Did AIT Drill Sergeants make that much of a difference?

I can tell you that there shouldn't be a difference and if there is then someone isn't doing their job correctly.  I was an AIT Drill Sergeant and now I am a BDE CSM for the very same unit that now has AIT PSG's.  The only difference is that they don't have a DS hat or receive the pro pay for the position.  The AIT PSGs are doing the same exact job I did 12 years ago as a Drill Sergeant.  There is no difference in level of respect, in fact a lot more respect can be gained for the NCO Corps if the AIT PSG is doing their job right.  They can still earn respect as an NCO without the fear and intimidation of the hat and screaming. They do it from the perspective of being a caring leader who holds Soldiers accountable for their actions and discusses the consequences for doing dumb stuff.  I am not knocking on Drill Sergeants because they have a hard job of turning civilians into Soldiers, but PSGs have the hard job of reinforcing what was taught in BCT and geting them ready for their first unit of operation.  We can debate this all day long from both sides, but bottom line is that a DS and a PSG are NCOs that have a job!  How well they do it depends on how the Soldier turns out.  If done correctly they both make a difference.   

AIT Drills made a hell of a difference. BCTand AIT felt the same when I went through. Drill Sergeants in AIT kept everyone in line just like it was in BCT. My AIT Drill Sergeant is the reason why I became a Drill Sergeant. He was the standard bearer that I wanted to be like. To be honest, the Army shouldn't bring them back. If the NCOs/AIT Platoon Sergeants set and enforce standards, AIT Soldiers would be more discilpline when they arrive at their first duty station.

When I enlisted, Basic Training was Drill Sergeant and when I hit AIT we had TAC Sergeants. Apparently it was a 6 month beta test to see if it worked. Out of the 3 Drills, 1 of them actually taught me a lot more. (Even though he was 6 years younger than I was at the time) the 1 TAC my platoon had actually was there maybe 4 of 7 days in the week. I liked the idea of TAC Sergeants but I didn't learn much from them, and I got in trouble a lot for the slip of " Yes Drill Sergeant " more than I care to recall.