From the military to the classroom — 'It took a drill sergeant for me'

A common component of military basic training is a "confidence course."

The obstacles — a tall cargo net to climb and descend, a rappelling tower to jump from, narrow beams high off the ground to traverse — force troops to face their fears and ultimately give them more confidence in their abilities and skills.

For Robert Friedrich, his entire military career was a confidence course.

Little direction

A Jackson native, Friedrich said he put little effort into his early education.

Cape Girardeau Central High School art teacher Robert Friedrich puts a sculpture in a kiln at the school. Friedrich said his experience in the military allows him to provide more than art instruction.Rick Fahr ~ Southeast Missourian

"I wasn't a very good student. I didn't take it serious," he admitted.

After graduating high school, college seemed like a waste of time and money, so Friedrich took menial jobs without much of a future. After a year and a half of going nowhere, he spoke with an Army recruiter, if for no other reason than his family has a history of military service going back to World War I. Weeks later, he was on his way to basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, home of the Army's field artillery. The first days of the intense training made him question his choice.

"At first, I thought I had made a bad decision. I was going from not paying attention to the structure of high school to all of the sudden I had some guy telling me what I was going to do," Friedrich said. "But after the first week, they do something to you where you just meld in."

Friedrich turned 21 in advanced individual training, which followed basic training and also was at Fort Sill. From there, the Army sent him to Fort Lewis, Washington, and eventually to Germany, where he worked in a Pershing Missile unit. His last duty station was Fort Polk, Louisiana, where he spent the final six months of his four-year hitch. A family illness prompted him to leave the military and return to Jackson.

Along the way, he earned sergeant stripes.

"It was one of my proudest achievements, when you don't' do a lot in high school," he noted, adding that a letter from a commander for completing 100 training exercises on the first try — "first time 'go's'" in military parlance — boosted his morale. "That's when I really started thinking, 'I'm not as incomplete a person as I thought I was.' It gave me a lot of confidence."

Off to college

After separating from the Army in 1991, Friedrich contemplated the next step in his life. He recalled art classes in high school and began moving toward a career as an art teacher himself, using the G.I. Bill to pursue a degree.

"I felt like I had a need to go and continue to serve," he said. "I thought I'd like to teach art and have kids enjoy the class.

He enrolled in college. Gone was the youngster who skated by, replaced by a disciplined, driven student who regularly worked his way onto the dean's list.

Twenty-six years ago, he began teaching art at Cape Girardeau Central High School. He teaches art introduction, ceramics and sculpture classes for students in ninth through 12th grade.

He said his military service taught him many lessons he uses in his teaching career.

"I think even when I was young, I didn't have respect for myself. Deep down, I felt like I had no purpose, and they gave me a purpose," he explained. "They gave me discipline, and they gave me attention to detail, and they taught me that if you are going to do a job, then do a damned fine job."

Friedrich contended veterans bring a lot to the teaching table.

"I teach art, but I teach so much more," he said. "Some of the students don't feel like they have anything going for them. Some of them really don't have the home life. Some of them really don't have a father figure, and I am like, 'You can do so much with yourself. I know you are struggling now. I struggled — but I found out that I am better than I ever thought I was, and I know you are, too.' Try to get that through a student's head. It's pretty hard when they're a teenager. It took a drill sergeant for me."

Friedrich said the most gratifying moments involve former students and/ or their parents tracking him down to thank him for his encouragement.

"That's what makes it all worthwhile."