I remember reading about an African American soldier in the 60’s who wrote to his mother saying “there is no racism in the military… they treat everyone like they’re black.”
I met Gunny years ago with my wife, he couldn't have been more humble and kind to us. He was more interested in my service than talking about his own. RIP Gunny.
My best friend/former roomie and I got to meet him at a Glock event. Greatest day of my life. I still have his challenge coin and the picture of us together.
R. Lee Ermey (Sgt. Hartman) was my father-in-laws drill instructor in 1964. My FIL had never seen this film until I invited him to watch it on DVD. The entire training sequence literally had him white as a ghost, and that's pretty white, considering he's a Native American. He got in touch with Ermey after seeing the movie and they shared memories of Parris Island.
Going to press X to doubt that. Ermey was a DI, but not in 1964, and not on Parris Island. From 1965-67 he was assigned to India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Before that, he was in an aviation support battalion, and after 1967 he was in Okinawa and then spent 14 months in Vietnam. He medically retired in 1972.
The drill sergeant is played by R. Lee Ermey, the man was a legend. He was originally brought on the movie as a technical advisor by Stanley Kubrick because Ermey was a real Marine Corps drill instructor. Ermey convinced Kubrick to let him take the role and he wrote his own lines.
@sniperofbuffalo No... either is not appropriate. Calling him a drill "sergeant" is disrespectful because he is a Gunny. In the Marine Corps we call them Drill Instructors because they might be a Staff Sergeant or Gunnery Sergeant and not just a "Sergeant". So again No... either is not appropriate. We're not the Army... We're Marines. Please don't make that mistake again.
My favorite part of Ermey’s performance is how when he is in their faces, his is totally emotionless, he’s doing everything to push them out of their comfort zones, but watching their reactions to see how they perform under stress….
It's also hilarious in retrospect. My bunkmate in Navy bootcamp was an avid hunter from rural western PA. He was to the left of me when we went to range to qualify on the M9, and shoot the M500. The line coach rattled off the number of rounds we had to fire in X amount of minutes. Within maybe 5-6 seconds of being given the command to fire, my bunkmate emptied the magazine in the target. I remember hearing the line coach screaming over the sound of everyone shooting, "WHOA, RAMBO... CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"
@@AMortalDefiant hated the M9, fucking worthless. During qualification during Field Training, numbnuts next to be shot out the strings that were holding our targets in place. My target started swinging left to right in the wind. I missed qualifying by 1 shot. My bunkmate was on the National Pistol Development team, his shot group was the size of a fist, in the bottom corner of the silhouette. Other guys thar were prior service Security Forces were also shooting terribly. Said those were the worst pistols they ever shot, garbage condition. I was rightly pissed but the range refused to redo the test.
@@AMortalDefiant Did he do the weird technique where you pull the trigger with your middle or ring finger and cycle the bolt with the index and thumb? Its the classic Mad Minute.
@@happyjohn354 did you just ask if they were using bolt action rifles in BASIC? What a stupid way to show off your obscure knowledge about the Enfield. That's like saying "you can draw a Longbow better using the strength of your legs rather than your arms" your point being?
The guy playing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman was an actual Marine drill instructor and most of his lines were actually improvised to make it more realistic.
The scene where Pyle is getting praised for his amazing shooting, you actually see him put aside a few live rounds to collect for later, meaning the whole shooting was premeditated and planned
11:47 this is called a "blanket party". I went to military school for 4 years (4th grade through 7th grade '92-'96) and received one of these as a 9 year old 4th grader on my 3rd night at the academy because I was homesick and crying; keeping everyone awake at night.
Fun fact I find unbelievable: The whole movie "Full Metal Jacket" was shot within 10 miles of London, England. Stanley Kubrick wanted to work close to where he was living at the time.
Love to see a woman with a sense of humor & not take everything so seriously. A way to tell how into a movie someone is is the amount of questions they ask. Not to mention a stellar accent. You're an awesome reactor. Keep it up.
“ love to see a woman with a sense of humour” I’m too tired to really flesh out what’s wrong with this comment but I’ll just say that it bothers the fuxk out of me. Why are men these days so ducking bitter and insecure I don’t get it.
PT is Physical Training. Rank for enlisted is usually on the sleeve at this time in the military, or pinned to the collar in fatigues, which is the green uniform the trainees wear most of the time. Hartman is a Gunnery Sergeant. The hat emblem is the Marine Eagle, Globe and Anchor. All of the songs troops sing in running formation in the movie are accurate, and at least in the Army are called "Jody calls". Since women have been integrated into most military units now, the raunchy Jody Calls have all been eliminated. A "section 8" is the military term for being discharged from the service due to mental illness. Basic Training in the Marines at the time in the movie was 11 weeks. At night after lights out, there is a constant guard called "fire watch". Everybody in the barracks takes a turn one hour at a time, until first call in the morning. A "grunt" is a combat soldier. And a "Full metal jacket" is a copper layer covering a lead bullet.
In the Vietnam era Dawn, things WERE that tough and that brutal. Instead of 12 weeks of training recruits were only trained for 8 and shipped off since bodies were so badly needed in the war. He couldn't have quit because he was conscripted, although in real life it has been pointed out that Pyle would probably have been exempted because he was clearly mentally deficient. Most of the physical abuse is no longer allowed nor tolerated in the service. In the Vietnam era, it was a pressure cooker because they were under such tremendous pressure to win the war. At that time, drill instructors and drill sergeants were able to do whatever they wanted to you. My biological father was in the Army in that era, and he told my mother a story about a private who gobbed off to a drill sergeant and the man basically smashed a rifle butt into his skull and killed him. The Army fined him a dollar. It was very serious indeed back then.
@@DawnMarieX also, a Section 8 is a discharge from the service on the grounds of mental illness. And things were even more insane for the men once they were in country. There are stories of soldiers who spent their entire two-year tour of duty tripping on LSD just so they wouldn't have to deal with what was happening as much.
Wrong. Look up Project 100000 by SecDef McNamara. He thought modern training aids like video tapes would help conscript mentally retarded boys into the military to help fill ranks. Forrest Gump was a real thing. The Project was a huge failure and it got a lot of men unnecessarily killed by putting mental children in men's bodies into the stress of combat. They could be used for menial jobs like orderlies or janitorial work, but not when other people's lives were dependent on them. Horrible concept and a tragedy.
Whenever I think of this film, Gunnery Sargeant Hartman always comes to mind. The performance of the late R. Lee Ermey in this role is peerless. There are interviews where he recalls how he secured the role, and his alteration to his character's dialogue, to make it sound more authentic (Ermey was a real life Marine drill instructor in the 60s and early 70s).
The gunner in the helicopter was the original to play Hartman, Ermey was there as professional military/Vietnam advisor only but impressed Kubrick so much he got the job instead. There's a vid about it on RU-vid somewhere, its a good watch if you can find it.
What should be really impresive, is that this is one of FEW times that Stanley Kubrick let someone IMPROVISE on one of his films. All of what was said was done ad lib on Ermey's part. Kubrick was a perfectionist.
The lingo used by characters in this movie is very accurate. The boot camp section is legendary... but my favorite slang moment is when Joker is told to move "most Riki-Tik", meaning quickly. It's a reference to Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Also gold is the self depreciating humor. The banner in reporter's HQ reads "First to Go, Last To Know". And the final scene references a poorly performing unit being called "a Mickey Mouse outfit".
Actually, they’re all singing a song from a popular US children’s show - to quote the legendary director himself “it was to continue the overall theme of loss of innocence”…
DAWN! Thank you for laughing at the drill sergeant. I've seen other people do movie reactions and they don't laugh. His words were literally priceless and hilarious!
Hi Dawn. A section 8 is a ticket out of the military for reasons of mental problems. Lime is a product used in a lot of different applications, but in this case it was used to cover the bodies to keep the smell down. PT is physical training. There is a great movie with a stellar cast. It takes place during World War II, and it isn't a combat movie (well not much). It mostly takes place in a German prisoner of war camp. Really good acting and writing. You can't help but get caught up in the characters. It is called The Great Escape. Give it a try. Another great non military movie you should watch is The Sting. Great cast. Great story. Will have you up and down like a roller coaster. Well worth the ride though. Enjoy.
@@ccdpaulin30 The point of my comment was that a woman saw something special from a person who can either be a tyrant or a great leader/good person. It can go both ways depending on someone's else's life experience. I've already seen much of what he'd done off camera of your suggestions.
Great reaction! It is basically two different movies. Like you, I also liked the first part a lot better than the second part. PT = Physical Training (push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, running, etc). There are nine ranks of enlisted men (E-1 to E-9), and yes you can tell their rank by the stripes on their sleeves. E-1 is a Pivate, E-2 is a Private 1st Class, E-3 is a Lance Corporal, E-4 is a Corporal, E-5 and above are Sergeants, with a bunch of different types (I'll let you look them up if you are interested). Sergeant Hartman has 3 pointy stripes on top and 2 curvy strips on the bottom which indicates his rank as E-7, which is called a Gunnery Sergeant. There are 10 officer ranks (O-1 to O-10). Officers outrank enlisted men, so a Second Lieutenant (O-1) fresh out of officer's school with no experience whatsoever outranks a Gunnery Sergeant with a couple of decades of experience. But a smart Second Lieutenant would know to listen to the experience of the Sergeants under his command. Lieutenants are the lowest ranking officers, a 2nd Lieutenant is the lowest (O-1) and a 1st Lieutenant (O-2) is next to lowest. Then comes Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel, followed by four ranks of Generals. Officers don't have stripes on their sleeves. Instead they have rank insignias on their collars. The guy giving Joker a hard time about his peace sign and "born to kill" has an eagle on his collar, so he is a Colonel (O-7), which is a very high rank. A Section 8 is basically a psychiatric discharge. A "full metal jacket" (FMJ) bullet is one with a soft lead core and a hard metal "jacket" on the outside made out of a harder metal like copper. The M-14 rifle used a 7.62 x 51 mm (7.62 mm in diameter and .51 mm in length) full metal jacket round. FMJ bullets have greater penetration and do more damage to soft tissue than a non-jacketed lead bullet. The 7.62 x 51 mm FMJ is commonly called the 7.62 NATO round since it is one of the standard rounds used by all NATO countries. The M-16 Rifle with its 5.56 x 45 mm (aka 5.56 NATO) round replaced the M-14 during the Vietnam War. Most of the new M-16 rifles were being sent to Vietnam so the soldiers would train with the older M-14 rifle. According to two of my friends who were drafted in Vietnam, the training was accurate for the time. The rules were tightened up quite a bit later, and in today's Marine Corps, Sergeant Hartman would have been punished for physically striking a soldier. In WWI and WWII, Marines were basically all volunteers. You had to want to become a marine to end up as a marine. If you were drafted you were sent into the Army or Navy. Technically the draft board could send you to the Marines, but if you didn't specifically request to be a Marine they typically didn't, unless they were short on their quotas. There were a lot of folks who didn't approve of this practice, and in Vietnam a lot more draftees were sent into the Marines. A lot of the older Marines like Sergeant Hartman didn't want unqualified draftees like Leonard in the Marine Corps, but had no choice but to accept them and train them. The Marines wanted the best, not draftees like Leonard.
Gunny Ermey (the man who played GSgt Hartman) was a gem of a man. A gentleman, a warrior. he was a wayward youth and after getting arrested for the 2nd time the judge gave him a choice, military service or jail. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and found his purpose in life, went to Vietnam, got injured in combat then he became a real life Drill Instructor at Marine Corps recruit depot San Diego. after retirement he was promoted to Gunnery Sgt by the Commandant of the Marine Corps himself (1 of three marines to ever be promoted post retirement). after that he started his hollywood career and in many ways become the face of the Marine Corps. Alot of us when we think of a Marine we think of Gunny Ermey. He was wearing his real uniform in the movie, that wasn't a costume. RIP warrior
As Austrian i served in the Austrian Army and during the basic training, our platoon leaders (drill instructors) made 64 people to one unit. If one of us falled, the others helped and after the basic training we were like one. It was a great feeling , beeing part of this
Paramilitary, Canada. We had a 0% failure rate in my intake as we were all volunteers and forced to help each other. "We all cross the finish line or nobody crosses the finish line." Good life lesson, that.
He also "stole" the part from another actor who was already cast as the gunnery sergeant. We see this guy as the helicopter gunner who's shooting Vietnamese civilians. 🥴 I've no doubt Kubrick made the right choice though, Ermey's performance is absolutely legendary, one of the most iconic and unforgettable ever. 🥰
I think your reaction to Pyle turning the gun on himself (15:44) is possibly the most visceral I've seen of any reactor on anything. Great reaction to a great movie.
I went through boot camp in 1997 and the boot camp sequence in this movie is the most accurate depiction of anything ever caught on film of what actually happens in boot camp back when I went through.
@jonathandevereaux298 Yeah Bitch, keep your mouth shut. You have absolutely no idea what we went through to earn that title, especially in the 90's. Your best bet is to do an about face and get the hell outta here.
The gunner in the helicopter was supposed to be the drill instructor. Emrey was supposed to be a consultant but they liked him so much they gave him the part and recast the other actor. He improvised his lines in the movie. In the scene where Joker was negotiating with the hooker if you notice the cars in the background they were the same set of cars just going around in circles.
17:45- the Tet Offensive (shown in this scene;) was coordinated across all of Vietnam at once. Basically every single soldier in the country dealt with it simultaneously. Also IMHO this is the guy who played Leonard's 3rd best character ever played, because he's also "The Bug" in Men in Black (silver medal;) as well as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in Netflix's Daredevil (seriously his character that entire first season was amazing especially compared to the guy who was the villain in season 2.)
I was drafted into the U.S. Army & went through basic training in 1970. It was exactly like this movie portrays. Accurate in every detail. It was very tough! Lucky for me, I did not go to Vietnam. I was sent to Germany. Lee Ermy, who played the drill SGT, was a real Drill SGT before the movie!
People say it can be quite tough to get back to normal life after being trained so hard to kill and whatnot, add then doing it successfully enough to make it back home or wherever.
Bull crap. I trained with the Army in Military Police School after Parris Island. The company I joined were still in bootcamp when I arrived. Sitting around joking on their bunks, totally different from Parris Island
Gunny was truly a special person and was an actual drill seargent during Vietnam so he brought a truly REAL aspect to exactly how it went down as he was initially hired to be an advisor on the movie👍👍rip gunny god bless you
The gunnery Sargent you liked was R. Lee Ermy. He was a real drill instructor in the Marines and he served in Viet Nam. He stars in another movie called “The Siege of Firebase Gloria. He is superb in that one, you should check it out.
@@DawnMarieX The actor who played the Sergeant was a Sergeant from that period. He was on the movie to act as a technical advisor and the director liked the way he did what he did so much he was switched to just play it.
My dad was military during the Vietnam era. He did the one thing you never do and volunteered for something which actually probably saved his life and kept him in the states. He said his drill instructor was pretty much a copy of Gunny. I have never seen my dad scared of anything, but he said he was terrified of going over there. He volunteered to be a cook and he did such a good job, they kept him here while his whole company was sent over and got blown to pieces.
Das Boot is a legendary masterpiece of a war movie. A must watch at some point. It is a realistic portrayal of life in a submarine from the German perspective. Its not gory if you need a break from the typical war violence.
I went through Marine boot camp during the time described in the film, and I have to say it is the most accurate depiction I have ever seen. The DIs were fond of 'thumping' the recruits and I have to admit I was on the receiving end a time or two. The Marines of the Vietnam scenes would have been of the 5th Marine Regiment. Dawn really does an outstanding reaction in every way. Semper Fi.
I went through 2 decades later, a bit before the movie came out, a lot of the hands on was gone (but it still did happen from time to time) Everything else was essentially the same. So far every movie I've ever seen about the Corps, R. Lee has come the closest to nailing down that killhat. It's not something you can pick up in an acting class, you have to be it for it to be believable. I'm so happy that Kubrick gave him the latitude he needed to portray that role. Semper Fi Brother.
I've seen a lot of people react to this movie and to date you are the only other woman I've ever seen laugh as hard at some of the dark humor in this film as I do. It's refreshing to find out somebody shares my slightly warped sense of humor.
Please consider checking out "Apocalypse Now" (the theatrical cut, NOT Redux), for a very different kind of war movie. One of the best movies of all time, by Francis Ford Coppola. You even get to see Harrison Ford, in one of his first roles, and a 14 yo Lawrence Fishburne. Craziest, most interesting, behind the scenes of any movie too. Pretty much every scene is amazing.
Your guess about rank structure was pretty accurate. You'll get there, Dawn. "He might not be the fittest, but he could be the best shooter." 😁 I mean, he was the only one to graduate boot camp with two confirmed kills. 🤣 You actually know his position in the Marines by both the ranks on his sleeve AND his hat. That hat is unique to drill instructors.
Enlisted ranks: E1 Private, E2 Private First Class(PFC), E3 Lance Corporal, E4 Corporal, E5 Sergeant, E6 Staff Sergeant, E7 Gunnery Sergeant, E8 Master Sergeant, E9 Master Gunnery Sergeant or Sergeant Major Officers: O1 2nd Lieutenant, O2 1st Lieutenant, O3 Captain, O4 Major, O5 Lieutenant Colonel, O6 Colonel, O7 Brigadier General, O8 Major General, O9 Lieutenant General, O10 General PT= Physical Training Ah, Boot Camp. I came up with the best way to describe the experience. It was the funniest best time you never want to have again. R. Lee Ermy (senior drill instructor) was a very nice man. Great actor bc he really was being himself acting these scenes. He was an E6 when he got out of the Marines but after they gave him E7 honorarium especially after this movie.
I'm 4 minutes in and I want to comment. PT is Physical Training, or exercise for disciplinary purpose. As a U.S. Marine veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps during 1982-1986, I can tell you that the Marine Corps Boot Camp we went through was almost identical to the depiction in the movie. More to come later.
Drill instructors aren't allowed to physically hurt you anymore, but they can still do some messed up stuff. In my time at boot camp, one guy was having a difficult time during a certain punishment session (where we just keep exercising until it hurts), so the drill instructor brought him into his office and calls the dude's wife on the phone, taunting both of them while still making him exercise
A good war movie that you would enjoy is Kelly's Heroes. It stars Clint Eastwood and is actually a comedy. You would really enjoy it. Some war movies from the 60s are more adventure movies and not so graphic. Check out The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare or The Great Escape.
Fantastic reaction! Ok, you've done "The Shining" and you've done "Full Metal Jacket" by Kubrick........you can DEFINITELY handle "A Clockwork Orange"! That one is crazy, that is intense, wild, hilarious, bizarre.....and I can only imagine what you'd have to say about it! Your reaction to the drill sergeant was priceless!
Great reaction Dawn. FYI the movie was filmed entirely in and around London because Kubrick had a fear of flying. The Vietnam sequences were should in the London Docklands and palm trees were flown in to make it look authentic. Great movie.
I saw in a book on Kubrick one time, there was a quote that always stuck with me: Animal Mother is basically a dark reflection of Pyle, what he might have ended up as if he hadn't gone insane and killed Hartmann and himself.
RIP Gunny. Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 - April 15, 2018) was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He was first hired to provide onset advice but the person who was supposed to play the Drill instructor was not as good and when Stanley Kubrick Hurd the Sgt Major he knew he was going to be a star. After this he went on to star in many great movies and some excellent TV shows. He was present when my daughter graduated from the academy, and I found him to be down to earth and a good person. If you want to see a Gret Movie with the big names see Gettysburg (1993), and The Rough Riders (TV Mini Series 1997). Both where Well-made and tried to stay as historically accurate as posable with Hollywood pulling stings to make it inaccurate.
If you want to see a realistic war movie and you're feeling brave then check out 1985's "come and see" but mind you is going to be one of the most heartbreaking experiences you'll ever have watching a film
Curious note: I saw this in a large theater which was fully packed when it was first released. When GSGt. Hartman started tearing down the recruits I never stopped laughing and no one else was. It was laughter from the fact that R. Lee Emery NAILED the role! Very realistic for the time. One of many favorite movies of all time. Reach out if need be - plenty of veterans are fans of yours. BTW - You are a gem and crack me up constantly! All the best Dawn!
Oh I loved him! And also thought he was hilarious 😅 even more so now that I know most of his lines were improvised. Thank you so much! It’s great to learn so much about the war.
A Section 8 is a physiological/psychological discharge, which means you are released from your contract. A grunt is a line soldier/marine - typical fighting man. The Vietnam War was the first war televised on the prime time news using the style of reporting you saw in the movie. Typically the small bottles tucked in the helmet band is bug juice. The sniper scene reaction shows you have a very strong strategic mind! Well Done! The act of the platoon hitting Pyle with the soap was known as a “blanket party” because a blanket was used to restrain the victim and everyone has to participate. It is also a central element of movie “A Few Good Men” where it is known as a “Code Red.”
I'm pretty sure PT means physical training. Also, if you ever do financial crisis films at some point, I vote for Margin Call. It doesn't have action per se but I found the acting to be extremely good.
Margin Call is fantastic, and I really like the condense time frame of the movie (basically 24 hours). But I also like The Big Short, almost as much, when it comes to financial movies. :)
The movie doesn't show that you have more than one drill instructor. You have a senior drill instructor and like 3 under him. Some can be way cooler than others.
"If it was me, I'd just leave her." I was so shocked when you said that. Perhaps I shouldn't've been. Your whole attitude to the film would've appalled the people who made it.
Vincent D'Onofrio (Pvt. Paula) is such an amazing actor, so underrated. He deserves to be named in the same breath as Pitt, del Toro, and (nutty as he may be in real life) Cruise.
Not to mention he was a big buff guy before the movie and they told him he had to get fat for the role of Pyle. I bet that sucked but great actors do what they gotta do.
Sister I can tell you this, one thing you never want to do in combat is make noise. You don't want anything to give away your position so we always get a check to make sure we had nothing that jingled jangled or rattled, old-school soldiering. Essayons!
Their heads are shaved for uniformity. There can be no individuality in basic training. PT = physical training. And, yes, it is like that. In fact, the actor who plays GySgt. Hartman, the great R. Lee Ermey, was a USMC drill instructor before becoming an actor. He improvised almost all of his dialogue.
PT stands for Physical Training. Fun fact: R. Lee Ermy who played the DI ( Drill Instructor ) was really a marine Drill Instructor. Also it's not the Army, it's the USMC ( United States Marine Corps). In the military there's several reasons that they shave heads one of which is it's easier to maintain seeing how they don't get much time to shower. Hartman is a Gunnray Sergeant.
The Army is responsible for land based operations. The Marines are considered for amphibious operations and they have their own air power. Marines can take control of military operations on land, at sea, and in the air.
@@DawnMarieX the Marines are part of the Navy. The Army has also been around alot longer. The Army is responsible for land based operations, the Marines are considered for amphibious operations.
As a Veteran of the Marine Corps and a former Drill Instructor, I ca assure you that the verbal abuse shown in the movie is 100% accurate. My drill instructors were not allowed to hit us at any point during Boot Camp as was I not allowed as well. We Drill Instructors had other methods of disciplining recruits during basic training, such as "smoking" which was rapid moving physical exercise while in the squad bay. They consisted of Bends and Thrusts, Mountain Climbers, Side straddle hops (Jumping Jacks) push ups, and leg lifts. It was until I was tired, and I did not join them in the exercise. So the recruits did not know when it was going to be over. We also did the same smoking while outdoors in an area known as the pit whish is a dirt area on the Depot. Things have changed since I was in and was a Drill Instructor until now. From what I am hearing the smoking aspect is no longer used as much, nor is the Verbal Abuse, the recruits now are not to be sworn at like I was and did during my times as a recruit and a Drill Instructor. I remember watching this movie in a packed theater when it came out and I too was laughing during the Boot Camp section because it was very real. Rip Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey yes that was his final rank, there is a video out about the making of this movie and it has several tidbits on how things were done and how long the boot camp filming took.
Beckton gas works. My playground as a kid. Funny going over there after the filming and seeing the "palm trees" and "prop bullets". Filming location of many films and pop videos. The scenes at the end is now one of the largest Tesco stores in England.
If you are into war movies and haven't seen it I absolutely recommend Apocalypse Now, prefereably the Final Cut. (there's different versions of it) It also takes place in Vietnam but it isn't all about the battlefield, it's more of a psychological journey. Thanks for uploading! Greetings from Sweden
Amazingly, the battle scenes were all filmed in Docklands when it was being demolished to make way for Canary Wharf. They shipped in huge palm trees and stood them in skips.
Drafted/enlisted in May 1969. At that time, Army Drill Sergeants could and did lay hands upon you. I know this from first hand experience. This movie is an accurate portrayal of of basic training during the Vietnam War, As my Drill Sergeant told us, "My job is to prepare you for the horrors of Vietnam and survive!" He was very good, I survived that, numerous deployments, and Desert Storm, retired at 30.
Listening to you is like watching a film with my sister. FMJ was way out of her wheelhouse and she asked all sorts of spazzy questions all the way through it. You make me laugh.
This is absolutely one of the most realistic depictions of Marine Corps basic training I have seen. Went through it in 1984. Lee Ermy got this part because he was a Drill Instructor at one point
"I would quit after 30 seconds, like this ain't for me..." This was during the Vietnam War. During Vietnam there was a draft. Where any able bodied male over 18 would have to go to war. If you dodged the draft it was like 5 years or something in a military prison. So there weren't many draft dodgers. The ones who wanted to dodge the draft were the ones who actually went to Vietnam and realized what a horror and a shitshow it was. It was a little to late for them to dodge though, as they would already be in Vietnam... If you were already in Vietnam and actually tried to run (the equivalent of draft dodging) you would be a deserter, which is MUCH worse than draft dodging.
I am a US Army Combat Medic Veteran, I did 2 tours in Iraq and am proud of my service!! I was told the reason for the head shave is because going to Boot Camp or Basic training, is the start of a new life in the service, so shaving your head is symbolic and you are leaving your old life and starting a new life!! Basic is worse than that!! Best thing to do is try to make yourself invisible dont be to good or to bad at anything, listen and do what your told, it is about surviving!! PT= Physical Training BTW------ you cant quit you signed a contract with the Government or worse you were drafted(forced)!! Also, Army and Terrist of different countries do not always wear uniforms in fact they hardly ever do!!! I have seen pregnant women delivering BOMBS!! People talk about the laws of man, the laws of nature dont even apply there!!!
In the U.S. Military if you serve in the Army you are a Soldier, if you serve in the USMC (United States Marine Corp) you are a Marine, if you serve in the Air Force you are an Airman, if you serve in the Navy you are a Sailor. This is a story about Marines. A good movie to watch next (if you want to follow the Viet Nam War movies) would be "We Were Soldiers) starring Mel Gibson.
The beating is called a "blanket party." We had these when I was in the service. It was usually a last resort for somebody who was a screw up and was bringing everybody else down.
Grunt is specifically a Infantryman either Marines Corp or Army. PT is short for Physical Training. This depicts a special segment of the Vietnam War when a cease-fire was expected for the TET New Year Celebration the North Vietnamese conducted a large-scale sneak attack...and the city they were fighting in was the ancient city of Hue its called the Tet Offensive.
Grunt is a U.S.Marine, PT - Physical training. You had so many questions, I would have been happy to join you with a big bowl of popcorn! And - impress you with my Trainspotting Inspired Scottish Accent! "Get my fuut in the door"
Hi Dawn! Some Full Metal Jacket notes: - Those were the early helicopters, but even now, there's still a lot of exhaust on Blackhawks that gets aerodynamically sucked back into the cabin... unless you know where to sit ;) - Limestone was used to help keep down the smell, and was thought to help reduce any potential spread of disease. - Drill Instructors are in the Marines, and Drill Seargents are in the Army. - Marines are Marines, which is not the Army (per se), and that is a massive distinction to keep in mind when discussing our overall military in the USA. - Once one is a Marine, they're always a Marine. Saying "former Marine" is somewhat seen as a fauxpas. One can, however, be a retired Marine. These days it seems like saying "former" is a bit more used, but I like to keep the distinction because I think it's honorable and respectful to the person and their efforts/saccrifice. - PT is Physical Training, but for some odd reason, people these days are saying "PT" to mean "physical therapy". - Many people don't understand all the yelling, but seem to so easily say it's nonsense while they wholly miss the simple point: war is loud. The yelling is to normalize the fact that a lot of yelling and noise will be happening under immense pressure when in a firefight. Most likely, you'll have sufficient space between each other when explosions and gunfire are happening all around, so yelling and understanding orders in that situation and type of communication will be easier to adapt to (if not completely normal and expected), and thus, a Marine will be more easily able to function under such circumstances.
Your reactions are really funny Dawn you never disappoint. The thing on the helmet is an oil bottle for cleaning the rifle. Section 8 is a medical discharge. You were very perceptive about the cameras and reporters. Vietnam was the first real media war shown live on TV. It is pretty surreal to be honest. The fluffy toy that took out the Sergeant after Lieutenant Shortround was killed was a boobytrap. The Vietnamese were masters of booby traps. Cowboy shows that he is completely unfit to lead the squad. Animal Mother just rebels and does what he wants.
This is how Marine Corps boot camp is. I went through Bootcamp in 1975, and it was very close to this. But in this time period, boot camp was only 8 weeks, but on my day, it was 13 weeks.
