When I was being processed in, a Marine walked over, looked at my papers, then went away. I was told later that they could, indeed, force draftees into the Marines if they were short. I was tall, so that may have triggered him. I was also skinny (at the time) with very long hair, so that may have dissuaded him.
eta: I was one of the last draftees.
I’ve heard that some guys at Boot actually do laugh at first because some of the things the DIs say are so ridiculous sounding…I assume they are cured of this very early on.
I’ve also heard that the Marines occasionally grabbed draftees, and that also sometimes they pulled a bait-and-switch with guys who enlisted in the Navy.
Do you know what makes me sad?
YOU DO!!!
Maybe we should chug on over to Mamby Pamby Land where MAYBE we can buy some self confidence for you. You jackwagon!
Crybaby.
Thank you!! I scrolled down to see if anyone had already made reference to one of the funniest commercials ever made, and there you were. The link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaFy0x_Uixo
Never saw that, thanks for sharing.
When my oldest son was going through Army BCT at Benning two years ago, he was able to come home during the Christmas holiday for 10 days (drill sergeants like to be home with the family, too…). I asked him if they were told to respond with “SIR, YES, SIR!” and he said exactly what you said - “Sir” was for officers, the proper response was, “Yes, Drill Sergeant!” or “No, Drill Sergeant!”…
My father was in the USAF/MDANG for 31 years and retired as a Col, people always called him, “Sir” when he was in uniform, but never having served, I didn’t realize the distinction until my son pointed it out…
I remember reading an interview with Ermey. He explained the DI’s watched the casualty lists closely. It tore them apart seeing names they had trained. It made the DI’s push training that much harder. Trying to give the young soldiers the best chance of making it back.
I wish now that I had kept that interview.
Ermey eventually went to Nam for 14 months. Retired early, on medical discharge, due to various injuries. per Wikipedia
He was the real deal. A Marine through and through. Great actor too. He certainly liked playing up his DI character.
RIP
Just saw this thread. Weirdly, I was in Santa Monica on vacation on the day he died. Maybe that’s why the wind was so cold that day.
BTW, I just confirmed that in the movie, the recruits definitely respond to orders from Hartman with “Sir yes sir!” or “Sir, aye aye, Sir!” or whatever “Sir!” sandwich applied.
Oh wow, I was so busy last week that I completely missed this. How sad!
Loved him in the Frighteners and in Toy Story
Just caught him again last night in a nth repeat of The Simpsons episode “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming” as Col. Leslie Hapablap.
I agree. The whole movie is probably the best war movie I’ve ever seen–it was overshadowed by the much longer and much more boring Platoon which I believe came out the same year. I get that the first half was super amazing, but the 2nd half gets a lot of undeserved dislike–maybe just because the first half (featuring an amazing performance by Ermey) was such a tough act to follow.
Yeah, he was a HUGE help in Pyle’s life!!!
I wouldn’t necessarily say “dislike”–it simply has been done many times in other films. The film is 50% amazingly real boot camp followed by … another war movie. The second half was fairly predictable (e.g. “don’t pick up that stuffed animal, every movie-goer knows it’s an obvious booby trap!”), but was still Kubrick (one Kubrick trademark is the ugly faces, such as Joker’s face when he shoots the sniper. cf: the writer’s face when he recognizes Alex’s voice as that of his attacker in A Clockwork Orange).
Indeed, though the film was showing an extraordinary event among a bunch of normal daily activities in the military. Realistically, Pyle would most likely have been discharged early on, though with the exigency of the moment it makes sense that the bar might have been lowered.
But that was the magic of Ermey–everything he did had purpose, reflecting the military training specialist he was in real life. He had read the original story (“The Short Timers”) and correctly recognized that the drill sergeant depicted there was a sadist who had no business training recruits. And Kubrick listened to him.
By the way, anyone who is curious should Google “The Short Timers” (I believe it’s out there in PDF) and give it a read–Ermey’s magic is so much more evident when contrasted with the original source material.
Indeed. I strongly disagree with Chronos that Hartman did anything to help Pyle.
Hartman sacrificed Pyle for the sake of the others. He held Pyle up as the exemplar of what the recruits did not want to become. He saw this as virtuous because Pyle’s example would motivate the others to gain the skills and attitudes that would keep them alive in combat. Maybe it did that but it was done at the expense of Pyle–not for his benefit.
But when Pyle turned into super-Marine after the blanket party, Hartman praised him. He told him he was “born again hard”, and that his shooting was “Outstanding.” He wanted Pyle to become a good Marine, he just didn’t realize he had gone completely around the bend.
The first act of the second half is the “Oh, me so horny” scene which is cinematic gold.
“Is that you John Wayne, is this me?”
R.I.P. Gunny.