The characters of the film Full Metal Jacket, and associated tropes.
open/close all folders
Lusthog Squad
Private/Private First Class/Corporal/Sergeant James T. "Joker" Davis
Private/Private First Class/Corporal/Sergeant James T. "Joker" Davis
Played By: Matthew Modine
"Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?"
The protagonist, who works as a combat correspondent in Vietnam. Completely unrelated to the Clown Prince of Crime.
- Blood Knight: Joker claims that he joined the Corps to be a killer. However, he's probably being sarcastic, since he's a military journalist, and when he has to perform a Mercy Kill, he finds it very hard.
- Deadpan Snarker: How he got his nickname. He quoted John Wayne for a joke at basic training, which Hartman overheard; Hartman gave him the Joker nickname for this and he ran with it. Which sticks with him after boot camp which usually doesn't happen since most nicknames are derogatory. In this case, Joker probably liked the name enough to possibly introduce himself to the other Marines at Stars and Stripes, making himself even more a Joker.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Joker interrupts and messes with Sgt. Hartman during his opening, dreadful shouting by saying out loud the line "Is that you John Wayne? Is this me". He gets immediately and famously disciplined.
- Establishing Character Moment: As Sgt. Hartman is delivering his initial speech, "Joker" feels the need to stand out and producing a snickering remark about John Wayne, out loud. This gets him labeled as a fucking comedian before being harshly disciplined by Hartman. He only gets disciplined because he admitted to it when he saw Cowboy was being blamed for the joke, showing his conviction and camaraderie.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Joked about when he meets Animal Mother.
- Irony:
- Joker puts a peace sign in his collar, while on his helmet is written "Born to Kill," which doesn't endear him to a field colonel. ("I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.")
- In the book, that peace sign gets him reassigned to Cowboy's squad as a rifleman, putting him even closer to the war.
- During their introduction to each other, Animal Mother questions if Joker has seen any combat. Not only has Joker seen combat, he defended his base from an NVA attack using an M60 Machine Gun just like Animal Mother carries.
- Joker puts a peace sign in his collar, while on his helmet is written "Born to Kill," which doesn't endear him to a field colonel. ("I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.")
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Best seen during his interactions with Cowboy and Gomer Pyle, the latter of whom he really does make an effort to get through boot camp, shows genuine concern for his well-being and tries to treat with dignity, to the point of always addressing him as "Leonard" rather than the demeaning nickname of "Private Pyle" that Hartman gave him.
- Mildly Military: Due to his position as a reporter, Joker falls outside Lusthog Squad's chain of command. In general, Joker doesn't really care much for rank structure, often snarking at Lt. Lockhart during briefings and wearing a peace button on his flak jacket.
- Miles Gloriosus: Joker often brags about his "killer instincts" (though most, if not all of that is probably meant to be deliberately ironic). And once in Vietnam, of his previous combat experience, he keeps claiming to be a hardened veteran to the other correspondents. He maintains it in combat as long as all is going well, but turns into a stuttering wreck when he gets really scared. The actual veterans of Cowboy's platoon get progressively less impressed with Joker as a result. When they encounter the sniper, Cowboy has to very pointedly tell Joker to shut the fuck up; later, after Cowboy has been killed, Animal Mother tells Joker he's "fresh out of friends."
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Private Joker, "a fucking comedian." He's one of the few troops to keep his nickname outside of basic training, since he grows into it.
- Prefers Proper Names: He makes a point of always addressing Pyle as "Leonard".
- Rank Up: Several, with the first one being awarded by Hartman when he promotes Joker to squad leader for standing tall in his skepticism of the Virgin Mary.
- Tagalong Reporter: To the Lusthog Squad alongside Rafterman.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's tall (Matthew Modine is 6'4") and always has a witty remark about something, hence his nickname.
- Third-Person Person: In basic training, probably enforced to reduce individuality. "Sir! It is the private's duty to avoid first-person pronouns, sir!"
- Thousand-Yard Stare: At the end, after killing the sniper.
- Would Hit a Girl: In the end he's forced to do this with a Mercy Kill to a Viet Cong sniper, though he finds it extremely difficult to do.
Private/Private First Class/Sergeant Robert "Cowboy" Evans
Private/Private First Class/Sergeant Robert "Cowboy" Evans
Played By: Arliss Howard
"I hate Vietnam. There's not one horse in this whole country. They don't have one horse in Vietnam. There's something basically wrong with that."
Joker's best friend from basic training.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: In the novel, Cowboy is shot in the groin (at which point he shits himself) and his hand when he goes to kill himself. All after being wounded multiple times. Joker has to finish him off.
- Deep South: How he got his nickname. He's from Texas, and Hartman says that "only steers and queers come from Texas!" And according to Hartman, he doesn't look much like a steer, so that narrows it down. In terms of personality, Cowboy is very genial and professional and barely exhibits any of the stereotypes of this trope, but there is the matter of that flag on his helmet. In the novel, Cowboy wears a pearl-gray Stetson hat.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Cowboy's death is much quicker (by a single shot) in the film. In the book, he runs into the ambush and mercy-kills the wounded men, but before he can kill himself, the sniper shoots his pistol out of his hand and wounds him repeatedly. Joker then mercy-kills him in turn.
- Ensign Newbie: He's shown to be badly suited for command, as he leads the squad to a wrong place, has to rely on Eightball to correct his mistake and is ultimately killed after failing to properly take cover.
- Everything is Big in Texas: Averted for the most part, as he doesn't display the archetypal Texas' exuberance and unlike Joker, tends to be self-effacing instead. Hartman does ask him for his height (a very average 5'9") only to remark he "didn't know they stacked shit that high"
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nicknamed "Cowboy" by Hartman, because he's from Texas. Cowboy keeps the nickname even after basic training is over.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Aside from freely using the (period accurate) slur "gook" to refer to the Vietnamese, Cowboy's helmet has a Confederate flag painted on it.
- Too Dumb to Live: Hey, Cowboy, maybe you shouldn't hide behind the part of the wall with a big hole in it. *BAM* Never mind.
- You Are in Command Now: After his squad leader is killed in action.
Sergeant "Animal Mother"
Sergeant "Animal Mother"
"You talk the talk- but can you walk the walk?"
Played By: Adam Baldwin Other Languages
"Better you than me."
The nihilistic M60 machine gunner in the squad.
- The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Eightball claims this about him, and Animal Mother shows why when he refuses to leave Doc Jay and Eightball to die.
- The Big Guy: He's Lusthog Squad's machine gunner, armed with an M-60.
- Blood Knight: Oh yeah. Lampshaded by Eightball, who notes that Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings alive under fire. He just needs someone to throw hand grenades at him for the rest of his life.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: for a given value of "loved ones," but in spite of his antagonistic nature Animal Mother does at heart appear to care about his squad and in the end puts himself in harm's way in a desperate attempt to save them from the sniper.
- Foil: At least one book on Kubrick's filmography explicitly frames Animal Mother as a dark reflection of Gomer Pyle, a snapshot of what Pyle might have become had he not snapped under Hartman's abuse and the pressure of basic training, and instead lasted long enough to become dehumanised by the war itself.
- Hidden Depths:
- While appearing as a racist yokel, he actually does care about his comrades regardless of their skin colour and also points out the hypocrisy of what the US forces are doing in Vietnam is for 'freedom'.
- Has the famous Oppenheimer 'I am become Death' quote enscribed on his helmet, suggesting he is somewhat more educated or well-read then his behaviour would indicate.
- Jerkass: He's openly racist and immediately antagonizes Joker.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: "Heart of Gold" is probably selling it much too far, but for all of his aggressive attitude and in particular his casually racist language towards Eightball, when Eightball and Doc Jay are shot by the sniper Animal Mother disobeys direct orders and puts his own life on the line charging the sniper's position to try to save his squadmates.
- Military Maverick: Responds to Cowboy's order to stay put with "Fuck you."
- More Dakka: With his M60 machine gun.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His nickname.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Refuses to leave Doc Jay and Eightball behind. It's pretty much his one redeeming quality.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Animal Mother never mentions his actual name to anyone.
- Psycho for Hire: He's a Sociopathic Soldier who enjoys killing, so this goes without saying.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Qualifies to a fault, especially when pissed.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: He goes sleeveless to show his large arms, which cements his position as The Big Guy.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Probably one of the best examples.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of the Lusthog Squad.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: The films ends with Animal Mother in charge of the squad.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Eightball to some extent.
- You Are in Command Now: After Cowboy's death by the sniper, he becomes squad leader by virtue of chain of command.
Corporal "Eightball"
Corporal "Eightball"
"Go easy, bros."
Played By: Dorian Harewood
"Put a nigger behind the trigger."
An African-American member of the squad who is not overly sensitive about his ethnicity, and is Animal Mother's closest friend.
- Black Dude Dies First: He's the one sent to do recon and the first to be gunned down by the sniper. He's helplessly aware of the trope. Black soldiers in the Vietnam War often got assigned the less desirable or more dangerous tasks as a matter of course.
- Black Is Bigger in Bed: "No boom-boom with soul brother." Eightball has to graphically debunk it.
- Deadpan Snarker: Just see his quote above.
- Mauve Shirt: Gets a decent amount of characterization and screen-time before biting it.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: One of the characters whose real name is never even mentioned.
- Soul Brotha: He acts cooler than most of his white comrades.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Animal Mother, who throws out racial slurs left and right. Eightball is unfazed by it to the point that he seems to regard it as N-Word Privileges.
Private First Class "Rafterman"
Private First Class "Rafterman"
Played By: Kevyn Major Howard
"I hate Da Nang, Joker. I want to go out into the field. I've been in country almost three months, and all I do is take handshake shots at award ceremonies."
A combat photographer who works with Joker.
- Armchair Military: Laments having to be this when he's first introduced.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves Joker from the VC sniper at the end.
- Camera Fiend: Can often be seen taking pictures of the squad - even during battle.
- Naïve Newcomer: Rafterman receives a healthy dose of exposition.
- New Meat: Rafterman is the lowest ranked Marine in the squad, being only a PFC (in the book, a lance corporal); the other members are identified as at least being corporals.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is never mentioned.
- Partly averted in the book; his last name is given as Compton.
- Red Herring Shirt: His insistence to go to the field with Joker, while Joker fails to convince him to not, is obvious foreshadowing that Rafterman will die, right? Wrong. He survives the whole movie and even saves Joker from being shot by the sniper.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He's run over by a tank in the book.
- Stress Vomit: Throws up during the helicopter ride.
- Tagalong Reporter: To the Lusthog Squad alongside Joker.
Sergeant "Crazy Earl"
Sergeant "Crazy Earl"
Played By: Kieron Jecchinis
"These enemy grunts are as hard as slant-eyed drill instructors.... These people we wasted here today ... are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting."
The squad leader before Cowboy takes command.
- Blood Knight: The quote above pretty much says it all.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: To a disturbing extent.
- Mauve Shirt: He's given some personality before dying.
- Schmuck Bait: He stops to pick up a stuffed rabbit lying in the rubble of a building, triggering a bomb that kills him.
- Talking to the Dead: Has "befriended" a dead Vietnamese soldier.
Doc Jay
Doc Jay
Played By: Jon Stafford
"Can I quote LBJ? I will not send American boys eight or ten thousand miles around the World to do a job that Asian boys oughta be doing for themselves."
Lusthog's corpsman.
- The Generic Guy: He isn't given much of a personality.
- The Medic: A Navy hospital corpsman assigned to fill this role for the Marines (which is Truth in Television).
- Military Maverick: Though to a much lesser extent than Animal Mother.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Disobeys Joker's orders and goes to help Eightball when he's wounded by a sniper.
- Red Shirt: Does little else but unsuccessfully try to save LT Touchdown and Crazy Earl, then get killed trying to save Eightball.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's quickly mowed down by the sniper when he tries to signal Animal Mother the sniper's location.
Donlon
Donlon
Played By: Gary Landon Mills
"I mean, we're getting killed for these people and they don't even appreciate it... they think it's a big joke."
Another African-American member in the squad who works as the radio operator.
- The Generic Guy: He doesn't get much characterization.
- Those Two Guys: With T.H.E. Rock.
"T.H.E. Rock"
"T.H.E. Rock"
Played By: Sal Lopez
"No more boom-boom for this baby-san. There's nothing we can do for her. She's dead meat."
Another member of the squad.
- The Generic Guy: Along with Doc Jay and Donlon.
- Iconic Item: In the book, he wears a small piece of quartz on a cord around his neck, supposedly so that he can be identified if he gets killed (which he is).
- Spared by the Adaptation: He's killed by the sniper in the book.
- Those Two Guys: With Donlon.
"Handjob"
"Handjob"
Played By: Marcus D'Amico
Another member of the squad.
- Embarrassing Nickname: He got his nickname from masturbating at least ten times a day. He was waiting for a medical exam and started masturbating, leading to him being granted a Section 8 discharge.
- Retirony: He gets killed while waiting for the paperwork on his discharge to clear headquarters.
Other Vietnam Marine personnel
Lieutenant Lockhart
Lieutenant Lockhart
Played By: John Terry
"In strategic terms, Charlie has cut the country in half, the civilian press are about to wet their pants, and we've heard even Cronkite's gonna say the war is now unwinnable. In other words, it's a huge shit sandwich and we're all gonna have to take a bite."
Joker's Commanding Officer on the Stars & Stripes Vietnam branch.
- Covert Pervert: He tells Rafterman to get some up-skirt photos of Ann-Margret during her visit to the area, wanting to see "fur and early morning dew."
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In sharp contrast to Sergeant Hartman, Lieutenant Lockhart is less formal/harsh and more laid back and friendly, though he still uses the Joker nickname Hartman gave to now-Corporal Davis when addressing Joker.
The Door Gunner
The Door Gunner
"Ain't war hell?"
Played By: Tim Colceri
"Anyone who runs is a VC [Viet Cong]! Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC! Ha Ha Ha! You guys ought to do a story about me sometime!"
A gunner on the helicopter that takes Joker and Rafterman from Da Nang to the combat zone.
- Ax-Crazy: The first thing he does onscreen is shoot wildly at a bunch of Vietnamese farmers, passing them off as VC. This immediately identified him as a monster to Joker.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Not only does he slaughter civilians en masse, he's also killed a number of water buffalo just to increase his body count.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's never named.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's all smiles and laughter as he gleefully kills innocent civilians and animals without the slightest hint of remorse or reservation.
- Hate Sink: This man is a sociopathic sadist who enjoys warfare far more than he should. While transporting Joker to his destination, he picks off every Vietnamese person he sees, soldier or civilian, with a smile on his face. claiming they're all the enemy whether it's true or not. His last line is him jokingly asking "Ain't war hell?," despite clearly loving it.
- Karma Houdini: It's presumed he never is called out for essentially murdering innocent Vietnamese; he only appears in one scene and is never mentioned again.
- Kick the Dog: This guy isn't happy enough just killing unarmed civilians, he also goes out of his way to kill their water buffaloes, all of said kills being certified.
- Knight of Cerebus: Starting with this guy's appearance and his gunning down of innocent people on the Marines' payroll, the film and Joker become much more serious and people start dying, showing just why War Is Hell.
- Lack of Empathy: He has absolutely no regard for any of the beings he kills or sees them as anything but targets and additional kills he can boast about.
- Large Ham: Proudly proclaims that anyone on the ground is VC, and shouts it too.
- Laughably Evil: As heinous as his actions are, his casual, unapologetic delivery in response to Joker asking how he can shoot women and children is actually so good that it ends up crossing into Comedic Sociopathy territory: "Ha ha ha! Ain't war hell?! Ha ha ha!"
- Sociopathic Soldier: Is definitely not right in the head, if his merciless gunning down of people the Marines are supposed to protect is any indication.
- Verbal Tic: "Get some, get some, yeah, get some, get some, get some, get some!" Interestingly enough, in the time it takes him to say "get some", three shots are fired. Not just a tic, but fire discipline.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- When Joker asks if he shot any women or children, he replied, "Sometimes!"
- Also this exchange:Joker: How can you shoot women and children?
Door Gunner: Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much. (Laughing) Ain't war hell?
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Averts this big time."Anyone who runs is a VC! Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC!"
Lieutenant Walter J. "Touchdown" Schinoski
Lieutenant Walter J. "Touchdown" Schinoski
Played By: Ed O'Ross
The commander of the Lusthog Squad's platoon.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Implied to be this thanks to his friendly conversation with Joker.
Lieutenant Cleves
Lieutenant Cleves
Played By: Ian Tyler
"It seems the NVA came in with a list of gook names. They went round their houses real polite and asked them to report the next day for political re-education. Everybody who turned up got shot. Some they buried alive."
A lieutenant present at the uncovering of the mass grave.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Played with. He smiles for the camera while graphically describing the murder of several Vietnamese citizens by the NVA - it's not evil, but certainly unsettling.
The Colonel
The Colonel
"You'd better get your head and your ass wired together, or I will take a giant shit on you!"
Played By: Bruce Boa
"It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this "peace craze" blows over!"
A commander in Vietnam.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Identified only as "Colonel".
- General Ripper: "Inside every Vietnamese is an American fighting to get out."
- Jerkass: Is stuck up, which is to be expected of someone of his rank.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Notes the irony of Joker writing both a "Born to Kill" message on his helmet and wearing a peace symbol, given where they are.
Basic Training
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
"So you can give your hearts to Jesus... but your ass belongs to the Corps!"
Played By: R. Lee Ermey
"I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior Drill Instructor. From now on, you will speak only when spoken to. And the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?"
A foul-mouthed, irate drill instructor at Parris Island who trains his recruits to transform them into Marines.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the original book The Short-Timers, Sergeant Gerheim is a heartless monster who merely tortures recruits out of sadism. By contrast, Hartman (due to input on the character by R. Lee Ermey) is a slightly more reasonable figure whose torment of the recruits serves the purpose of making them more suited to the battlefield. He's just doing his job, albeit doing it badly. His main failure is his inability to recognize that Pyle is unfit for service and should be sent home. R. Lee Ermey himself stated that Hartman is a poor DI who often does things that are unethical and counterproductive. The book version is nonetheless vastly worse. On the other hand, Ermey was recognized for his outstanding service as a DI and received the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbon, and in 2002 he was given an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant to match his character's rank.
- Anti-Villain:
- Hartman is a jerk and treats his recruits like shit. He's just doing his job to motivate the recruits properly to turn them into Marines. The only problem is that he's doing a really bad job at it.Hartman: My orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?
- The gunny himself lampshades this:Hartman: Because I am hard, you will not like me! But the more you hate me, the more you will learn.
- He also expresses genuine happiness when Pyle demonstrates his marksmanship with the M14. Unfortunately, by then, Pyle's already gone nuts.
- Hartman is a jerk and treats his recruits like shit. He's just doing his job to motivate the recruits properly to turn them into Marines. The only problem is that he's doing a really bad job at it.
- Arc Villain: He's the antagonist of the Basic Training segment of the film.
- Asshole Victim: As much as Sgt. Hartman is just trying to do his job, it may be hard to feel sorry for him when he gets killed by Private Pyle. The guy was physically abusing Pyle, his recruits, and basically everyone under his command.
- Bad Boss: He's an unforgiving sergeant who goes around insulting, punching, punishing, and yelling at his recruits, with the goal of weeding out anyone who's not fully committed to the Marine Corps.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He set out to turn Pyle into a cold-hearted killer, whatever it took. He succeeded and ended up being Leonard's first victim in a Murder-Suicide.
- Deadpan Snarker: Far from deadpan, but he's a king at the snarking part.Hartman: Private Pyle, whatever you do, don't fall down! That would break my fucking heart!
- Deconstructed Character Archetype:
- Despite being the Trope Codifier of the Drill Sergeant Nasty in cinema, Hartman is the trope gone wrong. His non-stop insults and abuse wear down the psyche of Private Pyle, whose signs of mental instability go unnoticed by Hartman who refuses to see that Pyle is simply unsuited to military service. When Pyle finally snaps and waves around a loaded rifle, Hartman continues to shout at him instead of calling on other officers to detain him. Pyle promptly shoots Hartman before killing himself.
- He's also a poor example of a Senior Drill Instructor. Drill instructors, at least in modern times, are supposed to be nasty except for the Senior DI who is supposed to be the good cop to the juniors bad cop. The senior is supposed to act as a harsh, but fair father figure guiding his recruits on the correct path, giving them someone they can come to with issues or concerns and when they feel they are buckling under the pressure. On top of that, Leonard is a fat body. Making him sit out exercises as punishment is counterproductive.
- Defiant to the End: Another interpretation of his final insult to Private Pyle is that he spoke exactly the way he was supposed to do after being informed that Pyle had live rounds in his rifle. He spoke in a calm voice and gave his orders clearly and deliberately. Rather than obey his orders, Pyle levels his rifle right at Hartman. Rather than beg for his life, he gives one final twist of the knife to seal Pyle's fate. Either he kills him and his life is forfeit, or he doesn't, and he's bound for the brig.
- Decoy Protagonist: His first scene sets him up as an Anti-Hero and main character in his own right. It doesn't take long for him to become the Arc Villain of the first half.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The Trope Codifier, so iconic that he provides both the page pic and quote. However, Hartman is an an unbuilt version of this, since he proves to be a demonstrable failure of a DI.
- He physically abuses his recruits, gives them Embarrassing Nicknames that stick even after basic training is over. He fails to notice the Sanity Slippage of one of his recruits and the instruction goes horribly right for him. Hartman also seems to take pride in the fact that a Marine Corps sniper, Lee Harvey Oswald, killed President Kennedy because of how impressive his shooting was.
- R. Lee Ermey was an actual Marine Drill instructor in the sixties and his performance is Truth in Television; Marine drill instructors regularly use very similar hilariously over-the-top instruction in an attempt to get officer candidates to
smile, laugh, or otherwise break attention. Originally brought in to advise the actor playing GySgt. Hartmannote how to be more convincing, he recorded a videotape of himself yelling insults at a group of British Royal Marines. Ermey's performance was so impressive that he got the role instead. Ermey was allowed to write or ad-lib many of his own lines by acknowledged Control Freak Stanley Kubrick and later got an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant - in 2002, 30 years after he had already been discharged, one of the few men in Marines history to ever get that honor.
- Dying Smirk: In the novel, as he dies satisfied that he'd finally managed to turn Private Pyle into a cold-blooded, ruthless killer.
- Expy: He is basically one to Emil Foley.
- Fatal Flaw: His Pride and Lack of Empathy, specifically regarding Pvt. Pyle. Hartman explicitly says that his job is to weed out anyone unfit for service, but when Pyle repeatedly proves his incompetence, Hartman doubles down on him rather than trying to have him discharged. He doesn't notice that Pyle's mental health has eroded and thinks that he can shout Pyle down when he's holding a loaded rifle and is generally unable or just unwilling to acknowledge that Pyle is simply not suited to being a Marine, likely because doing so would feel like admitting failure on his part.
- Gone Horribly Right: He aimed to turn Private Pyle into an efficient, cold-hearted killer. He succeeded by getting Pyle to commit Murder-Suicide, shooting Hartman and them himself.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: All it takes to set Hartman off is a bad word or making a mistake such as forgetting to lock your footlocker.
- Hate Sink: Gunnery Sergeant Hartman was specifically played by ex-drill sergeant R. Lee Ermey as a bully who sucks at his job. Hartman spends his time berating his recruits more than instructing them, eventually latching onto one who's clearly out of his element. Nicknaming him after a dimwit from a popular TV show, Hartman proceeds to encourage the rest of his trainees to mistreat the poor guy in an attempt to break his mind.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Part of the job for a Drill Sergeant Nasty. Claims that "I am hard, but I am fair! There will be no racial bigotry here! I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers! Here, you are all equally worthless". To Hartman's credit, he appoints the African-American Private Brown to squad leader at first, and never shows any outright bigotry or racial favouritism, demonstrating it's really just a testing tactic to "weed out any non-hackers who do not pack the gear" to be a Marine.
- Hot-Blooded: Yells, hates being defied, never seems happy, and is training people to be killers. He also seems to take it as a point of pride that Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who killed JFK, was a Marine.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: In his opening speech, he goes straight from saying that he doesn't discriminate based on race and Hates Everyone Equally, to screaming racial epithets at Private Brown.
- Jerkass: He takes Drill Sergeant Nasty up to eleven, as he abuses his trainees not only verbally, but also physically for even the smallest mistakes. Just ask Private Pyle.
- Jerkass to One: While he's rude and mean to all the cadets, his treatment of Pyle is especially cruel. This ends up being deconstructed, since singling Pyle out for particular abuse ends up driving Pyle to murder him.
- Karmic Death: He spent his screentime torturing the recruits, especially Pyle, in ways that would have gotten any real life DI court-martialed. He's also oblivious to how his teaching methods are counterproductive and Pyle in particular is turning into a ticking time bomb. Pyle eventually kills him.
- Large Ham: Makes a lot of cruel snarks, but also provides funny relay quotes in the jogging scenes, one of which puts a smile on Joker's face.
- The Neidermeyer: Shows zero respect for the privates, except a little when they graduate, and gets in everybody's faces and punches them in the gut. Hartman seems oblivious to the fact that this isn't working, even when Pyle has lost his mind and holding a loaded gun.
- The Nicknamer: He's the one who gives the nicknames to Privates Snowball, Joker, Cowboy and Pyle. Most of his nicknames stick even after basic training is over.
- No Indoor Voice: He never speaks lower than at a speech volume until the very end, and is mostly a shouter.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Private Pyle holding a loaded gun in the bathroom is enough to make him briefly stop shouting and calmly order Pyle to give him the rifle. It doesn't last long.
- Oh, Crap!: Hartman is understandably taken aback when Joker tells him that Pyle has a loaded rifle.
- Pet the Dog:
- Hartman does congratulate Pyle when he starts making progress, and when Pyle proves himself to be a natural marksman.Hartman: Outstanding, Private Pyle! I think we finally found something that you do well.
Hartman: Private Pyle, you are definitely born-again hard! Hell, I may even allow you to serve as a rifleman in my beloved Corps. - He also promotes Joker to squad leader after being impressed by his guts to talk back to him.
- Hartman does congratulate Pyle when he starts making progress, and when Pyle proves himself to be a natural marksman.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Outwardly, he is misogynistic, homophobic, and racist, despite claiming he Hates Everyone Equally. It should be noted however that there is truth to this latter point: the first recruit to act as squad leader is Private Snowball, who is black and who is only fired because Hartman was genuinely impressed with Private Joker. It's basically just a testing tactic to ready the troops for the harshness of Vietnam. Hartman also claims that a Marine (Lee Harvey Oswald) killed the president as a point of pride.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Jerkass he maybe, but he's just doing his job as a Drill Sergeant Nasty.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Maybe. He makes some religious references in the film. Once Joker denies believing in the Virgin Mary, Hartman gets angry and slaps him. When Joker doesn't back down from his beliefs, Hartman makes him a squad leader. Given that this was a Secret Test of Character to test Joker's resoluteness, it's an open question as to whether Hartman cares either way.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Claims to be this early on. He's really not - he's a bigot and has a complete lack of empathy for his recruits.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: His dialogue is peppered with f-bombs and other expletives alongside Flowery Insults.
- Sociopathic Soldier: To an extent in that some of the disciplinary tactics he reserves for Pyle arguably cross into psychological abuse territory.
- Starter Villain: He's what the recruits have to deal with before they get to the actual war in Vietnam.
- Too Dumb to Live: Fails to realize that he's driven Private Pyle to a psychotic break even when the man is sitting in front of him with a loaded rifle, looking like a grenade with its pin pulled. He thinks the appropriate response to the situation is to dish out more verbal abuse at Pyle, rather than get out of there and call in the Military Police. He's wrong.
- Unbuilt Trope: While he's undoubtedly one of the most iconic and influential fictional takes on the Drill Sergeant Nasty trope, he also demonstrates what happens when a Drill Instructor doesn't know other people's limits and takes things too far. He ends up pushing "Pyle" past his breaking point, driving him insane, and pays for it with his life when Pyle shoots him dead. Ermey, who had been a DI in his younger days, even intended to portray him as an example of a poor Drill Instructor whose abuse goes well beyond preparing his men for battle and who refuses to see that Pyle is seriously unwell and needs to be sent home.
- Villain Respect: Joker refuses to back down from his proclamation that he doesn't believe in the Virgin Mary, even after Hartman slaps him and threatens to subject him to further violence. Joker also correctly guesses that "any answer he gives will be wrong, and that the drill instructor will beat him harder if he reverses himself". Hartman is quite impressed with Joker's bravery and promotes him to squad leader, saying that that it's courage, rather than brains, that makes for a good squad leader.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: His abuse and extreme harshness seems to be the only teaching style he's capable of or interested in, almost never providing any encouragement or recognizing when recruits are simply unsuited to being Marines. It comes back to bite him as he either can't or won't see that Pyle is seriously struggling and keeps pushing him and turning the squad against him, resulting in both of their deaths.
Private/Private First Class Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence
Private/Private First Class Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence
"Seven-six-two millimeter — full. Metal. Jacket."
Played By: Vincent D'Onofrio
"I am... in a world... of SHIT!"
An overweight recruit who gains the ire of Hartman.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Hartman wasn't the only person who mistreated him. After the jelly doughnut incident, everyone in the platoon but Pyle himself has to take every punishment bestowed upon them every time the latter messes up. This leads to them subjecting Pyle to a blanket party hazing at night. Justified trope, as much as we hate to say it, because if one recruit in a platoon gets in trouble, the entire platoon does. If that same recruit keeps screwing up, the platoon is not going to take kindly to it.
- Alliterative Name: Although his real name Leonard Lawrence is rarely used.
- Ax-Crazy: Becomes this near the end of the first part, though he only kills one other person.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Implied; he holds Joker at gunpoint after shooting Hartman, but Joker calling him "Leonard" instead of "Pyle" when attempting to calm him down seems to remind Pyle of Joker's previous kindness (his participation in the blanket party notwithstanding).
- Break the Cutie: He gets it worse than the rest of the recruits due to being overweight and mentally slow, most of it at the hands of the original Drill Sergeant Nasty. The worst of it comes when the other recruits, pissed off after the entire platoon is punished every time he screws up, throws him a blanket party by pinning him to his bunk with a blanket and almost everybody takes turns beating the crap out of him with bars of soap wrapped in bath towels. All this eventually leads to his psychotic breakdown, his murder of Hartman and his ultimate suicide.
- Butt-Monkey: Never seems to get a break. Over the course of basic training, he:
- Gets choked by Hartman because he can't stop smiling even in the face of Hartman's tirades.
- Gets publicly humiliated by Hartman for shouldering his rifle on the wrong side.
- Has to march at the back of the formation, with his pants around his ankles and his thumb in his mouth.
- Earns yet more of Hartman's wrath when he can't get through the obstacle course.
- Gets caught with a jelly donut in his footlocker, prompting Hartman to start punishing everyone else in the platoon whenever he screws up (and said everyone else to give him a blanket party in revenge).
- Decoy Protagonist: One of the main characters of the movie's first half, along Hartman and Joker. He kills himself at the end of said first half.
- The Dog Bites Back: He fatally pays Sergeant Hartman back for the verbal and physical abuse and humiliation he suffered under him by putting a bullet through his heart.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Given one as part of his abuse by Hartman. Joker at least tries to help him maintain some dignity by not addressing him by it.
- Everyone Has Standards: His breakdown is limited only to Hartman and himself. Other than briefly pointing his rifle in Joker's general direction, which is hinted to be more to keep Joker away, it's never hinted that he intends to harm any of the other recruits.
- Fat Idiot: He's overweight (Vincent D'Onofrio famously put on seventy pounds for the role) and very slow-witted and possibly struggling with an undiagnosed condition or learning disability.
- First-Name Basis: Joker is the only one who regularly calls him "Leonard" to try and treat with him some kind of respect.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: He's never mentioned or alluded to again after his death, likely because to the rest of the recruits he was The Friend Nobody Likes for being The Millstone for constantly getting them all in trouble, and therefore they (at best) seemingly don't really care about him afterwards or at worst are glad he was gone from their platoon... or would likely feel disturbed talking about the recruit who snapped and killed their drill instructor and avoid remembering him for their psyche. Still, Joker quoting him (and/or Hartman) in his parting narration implies that this incident did indeed leave an impact on his psyche.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: To the recruits for being The Millstone and later a Forgotten Fallen Friend after his Murder-Suicide.
- Hidden Depths: For all his ineptness as a soldier, he turns out to be an excellent marksman.
- Large Ham: A mentally unstable Pyle dramatically executing drill commands with his rifle and loudly reciting the Rifleman's Creed.
- The Load: He is the only one who can't pull his own weight in the group (quite literally), and this trope gets played even straighter when the rest of the recruits get punished on Pyle's behalf when he screws up, such as Hartman finding a jelly doughnut in Lawrence's foot locker.
- The Millstone: After he's caught with a jelly donut in his footlocker, the rest of his platoon is not happy about having to suffer for his screw-ups.
- Murder-Suicide: Kills Hartman before turning the gun on himself.
- Preppy Name: Leonard Lawrence. Lampshaded by Hartman, who declares "Only faggots and sailors are called Lawrence."
- Sanity Slippage: The stress of Marine training and GySgt. Hartman's abuse slowly takes a toll on his mental health. It ultimately drives him to kill Hartman and then himself.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: After Pyle's beating, his psyche takes a massive hit. On the outside, he becomes a decent soldier, with Hartman even praising him. Internally, he's losing it, with a couple of scenes showing Pyle mumbling to himself and disturbingly staring into nothing.
- Took a Level in Badass: As part of his Sanity Slippage, he starts becoming more focused in training. He loses weight and learns how to act like a Marine. Unfortunately, he turns Ax-Crazy at the same time.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Pyle's mental breakdown, resulting in the death of Sergeant Hartman and himself, is the result of physical and verbal abuse from Hartman and bullying from the other recruits.
Private/Private First Class "Snowball" Brown
Private/Private First Class "Snowball" Brown
"Sir! Private Snowball reporting as ordered, sir!"
Played By: Peter Edmund
One of the recruits at Joker's basic training. He's the first recruit to be addressed by Hartman.
- Embarrassing Nickname: When he tells Hartman his name, Hartman immediately blows him off and gives him the "Snowball" nickname, along with a racist snark.
- Ironic Nickname: Hartman nicknames a black recruit "Private Snowball." Doubles as a Dehumanizing Insult, since "Snowball" is a (then outdated, now archaic) mild ethnic slur, and dehumanization, or at least depersonalization, is pretty much the whole point.
- Malaproper: Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from "pretty far! From that book suppository building, sir!" (the Marines laugh)
- No Indoor Voice: Is practically screaming at the top of his lungs whenever he addresses Hartman. None of the other recruits are shown similarly screaming when they reply to Hartman.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Apart from his last name being Brown, he does not give his first name and is forced to use the "Snowball" nickname otherwise.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Snowball was replaced by Joker, he was never seen again.
- You Have Failed Me: Not a fatal example, but he becomes a squad leader at some point, only for Hartman to "fire" him and have Joker replace him, which is how Joker begins helping Gomer Pyle.
The Sniper
The Viet Cong Sniper
The Viet Cong Sniper
Played By: Ngoc Le
A Viet Cong child soldier who fires on the Lusthog Squad in the film's climax.
- Asshole Victim: She intentionally wounds Doc Jay and Eightball multiple times, partly to draw the rest of the squad into her kill zone, but also as a form of torture.
- Child Soldier: She doesn't look older than 15.
- Cold Sniper: Deliberately wounds Eightball and Doc Jay in an attempt to lure their squadmates into an ambush. When one of them tries to point out her position, she finishes them both off with a burst of fire.
- Composite Character: The squad's run-in with her is an amalgamation of two such fights described in The Short-Timers, each against a different sniper.
- Dark Action Girl: Is able to take several well-aimed shots that repeatedly wound two of Cowboy's men, then kill them with automatic fire, then take out Cowboy with one more shot.
- Final Boss: Of a sort; the Viet Cong Sniper is the final antagonistic force of any sort encountered by Joker in Full Metal Jacket.
- Girlish Pigtails: And they're braided.
- Hero Killer: The sniper is the one to kill Cowboy, the squad leader and Joker's best friend from recruit training.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: At least partially justified in that we can assume she's a very practiced shot, but she doesn't even have a sniper rifle. Look closely when she's revealed, and it's clear that she took out all those guys with an unscoped vz.58.
- Little Miss Badass: Is at the oldest a teenager, and brilliant and scary with her rifle, taking out three members of the Lusthog Squad and sending it into panic and confusion. Though it is still a downplayed example: once the initial confusion wears off and Animal Mother figures out her position, the squad manages to turn the tables on her in short order. Regardless, she survives Rafterman emptying an entire magazine into her, and instead of begging for mercy she stoically requests Joker to finish her off.
- More Deadly Than the Male: She manages to give Lusthog Squad, who by the late point of the film have killed dozens of male NVA and Viet Cong in Hue, a much harder time, and kills three of their members easily.
- No Name Given: The Viet Cong Sniper is never identified by name, and dies before she can be identified.
- Oh, Crap!: She looks completely terrified once she realizes the squad has found her.
- Samus Is a Girl: Only at the end is the Viet Cong sniper revealed to be a young woman.
- Sniper Rifle: Averted. Rather than using something like a scoped Mosin-Nagant or an SVD, the standard NVA and Viet Cong sniper rifles, she's instead revealed to be using a humble old vz.58 (a Czech-made assault rifle that resembles but is entirely distinct from the AK-47) to snipe her targets.
- Villain Decay: A rapid and somewhat justified example. She's a good shot with her rifle and terrorises the squad from her vantage point, killing three hardened Marines who cross her sights, but resorts to recklessly unloading her ammo on the covered Joker when confronted directly and is taken out by a simple flanking maneuver.
