DERIDDER, La. (KPLC) - When the bell rings at Derrider High School, retired Sgt Maj. Quentin Washington stands before a new kind of formation: rows of students in crisp uniforms, notebooks in hand, and eyes fixed on the man they call Sergeant Major.

Washington greets them wth that same commanding tone he carried for 22 years in the U.S. Army: confident, disciplined, and grounded. This time, the mission isn’t about battlefields or deployment order. It’s about teaching the next generation what service truly means.

“My father served, but it was my JROTC instructor that I saw one day in the cafeteria. I saw him that day, and I locked eyes with him, and I just knew I wanted to be like Sgt. Maj. Howard Brown one day,” Quentin said.

That spark lit a lifelong fire. In 1999, Washington enlisted

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