So, Gomer Pyle didn't WANT to be there. He was drafted. The implication is that he was part of Robert McNamera's (the Secretary of Defense at the time) "Project 100,000", which was a directive to lower the IQ, mental health, and physical health standards for draftees in order to recruit 100,000 new troops for the war. This was a tragic mistake, and those troops died at more than three times the rate of draftees who met the previous standards, and consistently had worse post-war experiences with much higher rates of PTSD, substance abuse, divorce, etc.

R. Lee Ermey who played Sgt. Hartman was at one time a real Sgt. and drill instructer in the U.S. Marines. He came up with a lot of his own lines in this movie.

PT is physical training

Since you ladies watched this, next you need to watch the other really good Vietnam movie called "Platoon". It's actually a harder movie about the war but very well done.

I always loved the scene where Pvt Joker is promoted to squad lead, because there are so many layers to that whole interaction. It's a blessing and a curse/monkeys paw type situation. He respects Jokers backbone and intelligence for standing up for his beliefs in the face of his purposefully rigged question, so he promotes him to squad lead. In the same breath, he assigns the most difficult private to his unit, as a test of his newly given power. Sort of like a "You think you know better, then show me better" type deal. It's classic military methodology executed brilliantly on screen

PT = Physical Training. Sergeants love that shit. Snipers often don't kill people right away, they'll pretty much torture someone to get their buddies to rush out so they can shoot them too.

This is is an anti-war movie, showing the brutal reality of warfare (both sides), not a glorious video game. Platoon, Saving Private Ryan are in a similar genre. This is happening today in Ukraine.

"Did your parents have any children that lived?! I bet they regret that!" is an insult I've said jokingly to many friends (even girlfriends lol)

If you two are interested in a modern, and in my opinion very accurate, war series...Generation Kill is a good series and accurate.

The locker was unlocked so he could open it in the dark and eat the donut, without needing to see the combination numbers. Stanley Kubrick thinks of everything.

The reality of fighting in a war isn't fun like a video game or heroic like many movies portray. Gives you an idea what veterans have to deal with after killing someone or seeing someone getting killed.

R Lee Ermey was a real drill instructor. If I remember correctly, he came up with 150 pages of insults/one-liners. Oh and PT stands for Physical Training, so the pushups, obstacle courses, running, etc. Service members will be expected to meet fitness standards throughout their enlistment.

My dad was in Vietnam and coming from his own mouth, he said this movie is a very good depiction of boot camp along with the war he experienced. I wouldn't wish his experience on anybody. What he told me he experienced is sad and brutal on so many different levels.

The Vietnam war had started, my uncle and his classmates had just graduated high school. In the parking Lot they had taken off the caps and gowns and taking pictures etc. The buses were there waiting to take them to boot camp. When this movie came out we went to see it. He couldn't even sit through 10 minutes of it. It just brought back such horrible memories for him

Animal Mother is the alternate universe Gomer Pyle, the kid that got his shit squared away before he broke down mentally like Leonard.

I feel like at some point, Pyle decided he would finish training and not fail, just so the seargent couldn't win over him. Once he reached that goal, he had nothing else to live on for.

A lot of this was filmed at Bassingbourn Barracks near Cambridge. I was a recruit there at that time. A lot of recruits were extras in the film.

One of the most intense opening acts to any movie.

PT is physical training.

Bruh what a transition at