How To Become A Drill Instructor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a drill instructor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a drill instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.59 an hour? That's $53,231 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDrill InstructorUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,231

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.25%

Asian 1.22%

Black or African American 9.56%

Hispanic or Latino 19.29%

Unknown 4.21%

White 63.48%

Gender

female 18.63%

male 81.37%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.5

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a drill instructor

Explore drill instructor education requirements

Most common drill instructor degrees

Bachelor's

46.9 %

Associate

23.9 %

High School Diploma

16.1 %

Start to develop specific drill instructor skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Standards	26.43%
Combat	8.39%
Direct Supervision	7.76%
Platoon	5.84%
Core Values	5.32%

Complete relevant drill instructor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 4-10 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New drill instructors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a drill instructor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real drill instructor resumes.

Research drill instructor duties and responsibilities

Manage all land and training area use, ammunition use / forecasting, requisitioning, allocations, and inspection.
Provide instruction to recruits, including basic combat skills, fundamentals of service life, and small arms use.
Review, grade, and teach students general chemistry course material.
Work with young adults while they pursue their GED's through the youth challenge program.

Prepare your drill instructor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your drill instructor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a drill instructor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable drill instructor resume templates

Build a professional drill instructor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your drill instructor resume.