Full Metal Jacket Is a 1987 Academy

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 Academy Award nominated film made by Stanley Kubrick about the Vietnam War. It is based on the novel Short-Timers, by Gustav Hasford and it follows a group of recruits through their basic training and eventual deployment to Vietnam. (Hasford) The movie is divided into two parts: basic training and Vietnam. While this movie is not accurately depicting any one particular person's experiences, it does give an accurate overall portrayal of the U.S. Marine Corp basic training and the experiences of U.S. Marines in general during the Vietnam War.

The film begins with a group of young marine recruits entering basic training at Paris Island South Carolina. Paris Island is the actual Marine Corp training facility for all make enlistees who come from east of the Mississippi. Those from west of the Mississippi go to California for training. Today it is the same for male recruits, while all female recruits, regardless of where they are from, go to Paris Island for basic training. (MCRD) Marine Corp Basic training at the time of the Vietnam War was only eight weeks long, not counting zero week, or the first week of orientation. While today it is nine weeks, ten if you count zero week, back then the Marine Corp Drill Sergeants had only eight-week to get a recruit ready for combat in Vietnam.

Because of the large numbers of men needed to serve in Vietnam, the Marine Corp did not look too closely into the techniques used by Drill Sergeants when it came to preparing the troops. Drill Sergeants were given a great deal of latitude when it came to their training programs, and this is exemplified in the film by the treatment of the recruits by their drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, played by R. Lee Ermy. Ermy's personal experiences as a drill instructor during this time were accurately transferred to film in the boot camp scenes. (Wikipedia "R. Lee Ermy")

The film focuses on the experiences of "Joker," played by Matthew Modine, and "Cowboy," played by Arliss Howard, and their attempts to aid the training of "Private Pyle," played by Vincent D'Onofrio. "Private Pyle" is an overweight recruit that has much difficulty adjusting to the life of a Marine. Joker is paired with him in order to aid his progress, which helps Pyle, until Hartman finds a jelly donut hidden in Pyle's foot locker. After this the drill instructor begins to punish the whole group for Pyle's mistakes, turning every man in the group against Pyle, including Joker. Pyle eventually loses his sanity and kills the drill instructor and himself.

While this particular incident did not happen in real life, there were plenty of men who brought punishment down on their entire platoon as a result of their inability to perform. The scene in the movie where the members of the platoon hide bars of soap in towels and beat Pyle with them is an accurate portrayal of the type of "company punishment" which was common at the time. Drill instructors commonly punished entire groups for the actions of a single individual, and then looked the other way when the men retaliated. And while there was no murder-suicide incident like in the movie, there were plenty of recruits to received extra "help" from their fellow recruits from time to time.

The film next jumps to Joker's experiences during his time serving in Vietnam. Unlike most of his fellow recruits, Joker managed to receive a posting outside of combat, in the military journalism profession. He is working for the U.S. Military newspaper Stars and Stripes when, in January 1968, the North Vietnamese, and their Viet Cong allies, launched the devastating Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive was an actual event that took place during the war, and may have been the most important event of that war. At a time when the Pentagon had been telling the American people that the war was almost over, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese launched attacks all across South Vietnam. The American embassy was even overrun by suicide fighters and had to be retaken at substantial cost in men and materiel. In one particular city, Hue, the Viet Cong took over the entire city and staged a slaughter of every important official. Hue was an ancient city with great sentimental value to the Vietnamese, but American forces were forced to destroy the city in order to drive the Viet Cong from it. This battle is portrayed in the film when Joker is sent to cover the battle and he meets his old friend Cowboy.

While the battle of Hue did in fact occur, the characters portrayed in the film were just that, characters. But the character's experiences in the film, particularly the fear of being stalked by a sniper, and the loss of a comrade, are accurately portrayed when Cowboy is killed by the sniper. (Phipps) The destruction portrayed in the film was also an accurate portrayal of what American forces were forced to do to retake the city, as well as the personal feelings of the individual soldiers as they stand over the wounded sniper and debate whether to let her suffer of not. It is Joker who, in a final act of compassion, shoots her in the head. This paradox, to kill someone as an act of mercy, was also an experience many soldiers had while serving in that war.