Not only was Bob Ross in the military, but he was a DRILL SERGEANT! He said, "I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work. The job requires you to be a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn't going to be that way anymore." Wow, he sure did do a 180, becoming the soft-spoken painter we all know and love!