# Listen up you maggots!-- First and Best Drill Instructor Scenes in the Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536 "2002-11-19T15:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/21 "2002-11-20T01:26:26Z")
Although R Lee Ermey is the epitome of the drill instructor, I think Eve hit the nail on the head with Lon Chaney as the first. The U.S. Marines thought he was so convincing that they made him an honorary Marine. There was even a Marine honor guard present at his funeral (he was just showcased on PBS’s **American Masters** a week or two ago). ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/22 "2002-11-20T01:29:17Z")
I’ve seen a lot of 'em but R. Lee in Full Metal Jacket was truly scary. So was Donofrio. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/23 "2002-11-20T02:24:15Z")
I agree with **Poysyn** about Louis Gossett Jr. in _An Officer And A Gentleman._ /Foley/ “\*I don’t believe what I’m seein’. Where’ve you been all your lives, \ ***at an orgy?!!?** _Listening to Rolling Stones music and bad mouthin’ your country I’ll bet._” ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/24 "2002-11-20T02:48:41Z")
\ It has been 27 years since I was in Parris Island, Senior Drill Instructor Staff Sergent Kenneith L. Saunders voice still rings in my ears. \ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/25 "2002-11-20T03:36:25Z")
[Ermey](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Ermey,+R.+Lee) again in the pilot episode of “Space: Above and Beyond” “Everybody reach to your right and grab the ass cheek of the person next to you. Got a good, tight grip? Good. Now listen. That ass you’re holding onto is _your_ ass. It belongs to _you_. Your duty is to get that ass of yours back in one piece. Understand?” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/26 "2002-11-20T03:40:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Series Gunnery Sergeant, leading PT: “You all are fat and nasty. Fucking nasty. Too many years of playing the newest video game systems, like the Super Nintendo. That IS the current one out there, isn’t it?” Was it? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/27 "2002-11-20T03:48:16Z")
I liked James Whitmore in \*Battle Cry[/]. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/28 "2002-11-20T08:56:38Z")
I’d personally be most afraid of Sargeant Detritus. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/29 "2002-11-20T14:27:09Z")
From “The Siege of Firebase Gloria:” “I have no respect for these men.” But you have to see it to put it in context. ---
**Author:** ![Jimson\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@Jimson\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimson_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/30 "2002-11-20T15:04:40Z")
\*\*Firebat023[b/] drop and give me 30 for making me laugh out loud at work. Man you brought back some funny memories. Well they’re funny now…at the time, not so much. I graduated Army basic and advanced (OSUT) June 1988 2nd platoon, Alpha Battery 1/19 Field Artillery. I saw Full Metal Jacket the day before I left for basic. I was surprised at how similar my basic training experiences were to the movie. Drill Sergeants must attend a creative insult class. Something like a Don Rickles school of obscene insults. ---
**Author:** ![Firebat023](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Firebat023](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firebat023)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/31 "2002-11-20T15:55:04Z")
Yeah…watching FMJ and then going to training is a bit like the old pie in the face routine: It stops being funny when it starts being you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/32 "2002-11-20T16:10:34Z")
A slight hijack: I was a civilian cook at OCS at Quantico during the summer of 1985 and had to watch as the instructors ground the candidates into the dust. My favorite was a monster named, and I’m not making this up, Ssgt. Harold Melvin (I always wanted to ask him “What happened to the Blue Notes?”). SSgt. Melvin, in a snit, tried to berate me like one of the candidates to which I replied “I’m not one of your candidates you fucking ape, leave me the hell alone or I’ll piss in your SOS.” He laughed and we got along pretty well after that. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/33 "2002-11-20T17:22:36Z")
R. Lee Ermey: “Drop your cocks and get your socks.” ---
**Author:** ![PhillySteak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@PhillySteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillySteak)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/34 "2002-11-21T13:20:11Z")
This one from Full Metal Jacket cracks me up. "I bet you’re the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the god damned common courtesy to give him a reach around. " Philly ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536/35 "2002-11-21T14:06:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves \* > \*\*[Ermey](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Ermey,+R.+Lee) again in the pilot episode of “Space: Above and Beyond” > > “Everybody reach to your right and grab the ass cheek of the person next to you. Got a good, tight grip? Good. Now listen. That ass you’re holding onto is _your_ ass. It belongs to _you_. Your duty is to get that ass of yours back in one piece. Understand?” \*\* Ermey has another terrific line in that episode when asking a female recruit why she joned the service: Recruit: “To fight our enemies, sir!” Ermey: “Enemies? What enemies? We aren’t at war, we don’t have any enemies. Are you insane?” The “Space: Above and Beyond” episode was neat because he did the D.I. schtick _without actually swearing_, beyond “ass.” And yet it was still scary and funny as hell. Of course, anyone who saw him in “Dead Man Walking” knows the man really can act. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-up-you-maggots-first-and-best-drill-instructor-scenes-in-the-movies/137536.md?page=1)