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1st woman takes charge of Army's drill sergeants

Associated Press - September 18, 2009 7:55 AM ET

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) - The Army's Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson gets a new commander next week.

Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King will be the first woman to take over at the school that trains the Army's drill sergeants.

The 48-year-old King is a 28-year Army veteran. The sharecropper's daughter from North Carolina says she's used to breaking down barriers in military roles normally reserved for men.

King says she enjoys passing her values to young soldiers and watching them grow into senior officers and enlisted men and women.

Her battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dave Wood, says she was chosen for her approach to "the business of taking civilians and making them into soldiers."

Wood says King can correct soldiers so they want to please her and do things the right way.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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