No DADT Thread?

[Lost_In_Translation]

I think I got too much of my basic training knowledge/misinformation from watching Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket".

[D.A. Ridgely]

My usually reliable sources tell me that the admission of women in large numbers forced revision of the more traditional indoctrination and basic training methods but that the real cause for the decline in such storied violent behavior is the all volunteer Armed Services. NCOs and commissioned officers I've spoken with over the years almost uniformly (no pun intended) contend that 10% of the troops will be responsible for 90% of the disciplinary problems. While it's true that the Army, in particular, has significantly lowered its enlistment standards since the Gulf War, it's nonetheless much easier just to "chapter out" (administratively separate) a problem soldier than spend the sort of effort that was required in a largely draft Army.

[Shem]

NCOs and commissioned officers I've spoken with over the years almost uniformly (no pun intended) contend that 10% of the troops will be responsible for 90% of the disciplinary problems.

Though that seems to be true of every group and organization in life.

[Warren]

I was in the military in the mid to late 80's. When I went in DADT was the unspoken rule. Not that there wasn't an anti homo environment. Plenty of guys were very vocal on that. But the homos were there. I served on a large ship and so there were enough gays that they all knew each other and formed their own community. I got to know one of the fairly well and so was tangentially associated with them. But they knew enough not to stay in the closet.

But then they started the witch hunts. Guys I knew had their lockers broken into and their love letters "taken as evidence" and eventually discharged. Jesse helms was leading this campaign and it was going on all over the military.

That's pretty much why we got DADT, because it was working (from the government's POV) until we started actively outing service members. That forced them to come out and protest. DADT was an attempt to put things back, without having to upset the powers that be throughout the military, including it's highest levels. Of course it's a terrible policy. The arguments against gays are exactly the ones against blacks and the reform should have been the same. The POTUS as CIC issues an order "We no longer discriminate against gays" and the whole military does a left face. (I remember Barry Goldwater being outspoken on this)

On a side note, while it would be easy to apply the same rules to gays as everybody else. Integrating women into the military has definitely taken a toll. There's a host of rules that don't apply equally to male and female service members, including performance requirements. A host of others, but I'll get off my soap box.

[Kolohe]

Lit-
Marine corps DI's deliberately and consciously mimic r lee ermy's character and verbatim 'sample' some of his lines.

With the correct assumption that most 21 year olds in the mid 90's havent seen the movie

And show the movie the last week of ocs in a kinda magicians reveal

[Jadagul]

Lit-
Marine corps DI's deliberately and consciously mimic r lee ermy's character and verbatim 'sample' some of his lines.

With the correct assumption that most 21 year olds in the mid 90's havent seen the movie

And show the movie the last week of ocs in a kinda magicians reveal

Really? I've never seen the movie, but was sort of under the impression that it had penetrated the zeitgeist so thoroughly that everyone would recognize it.

[lunchstealer]

The grylliader version is don't post don't PM.

[Number 6]

Ermey wasn't making that up, though. He really was a DI before becoming an actor.
Incidentally, I've met the man twice, once for an interview that lasted around 1/2 an hour.
As for FMJ-It would take me a lot longer to list the things that were right about that part of the movie than the things that were wrong. For the most part, it's right on target.

[Eric the .5b]

If I remember correctly, Ermey was hired as a technical advisor to show them how a drill instructor acts...then they realized they needed to just cast him.

[Shem]

Ermey wasn't making that up, though. He really was a DI before becoming an actor.

He was also only originally just hired to consult for the boot camp scenes. But when he submitted a tape of himself hurling insults and abuse for 15 minutes straight, without once repeating himself or flinching, Kubrick was so impressed he gave Ermey the part. The real kicker, though: while he was filming the tape, he was constantly being pelted with oranges and tennis balls. He still managed to keep it together and avoid repeats or pauses. He's that badass.

[Number 6]

I knew about him being hired as a consultant, but the oranges and tennis balls part is new to me.

[Warren]

I remember a movie where Ermey played the Drill Instructor during Vietnam and one of his recruits was a pacifist hippie type. But the kid was into physical training and meditation so was always best at whatever they were doing. He looked younger than in FMJ but I don't think it was The Boys in Company C which I remember taking place more in Vietnam. But I can't find it in his filmography. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Or is it just another Star Wars Christmas hallucination?

[Number 6]

Wikipedia is of no help, and the description isn't ringing any bells. But I did learn that he had a minor part in Apocalypse Now.

[Pham Nuwen]

I remember a movie where Ermey played the Drill Instructor during Vietnam and one of his recruits was a pacifist hippie type. But the kid was into physical training and meditation so was always best at whatever they were doing. He looked younger than in FMJ but I don't think it was The Boys in Company C which I remember taking place more in Vietnam. But I can't find it in his filmography. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Or is it just another Star Wars Christmas hallucination?

Would it be by any chance The Siege of Firebase Gloria? There was a hippie photographer who Ermey caught taking pics before the VC started massing for an attack. He ordered him on the line.

Photographer: "What? You can't do that man! I'm a conscientious objector!"
Ermey: "You've just been drafted, sweetheart."

Later in the film you see the photographer serving admirably, calling for a medic of a wounded soldier while leading a counterattack to shore up the base's defenses.

As for the Ermey's performance in Full Metal Jacket . . . yeah. The story about him sending in his tape to Kubrick is true. What is even more awesome about the story is the fact that he got to write his own lines! Kubrick was/is notorious for never letting anyone improv. Appparently, even Kubrick was taken aback at Ermey's awesomeness.