How accurate was Full Metal Jacket's boot camp scene?

[Tech_Esq]

According to my bros it is pretty much dead on except they aren't supposed to hit you anymore. They said it's actually worse now because of the head games, they would rather have been hit.

Doesn't change my mind, I'm still going Marines when I finally pull the trigger on this.

13 weeks on the Island. Have fun! I recommend summer time. You'll get used to the heat, but the cold is an MFer.

 

[Tech_Esq]

The boot camp scene was dead on.

Three people dead while I went through boot camp, one on the pistol range shot his brains out, I did not see this.

Another died in the morning standing in front of his rack right after reville, he did not take in enough salt and died of dehdration.

Another drowned during swim qual, they said he died of a heart attack, I bet he did, if you could not swim the DI's pushed you under until you swam, no drowning, poor son of a ***** had a heart attack.

Had another guy slit his wrists and lived.

Another jumped off the 2nd floor, not far enough to die but he broke his legs.

I watched the DI hit people, not often and only at the end of boot camp when we had to little time left to report it. Nobody took a chance that late in the game, we got short and just wanted to make it.

People say they would rather be hit, right, we had the mind games and got hit, we suffered from sleep deprivation, lack of water, too much excercise, mind games, even less sleep, complete fatigue. I was a hollywood marine, I hear the guys at perris island got at alive by sand fleas.

The movie was dead on except there is just no way for an audience to truely relate.

I hated my drill instructor, Sgt Cambell, I remember his face like it was yesterday, his voice, what a prick.

I don't know what they do to girls... but knowing what my bros and dad have said I don't care. I will go and I WILL **** them up. I can be an unstoppable force of nature when I bring it, and I will bring it. I never lose my site on the prize. They can NOT break me.

A lot of people here probably think of me as a tender little flower because of how I talk about God and love... don't be deceived, I'm also the little girl that can drop a deer at 300 yards with a lite load, and skin it and turn it into dinner. And soooo much more. I'm pretty sure my destiny is with the Marines, like my father and his father before him. I think I need to join this long family tradition, and no matter what happens I will have made my father proud. And is there truly anything better 1 can do in their life? I don't think so.

I see......be sure to tell your Drills on the first day, and don't be bashful about this, say it loud and proud, "I brought my own can of smoke to the island Drill Instructor!"

After that, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride, proudly knowing that you are going to get every bit of training the Marines can impart to you.

(As a side note, my inspiration for telling you that was my room mate in Airborne school. He told the Black Hats that on the first day of Airborne training. )

 

[Tech_Esq]

The first half of that movie was great.

The second half of that film was shyte.

That was because they were trying to make a stupid political message.

Tell ya what though at the end when he wouldn't shot the sniper? After she shot my guys? No problem shooting her.

What they did with the second half of the movie was a travesty. The book was great through both the second and third parts. In the second part he's a war correspondent for the Marines and visits the unit he eventually goes to. After a few crazy incidents Joker is promoted and sent to the line. The sniper scene actually takes place in the jungle not on urban terrain. Hassfurt goes through excruciating detail about how the bullets rip through the bodies of those hit. It's an amazingly powerful part of the book.

 

[AllieBaba]

She sounds young. Let her go, she'll float or sink. Amanda, why the hell do you give a shit about what old farts on a messageboard think and why are you trying to prove to us you're tough?

Just go do your thing and God bless.

 

[Tech_Esq]

The first half of that movie was great.

The second half of that film was shyte.

That was because they were trying to make a stupid political message.

Tell ya what though at the end when he wouldn't shot the sniper? After she shot my guys? No problem shooting her.

Y'think? Not so easy to pull that trigger while looking someone dead in the eyes. Not saying you wouldn't. It's just not as easy as you think, and you need to give some consideration to what you're willing to live with for the rest of your life.

In the end, it's just you and God, and you better be able to justify it to both of you.

That said, I'll relate a story one of my friends told me while I was in the Army. He was a former Marine sergeant 1st MarDiv in VietNam. Their unit had been on patrol and was taking a break in Indian country. (We'll leave aside how wrong all of the events that occurred are and the break down in discipline that allowed it to happen). One of the Marines was enticed by a Vietnamese girl into the bush with an offer of sex. He went (yeah, I know). As it turns out, she was Viet Cong and had inserted a piece of tire rubber fashoined in a tube in her vagina with razor blades on the inside. The guy screamed and came running out the bush with blood everywhere. His fellow Marines grabbed the girl and fired a pop-up flare where the razor blades had been.

Now he may have been a hard case, cuz he also sent his mom and ear for Mother's Day. Time and Place. Time and Place. But people live with all kinds of things the rest of their lives.

 

[Tech_Esq]

I went to MCRD San Diego in July of 1995. Boot camp in Full Metal Jacket is 99% accurate other than R. Lee Ermey was the Senior Drill Instructor and spent a lot of time with his recruits. Our Junior Drill Instructor was with us most of the time, and I hated that bastard. After Hell Week I realized he was just playing a role.

I tell you what, I'd rather spend my time in the desert and sunny San Diego than deal with sand fleas and humidity out on an isolated island. Call me Hollywood if you want. Basic wasn't much fun and I sure didn't need it to be any less fun than it already wasn't...understand!

I thought about becoming a drill instructor after I picked up Corporal. I had a pretty stellar career ahead of me, I was company guide, got along well my with the SNCOs and junior officers in my battalion (cause I was a pogue). But then when it I got close to my discharge, I thought, I did my four years, being a drill instructor would've been great but I want to go to school and get on with my ambitions in life.

And there are great moments in the second half of the movie editec: such as when the main character and the photographer are riding out in the helicopter with the .50 cal gunner shooting at innocent people. I love that part! I laugh everytime.

I love R. Lee Ermey. That guy is hilarious.

It was an M-60D with spade grips. "Get Some! Get Some!"

 

[Tech_Esq]

Boot-camp has a way of buffing off those rough edges a lot of us have when we're young.

I can fold my clothes like a there's no tomorrow, even thirty years after the fact.

All the girls at the laudrymat are always impressed.


Let's see ... what else did I take away from that place?

hmmm...Nope, that's it.

That's not really all that much for sixteen forking weeks of 24/7 non-stop bullshit, is it?

Come on! You're still and expert in the janatorial arts aren't you? You probably still know how to cut grass with a swingblade. Probably can strip a floor with the best of 'em.

 

[mightypeon]

Pah, from my time in the Germany army, I learned a lot of highly important skills.

-How to fill in complicated forms
-How to win "intoxination contests" (after Boot camp actually)
-That wearing two sets of socks at the sime time does a lot to survive exercises in the Lithuanian winter, it also gives you 2 biochemical side arms of mass destruction. (also after Boot camp)
-How to sleep with open eyes

 

[CrimsonWhite]

I can't speak for USMC bootcamp. I was in the Army. We were served breakfast in bed and our drill sergeants stroked our hair and told us how great we were. It was a pretty fantastic time for us.

 

[coldwar23]

I can speak from two generations of the reality and differences of the movie. My dad was at Parris Island in '74 and the stories he told me BEFORE he saw the movie were spot on. He told me about Gardener, the "shitbird", and the ex highschool lineman that tried to hit the DI the first day and got his teeth kicked in by the DI. He also told me about the other shitbirds that were given the option of The Corps or jail time and how the US needed "warm bodies" at the time. He told me about a very similar speech a DI gave them about supplying God with souls and holding a Bhudda statue and getting them to warface chant "Bbbhhuuudddaaa" over and over again. They were called every name in the book, got the physical shit kicked outta them, and had to cover for each other (dad had to qualify shoot for Gardener by rolling over to his mat and firing- dad was sharpshooter). Dad's least favorite PT is still the sand buckets lol.

My experience with Army Basic was pretty different. Most guys there were pretty decided in their focus of military career as opposed to just being warm body ground fodder. "I'm just here to learn computers" was pretty common, at least in my group. Luckily the US wasn't really engaged in any major foreign engagements at the time, so it was really maintenance by SF and presence at NATO bases at the time Our TIs weren't there to hold our hands, but they weren't allowed to do many of the things in FMJ due to our wonderful litigious society with the asshats at the ACLU. They couldn't hit us or call us faggots (maggots has been used at least since my dad's time as an alternative). Again it was a different time. We had two shitbirds in my group (now just called fatbodies) but one actually washed out thankfully. I had experience as a Boy Scout, so it was really like a Mean Crazy Summer Camp with a Gun for me. I had always been into the military so I had read many things previously that I got to actually touch. I had also done JROTC in highschool so drills weren't a problem. I'm pretty bright, but those things always mess me up so I'm glad I had practice lol. As I mentioned before I was pretty much there for a career with rank boosts from Eagle Scout and JROTC. I got my knowledge, served my time happily and met many great friends I still have today. There is something about the military, when you are doing things in a routine fashion that many folks never ever get to do, that you take a step back and say "Holy cow. Me and these 23 other assholes just changed X event from changing the WORLD."

So yeah for the time period it is spot on. I emailed the 10 mins of boot camp to dad after he got retired from his job from a stroke. He called me all choked up, but he was talking about going out and finishing the roof of the house. Mom later said he had watched it several times in a row and had of course forwarded it to everyone on his email list- but it was the catalyst for getting him back to normal awesome guy again I'm glad to say that he is completely recovered and enjoys his Saturdays with his granddaughter and he is STILL "Dead Eye Atticus" if any of ya are a lil read up This is my account some first hand, some not, hope it helps someone. Thanks for reading

 

[Trajan]

I heard it said that it was pretty authentic. what was and what wasn't accurate?

pretty darn close. I went through PI summer of 79, the head games were worse than they had time to show imho, physical challenges...I took a beating in the shower room due to my , uhm, NYC smart ass attitude, plus they had a 'rehabilitation' unit called Motivation platoon....dude, thats 10X worse than what you saw.

 

[Trajan]

i went through boot camp after changes had occurred but it was still pretty close to what we had, the only thing being the drill instructors could not physically hit you. Still happened of course. It was pretty real to me.

when were you in bootcamp?

1979.

No shit, me too, P.I., platoon 2019...."Senior drill instructor Staff Sgt. Bayless"...still rolls off the tongue like it was yesterday.....

 

[Trajan]

The physical abuse as far as drill instructors putting their hands on privates was a bit much. Gunny Hartman was like everything that could go wrong with a drill instructor and he played the wrong role. The Senior Drill Instructor is NEVER the heavy. The SDI is "daddy." The junior drill instructor is usually the heavy.

bingo, we had 2 juniors.

When you make the SDI the heavy instead of "daddy", it gives the recruits a sense of hopelessness as if they have nowhere to turn because the guy who is supposed to be handling their issues is the one tormenting them. It's a morale killer.

As an senior, Hartman had too much "hands on". The senior is pat of the drill instructor team; yet, a little bit aloof from the other hats to create that separation recruits pick up on whether consciously or unconsciously. In Full Metal jacket, the junior drill intructors had minimal presence.

Where a difference I can't address exists is that Full Metal Jacket was a Vietnam-era scenario and recruits were drafted. I was a drill instructor in the all volunteer Marine Corps. Little short of death got you out of boot camp during the former; while, during the latter, one merely had to refuse to train and would be eventually administratively discharged. That alone would completely change the mindset of the drill instructors.

Oh, and while I won't say it never happens, a drill instructor that strikes a private has failed. He has failed as a teacher and as a Marine. He destroys the respect that recruit has for the uniform and the title "Marine" and definitely brings dishonor upon himself and the Corps. Recruits are at the drill instructor's mercy completely. Their is no excuse for abusing that power.

My two cents.

I agree in spirit, however, my experience, was, different.
I was a smart ass that didn't get it. Oh, they tried for the first 2 weeks, they broke me down physically but mentally? Not so much.Then one day when the rest of the platoon was on the grinder, I found myself in the shower with with the 2 juniors and we had a 'chat'...looking back at it now, it was the right thing to do, I needed to be taught on another level that I wasn't the shit, that and 2 days at Motivation Platoon, my attitude took was adjusted.

We had guys drink brasso, one threatening to slit his wrists, one banged his head against the all it it bled.....we graduated I think 40 or so out of 60.

 

[Trajan]

The boot camp scene was dead on.

Three people dead while I went through boot camp, one on the pistol range shot his brains out, I did not see this.

Another died in the morning standing in front of his rack right after reville, he did not take in enough salt and died of dehdration.

Another drowned during swim qual, they said he died of a heart attack, I bet he did, if you could not swim the DI's pushed you under until you swam, no drowning, poor son of a ***** had a heart attack.

Had another guy slit his wrists and lived.

Another jumped off the 2nd floor, not far enough to die but he broke his legs.

I watched the DI hit people, not often and only at the end of boot camp when we had to little time left to report it. Nobody took a chance that late in the game, we got short and just wanted to make it.

People say they would rather be hit, right, we had the mind games and got hit, we suffered from sleep deprivation, lack of water, too much excercise, mind games, even less sleep, complete fatigue. I was a hollywood marine, I hear the guys at perris island got at alive by sand fleas.

The movie was dead on except there is just no way for an audience to truely relate.

I hated my drill instructor, Sgt Cambell, I remember his face like it was yesterday, his voice, what a prick.

The game I absolutely hated the most was "make the rack."

Get on line. In your grubby little meatbeaters you will have, two blankets, two sheets, a pillowcase and one fartsack. You have one minute to get those scuzzy-ass racks made tight and squared away.

Repeat until the drill instructor got bored.

I used to laugh at people that said they hate their drill instructors. They were playing roles. You were just another bald-headed Gomer to them. You took personally what to them was impersonal as Hell.

Those drill instructors had more pressure on them than at the time you could even comprehend. I do not and never have condoned the abuse of power and/or violating the SOP, but there ARE two sides to the story.

That hat's got a wife and kids at home he never sees. He has to be perfect at all times. He has a schedule to keep that is near impossible. He suffers the same sleep deprivation, fatigue you do, goes through the same training with you (and drill instructor school itself is a thousand times worse than boot camp because of all the things you have to memorize verbatim while making everything about you as a Marine perfect).

What you don't realize, again at the time, is that they ARE human. They are people too. You don't see them when THEY break down. Or commit suicide. Or purposefully injure themselves to get off the street. Or find out they aren't home so momma's getting busy with someone else.

And while you're calling yourself a "Hollywood" Marine, I have been to both PI and San Diego. I'll take sand fleas ANY day over Mount Mutherfucker and/or Old Smokey.

now you got my mind working...as I said earlier the mental games inho were worse.
some of the games?....lets see. pick'em up move'em out.

we took apart our racks, then transferred it all to the grinder, dress right dress, foot lockers, everything, just when we got it set up, well, pick'em up, move em out. back into the bay.

of course, I am sure it happens in every platoon, one dope left his foot locker unlocked, so they took every lock off of all of the lockers and locked them all together intertwined and left them in a jumble on the deck, we came in from PT and of course; "secure your lockers with your locks, you have 15 minutes..Move".......yea right, it took hours to unlock them all...

to many foot lockers not organized? they all get dumped in a jumble in the shower room.....

"2 sheets and a pillow case, Move"...who knows how many times we played that game..unreal.

I remember maintenance week being a short slice of heaven in hell...

 

[Jos]

Are the training standards the same for female Marines ? The only female Royal Marines are in the Band

 

[Big Fitz]

This is all I know about the movie's authenticity. Two of the vietnam vets who served said that in the Army and Air Force it wasn't quite as bad as that, but one of the Army DIs said it was very accurate for the era.

R. Lee Ermy remember was hired to be the technical expert as he supposedly WAS a DI during later Vietnam. During filming the actor hired to play that character could not get the intensity needed to make Kubrick happy and definitely did not satisfy Ermy in regards to getting it right. So when Kubrick was watching him illustrate what he used to do, he took Ermy aside and asked if he'd like to play that part. Ermy, said he didn't know how to act per say, and Kubrick said just write out some of the best things he used to do, and they'd adapt it. So Ermy did.

The rest is marvelously funny and scary cinematic history.

That's what I've been told about the movie and accuracy.

 

[MikeK]

I heard it said that it was pretty authentic. what was and what wasn't accurate?

A relative question. For Vietnam-era boot camp? It was probably pretty accurate minus Gunny Hartman pushing Private Pyle over the edge. R Lee Ermey, who portrayed Gunny Hartman was a Marine Drill Instructor and he played the role to a "t". He was exaclt how I remember my drill instructors, and as a drill instructor, we all played the same role.

The constant, every-minute jammed with training and/or running from one type training to another is pretty accurate. The training schedule in Marine boot camp is God's Law, and only an act of God will cause any deviation from it.

The physical abuse as far as drill instructors putting their hands on privates was a bit much. Gunny Hartman was like everything that could go wrong with a drill instructor and he played the wrong role. The Senior Drill Instructor is NEVER the heavy. The SDI is "daddy." The junior drill instructor is usually the heavy.

When you make the SDI the heavy instead of "daddy", it gives the recruits a sense of hopelessness as if they have nowhere to turn because the guy who is supposed to be handling their issues is the one tormenting them. It's a morale killer.

As an senior, Hartman had too much "hands on". The senior is pat of the drill instructor team; yet, a little bit aloof from the other hats to create that separation recruits pick up on whether consciously or unconsciously. In Full Metal jacket, the junior drill intructors had minimal presence.

Where a difference I can't address exists is that Full Metal Jacket was a Vietnam-era scenario and recruits were drafted. I was a drill instructor in the all volunteer Marine Corps. Little short of death got you out of boot camp during the former; while, during the latter, one merely had to refuse to train and would be eventually administratively discharged. That alone would completely change the mindset of the drill instructors.

Oh, and while I won't say it never happens, a drill instructor that strikes a private has failed. He has failed as a teacher and as a Marine. He destroys the respect that recruit has for the uniform and the title "Marine" and definitely brings dishonor upon himself and the Corps. Recruits are at the drill instructor's mercy completely. Their is no excuse for abusing that power.

My two cents.

I went through PI in '56 (shortly after the S/Sgt. McKeon drowning incident) and everything you've said here is on the money, with minor exceptions. Our Senior DI, a S/Sgt. Jones, a decorated Korea vet, was an Ermey stereotype -- meticulously tailored and polished and every bit as mean. It appeared to me that the two Juniors, a buck sergeant and corporal, were doing their best to be as mean as Jones but didn't quite cut it.

I have always wondered if the name given to the ill-fated Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket wasn't inspired by one of Sgt. Jones' methods of harrassment. Because one of the first things he did upon taking charge of the 86 "scumbag yankee shitpiles" who got off the bus on Parris Island (we were all from NY, NJ and PA and Jones was a deep southerner) is tell us not to dare think of ourselves as Marine Corps Privates, no matter what anybody else says or what we read. We would have to earn that privilege and he would tell us when we graduate to the level of Private. Meanwhile our rank is "Shitpile!" Not "Recruit." We were piles of yankee shit and would refer to ourselves as "Shitpile (last name)". So when I first saw the movie and heard the name, Pyle, it brought back that not-so-fond recollection.

It took three weeks to graduate from Shitpiles to Marine Corps Privates -- and it did impart some pathetic measure of pride.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The boot camp scene was dead on.

Three people dead while I went through boot camp, one on the pistol range shot his brains out, I did not see this.

Another died in the morning standing in front of his rack right after reville, he did not take in enough salt and died of dehdration.

Another drowned during swim qual, they said he died of a heart attack, I bet he did, if you could not swim the DI's pushed you under until you swam, no drowning, poor son of a ***** had a heart attack.

Had another guy slit his wrists and lived.

Another jumped off the 2nd floor, not far enough to die but he broke his legs.

I watched the DI hit people, not often and only at the end of boot camp when we had to little time left to report it. Nobody took a chance that late in the game, we got short and just wanted to make it.

People say they would rather be hit, right, we had the mind games and got hit, we suffered from sleep deprivation, lack of water, too much excercise, mind games, even less sleep, complete fatigue. I was a hollywood marine, I hear the guys at perris island got at alive by sand fleas.

The movie was dead on except there is just no way for an audience to truely relate.

I hated my drill instructor, Sgt Cambell, I remember his face like it was yesterday, his voice, what a prick.

I don't know what they do to girls... but knowing what my bros and dad have said I don't care. I will go and I WILL **** them up. I can be an unstoppable force of nature when I bring it, and I will bring it. I never lose my site on the prize. They can NOT break me.

A lot of people here probably think of me as a tender little flower because of how I talk about God and love... don't be deceived, I'm also the little girl that can drop a deer at 300 yards with a lite load, and skin it and turn it into dinner. And soooo much more. I'm pretty sure my destiny is with the Marines, like my father and his father before him. I think I need to join this long family tradition, and no matter what happens I will have made my father proud. And is there truly anything better 1 can do in their life? I don't think so.

They can, and will, break you. They do this to show you exactly, and I mean exactly, how much you can take. It is not as bad as it was before the politicians started interfering, but they still have to break you so that
you can be a Marine. Marines are different than the rest of the world, and they break you so that you know what you can take, and that you will survive after you go beyond that point.

Breaking you is not the goal, it is the process.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I heard it said that it was pretty authentic. what was and what wasn't accurate?

For the time period, pretty accurate. Actually physical contact no longer occurs and things are a bit more mellow in Boot camp now thanks to bitching and moaning from parents and such.

 

[Micky G. Jagger]

well dude..supply the clip at least...geez....is it just me ...or is this clip...funny as hell..in some weird way...


YouTube - Full Metal Jacket Clip

Nothing even close to that happened in my boot camp in the 1990's. Also, my pappy said nothing like that happened in his boot camp in the late 1960's, which was prior to the all volunteer Army.