Wow, what a mess to unpack in the first 10 minutes of this heap of garbage.
The intake processing was completely off-base. Recruits don’t even meet their drill instructor until after initial processing—medical exams, clothing issue, haircuts, and all that jazz.
The stress didn’t ramp up until later. Those first days felt more like an industrial-scale prison intake, like checking into jail, not the hyped-up drama the show portrays.
They conveniently left out the part where you had to pay for your haircut.
The phone call scene? Total fiction. It was a Bell Telephone payphone, not whatever that scene was trying to sell.
The chow hall? Nothing like the show. Initial recruits weren’t sent to scrub trash cans—that’s nonsense.
The barracks? Didn’t resemble recruit training at all.
One scene shows a drill instructor harassing a recruit post-chow while they’re still in civilian clothes. Absolute baloney—you get your uniform the first night.
Drill instructors sure as hell aren’t messing with recruits during chow. They’re too busy scarfing down their own food. The guide and squad leaders—basically prison trusties—kept things in line. When the guide’s done eating, you’re done. The mantra was: “Eat it now, taste it later.”
I was always starving in boot camp, no matter how much food I shoveled in. No seconds, but there was bread and butter by the drinks—bug juice, water, or milk. Soda? Forget about it.
Clothing issue was rushed at first, but they took care with boot issue. Dress uniform issue was a whole special process, treated like a big deal.
Bunk assignments were alphabetical, not whatever chaotic nonsense the show cooked up.
In short, this is a low-budget fantasy, pure crap.
Compared to *Full Metal Jacket*, the only discrepancy was the squad bay floor color. That movie base was supposed to be Parris Island but was filmed in the UK. As a San Diego Marine, I found that difference trivial. Hell we watched Full Metal Jacket in boot camp.
As a side note, I got to know one of my drill instructor's after I got out. He was in DI school and assigned to us the last few weeks before he became a full DI. He was a force recon Marine. Medical discharge, smashed his knee on a night parachute jump. Even more surreal is I didn't recognize him until passing by his house, we stopped over he had a pic of him and my drill instructors. He didn't remember we nicknamed him Elvis. Understandable cause a new hat DI is under more stress than a recruit, and has even longer hours.
