“Your left, your left, your left, right…” These are the words of my naval science instructor, GySgt Lemke as my platoon is drilling. GySgt Lemke is more commonly referred to as Gunny. Gunny is a former marine/drill instructor in the United States marine core. Now, he teaches naval science at the Delaware Military Academy. Naval science is the class where the cadets drill, get inspected, and learn about the military. Gunny is one of the main drill teachers; he shows half of all of the freshmen cadets how to march. Gunny is a very well respected and well liked instructor and gets along well with all of the cadets and faculty.

A quote Gunny has used numerous times is “every day is a good day as long as you wake up.” It’s obvious that Gunny lives by this quote because every day, he is in a good mood and energetic. You can definitely see the attributes of a drill instructor in Gunny when he talks. In other words, he is very loud and commanding. Even though Gunny is strict by his nature, he is also cracking jokes all of the time. He has a very good sense of humor. He would make a very good role model for someone joining the military.

Gunny is excellent when it comes to all of the military things. He knows everything about drilling and inspections. Gunny’s shoes are always the shiniest, and his uniform is always the most perfect. One of Gunny’s favorite things is Physical Training (P.T.). He is in good shape and is always prepared to go outside and have the whole platoon do P.T. Part of what Gunny teaches is everything about the military, and he is very well educated with this topic.

It seems like Gunny can do anything. Not only is he great at marching and everything else military, Gunny is also a very good teacher. Gunny always makes it so everyone participates by calling on random kids. He also makes sure everyone is always doing something and no one is just standing around doing nothing. Gunny may be strict, but he also understands. He is friendly to everyone which is a key element of a teacher. However, one of the best things is that Gunny is an interesting person. He isn’t one of those teachers that are so boring that he puts everyone to sleep. He is very good keeping the class entertained.

I have a lot of good memories with my platoon and Gunny and the year isn’t even over yet! I had a ton of fun this year doing drill and learning about all of the military stuff. I am nominating Gunny not only because his skills as a teacher, but also as his social skills. This is why Gunny surpassed all of the other teachers.