Steve Folkerts

This is written by Barb Folkerts not Steve. 33 years ago on my first day of basic training my drill instructor, Sgt Ferguson who stood all of 5 ft tall and she couldn't have weighed a 100 pounds, marched us to a complete halt and had us do an about face where we found ourselves standing at the position of attention in front of an American flag. She proceeded in a very powerful voice to give us a history lesson on the men and women who have died defending that flag and all that it has stood for. When she was done she instructed us to turn away from the flag, that we had done nothing in our lives to deserve to even look at it. As we were all standing there a flight that was just getting ready to graduate marched by in their fine blues and she said ..."take a good look at them because for next 6 weeks I'm going to make your life so miserable you're never going to wear that blue uniform". While I noticed some of the other drill instructors warmed up a little at the end of training, Sgt Ferguson did not. On our last day, there we were, in our dress blues marching over to the parade to march as a flight for the last time. I thought it was odd but as we were all marching over with the other flights she had our flight take a turn away from the others and headed down a street I was not familiar with. Again, just like the first day, she brought our flight to a halt and had us do an about face. And yes, there we were once again, standing in front of that American flag, except this time it looked different to me. I was different...we were all different. Sgt Ferguson if you happen to come across this ...the words that you said to us that day changed all our lives forever. You wanted us to go out in the world and wear that uniform with pride and never forget the men and women who have died defending our freedom and our flag. I've never felt more pride being an American than on that day. So back to why I think you should see this movie. When the movie ended the audience started to applaud and I found myself tearing up a little. I not only felt proud to be an American but I also felt a little guilty for how we take so much of the good things we have in this country for granted. We take our freedom for granted. I also wish all the teenagers of this world could spend 6 weeks with Sgt Ferguson, but since they can't, this movie should be shown mandatory in every high school in this country. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND GOD BLESS OUR FLAG!