If you haven’t seen it, which I’d think unlikely, you can find it here. Very NSFW language.
How realistic was it? Does the movie match your experience with basic training? If you’d include when you went through basic, I’d appreciate it.
My 17 year old son saw it for the first time last night and asked how close it was to reality. My guess is “closer than not” but I have zero military background. TIA.
From what I have been told by vets from that era, it’s not too far off from Marine boot camp during the Vietnam War era. Not 100% of course, but it captures the spirit of it very well.
I can’t link from work, but IIRC that’s the scene in the barracks where R. Lee Ermey goes apeshit on the recruits. Some is accurate, some is not. If a DI punched a recruit in the belly today, they’d be court-martialled so fast their heads would spin off. Ditto the racist and degrading nicknames.
For laughs here’s a great reenactment of the scene:
He’s got it down pat.
That was pretty impressive.
If I might add on to my OP, are drill instructors called “Sir”? I thought that sergeants didn’t like that.
The sunlight is unrealistic. The process requires disorientation, which works best at 3AM
R. Lee Ermey was a real drill instructor, and I believe was basically just told to do his thing (at least verbally). He didn’t have a script for his dialogue, just actions.
Is that the one from SNL with Phil Hartman? Because that one’s hell ass damn funny.
The original scene, from what I understand, is pretty typical of the time for Marine Boot Camp but cranked up to 11. My own experience wasn’t like that, though I went through Army basic training in 1989. At that time, there was a lot of “forget the mistakes of Vietnam” and “New Army” stuff going on. The drills yelled a lot, were insulting, they made us do pushups until our arms 'sploded, but they never hit us or were racial.
Everyone who is not you or another recruit is called ‘sir’. Everything that comes out of your mouth starts and ends with a shouted “SIR!!”
Wow, things are different up here in the Canadian Mil. If you DARE call a non-commissioned member Sir, you just bought yourself a one-way ticket to the hurt locker.
Seriously, the ranks are the first thing you should learn to aid in garrison survival.
In the Marines, perhaps. Certainly not in the army. Army drill instructors are addressed as Sergeant, IIRC. I believe the Marines are the only branch where NCOs are called sir.
Marine Corps Boot Camp '85, Parris Island.
Dead On. As previously stated nothing racial or physical assaults. A bit Dark Green or Light Green and gay slurs, though.
I especially loved the platoon getting punished for Pyle eating the donut. We got that treatment a lot. We also had a couple of blanket parties.
Good times, pret’ near brings a tear to my eye. And some nightmares 
ETA: Marine DI’s are referred to as Sir and they’re DEFINITELY Drill Instructors NOT Drill Sergeants.
USMC, '94-'00. At Parris Island July-Sept, 1994.
There was no cussing as we know it, but lots of “friggin” and the like. Maybe a couple of "damn"s in there, but the language was mostly sanitized.
Lots and lots of[ul]
[li]yelling[/li][li]PT’ing[/li][li]spot PT’ing for some (real or imagined) infraction[/li][li]yelling[/li][li]cleaning/scrubbing/ironning/polishing[/li][li]drill instruction (aka: precision marching)[/li][li]yelling[/li][li]Get on line! TOO SLOW! FALL BACK! Get on line, now![/li][li]yelling[/ul]There was also a LOT of education, covering many things from the history of the Marine Corps, military tactics (supre high overview in boot, more in later schools), how to correctly polish your boots and dress shoes, how to properly iron your Dress Alpha’s, Bravos, and your camo’s.[/li]
There wasn’t blatant hitting, punching, or shoving, but there were times of “accidental” contact. If you cried about it, you probably shouldn’t have joined the Corps.
WRT “sir”: In Boot Camp, every utterance from a recruits mouth starts and ends with “Sir!” Everything. All recruit are also to address themselves as “this recruit.”
So, you’d have this:
“Sir! This recruit requests permission to go to the head, Sir!”
“Granted. Make it snappy, recruit!”
“Sir! Aye, aye, Sir!”
The only exception I can think of: when a CO or other officer entered the barracks, simply shouting “Attention on deck!” was allowed.
And yes, when a recruit would address a non-DI NCO as sir, they would almost always get a, “Don’t call me ‘Sir,’ I work for a living!”
Oh, and at Boot and ONLY at Boot: all recruits were required to salute every vehicle, regardless of sticker or occupant. It was only later that they were to become observant of the blue sticker on cars for salute (and you are saluting the rank marked on the car, so even if the CO’s punk kid was driving, the car with a blue sticker rates a salute.)
Navy boot camp is ‘sir’ all the way, probably because it’s easier than screaming “Machinist Mate First Class McPhee!” before and after every utterance. Hollering “Petty Officer!” just sounds stupid to my ears, “Sergeant” not so much. When I checked into my first command after boot, I addressed a petty officer as ‘sir’ and was gently corrected. I never made the same mistake again.
To clarify, drill sergeants in the Army are referred to as Drill Sergeant, Airborne school instructors are referred to as Sergeant Airborne, Sergeant Majors are called Sergeant Major, First Sergeants are called First Sergeants, Master Sergeants can be called Master Sergeant, but Sergeant will also typically work, all other Sergeants are called Sergeant with the exception of Special Forces NCOs who are called “Bob” or “Joe.”
Well, a fair amount of Ermey’s dialogue is derived from the original novel, “The Short Timers” by Gustav Hasford.
Part One - The Spirit of the Bayonet
By Ermey’s account, he had Kubrick’s permission to modify the original script somewhat for plausibility.
“Bullshit, I can’t hear you. Sound off like you got a pair.” 
I went through basic training at the Orlando NTC in 1984 (Navy). My experience wasn’t that far off from the movie. They couldn’t physically touch you, and there was no racial shit (though there was plenty of homophobic shit), but they still could and did use tons of profanity and colorful insults. I remember that one of the most difficult things about those first couple of days of everyone getting chewed by the CC like that was simply trying not to laugh at a lot of stuff they were saying. Part of it had to to with the tension and lack of sleep, and then you’d hear them say some unbelievably crude and funny insult you’d never heard before and have to bite the insides of your cheeks not to crack up laughing, because God help you if you laughed.
We had some moments that were like the “Biggus Dickus” scene from Life of Brian. Guys turning beet red, and gnawing holes in their lips to keep from laughing. Good times.
We also had to call the Company Commanders “sir.”
Went through Navy basic training summer of 1985 in Great Mistakes, Illinois. (Great Lakes to the unitiated.)
Some random thoughts.
Treatment of recruits varied from company to company. Our company commanders were older -one chief and one senior chief- who didn’t hoot and holler as much. They could both curse a blue streak like nobody’s business.
We had a visit from another CC during service week whom I will never forget. Petty Officer Easter had everyone lined up at their racks and went through the whole screaming-in-your-face profanity-laced ordeal. It must have been hell for the ones taking it but to the rest of us, it was hard to keep from cracking up. Seemed more of a performance than anything and one of many things I’ll always remember from boot camp.
CC’s could not touch the recruits in any way. They could –and did- get up in you face and often the brim of the chief’s hat would catch you square on the forehead. Nothing serious but it hurt some and definitely got your attention.
If you were getting mashed (the old “Drop and give me twenty” routine) the CC’s would stand there beside you and give you your cadence. In other words, you’d be in push-up position, the CC would say “Down”… and some fifteen seconds later, “Up.” For me twenty push-ups was a piece of cake. Doing it with elongated pauses in between was a bit more challenging to say the least.
They called that “cycling” at Orlando, but they did the same thing with the push-ups.
"Push-up position, HUT!
Down…
…up
…down
They could make five push-ups last half an hour. Bastards.