bet Schmitt doesn't want to do a forced march again. Sarge said he was disappointed that I would fall out. I said I didn't fall out. He asked us what happened and someone told him what took place.
He immediately jumped up and went down the line where this other drill sergeant was and really reamed him out. The fill-in drill sergeant came back to me and apologized for what he had done. Apology accepted.
The interesting thing was our regular drill sergeant was black, I am white and the fill-in was white.
Our drill sergeant pushed us pretty hard in basic; however, he was one of the fairest and kindest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet.