Drill Sarge

I was out doing beauty shots for our morning show. It was a slow overnight. No spot news, plus a slow night before equaled a light-hearted morning show. I was sitting in my live truck after setting a shot, when I heard a man yelling...

"C'MON YOU MAGGOTS...RUN...RUN...RUN..!!" I looked out my window and see a man wearing makeup. Ok, so it's actually camo makeup but still...


He's got about 30 people running towards the green field known as Mall B in downtown Cleveland. The people all run over and line up in three rows. He proceeds to make them do all kinds of exercises. Some I haven't seen since my football days. I remembered how painful they were and I felt pity on them.


He made them jump in place, crab walk, run gassers, jump and roll, all the while screaming at them and calling them "Maggots..." I thought to myself that someone has exchanged the real world for their fantasy world.


His harassment made me wonder what these poor people had done to deserve it. I wanted to go ask what their crime was, but he was running them so hard, that I couldn't find a person that could talk.


I called out control room to let them know what I was seeing and they decided to use me as much as possible. The morning anchors were asking why these people were doing this, but since I couldn't find an available person to talk to, I couldn't answer their queries. So, our anchors took to calling the resident drill instructor, "Sarge..."

"Sarge" then made them run laps around a large mall walkway. As they ran by my live truck, I was able to shout out my questions...

"Who are you?? Why are you doing this..?? Who's the Drill Instructor??"

They all looked at me with fear in their eyes. As if talking would get them more laps or a night in the box.

Finally, I walked up to the DI and asked him point blank, "Who the hell are you guys and why are you beating these poor people to death.."

He laughed and said, "I'm a trainer in the health club at the Key Tower. We do this intense training twice a year.." I didn't have the heart to tell him that our anchors were berating him on the air..

And then it hit me. These people are PAYING for this abuse....

I retired back to my truck and took this picture of the things that I abuse and abuse me..