They would think the private was calling them a Damned Idiot. Then they would beat the crap out of the lowly private. And, of course, we all played the queer game. If the private said he liked the drill instructor, then the private was accused of being queer. If the private denied being queer then the drill instructor assumed the private didn't like him.
Drill instructors are sadistic.
Two of our three Damned Idiots were blatant sadists. They probably wouldn't have thought twice about killing us when they got bored of giving us hell. The third drill instructor was different. He was a Latino named LeRoux who recently returned from duty in Vietnam. He was tough.