The 10 Best Quotes From R. Lee Ermey in 'Full Metal Jacket'

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman opening — “If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair.”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman twinkle — “Who the fuck said that? Who’s the slimy little communist shit twinkle toes cock sucker who just signed his own death warrant?”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman lead — “You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman cowboy — “How tall are you private?” | Private Cowboy: “Sir, 5-foot-9, sir!” | Sgt. Hartman: “5-foot-9, I didn’t know that stacked shit that high! You trying to squeeze an inch on me somewhere, huh?” | Pvt. Cowboy: “Sir, no, sir!” | Sgt. Hartman: “Bullshit! It looks to me like the best part of you ran down the crack of your mama’s ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress!”

“Private Pyle, I’m gonna give you three seconds; exactly three-fucking-seconds, to wipe that stupid looking grin off your face or I will gouge out your eyeballs and skull fuck you!”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman rifle — “Tonight, you pukes will sleep with your rifles. You will give your rifle a girl’s name because this is the only pussy you people are going to get. Your days of finger-banging ol’ Mary-Jane Rottencrotch through her pretty pink panties are over! You’re married to this piece. This weapon of iron and wood. And you will be faithful.”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman Virgin Mary — “I want that head so sanitary and squared-away that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to go in there and take a dump.”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman Tiffany — “Private Pyle you had best square your ass away and start shitting me Tiffany cufflinks or I will definitely fuck you up!”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman cadence — “Ho Chi Minh is a son of a bitch, got the blue balls, crabs, and the seven-year itch.”

Full Metal Jacket R. Lee Ermey Gunnery Sergeant Hartman obstacle course — “You climb obstacles like old people fuck! Did you know that Private Pyle?”

This article contains graphic language. If you’re easily offended, please do not read on.

In 1987, a foul-mouthed gunnery sergeant stole the screen in Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar-nominated film “Full Metal Jacket.”

“Full Metal Jacket” details the hardships of a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War as he moves through basic training and into the actual war.

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The film begins with an immediate introduction to Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, played by R. Lee Ermey.

Ermey was a bit of an unknown at the time of filming. Kubrick had called him in to be a technical advisor on “Full Metal Jacket,” but Ermey had other intentions when he accepted.

“I accepted the job as technical advisor simply to get my foot in the door so that I could score the role of Gunnery Sgt. Hartman,” Ermey said in a 2009 interview with DoD News. “They had already hired another actor to play Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, but Marines don’t just say ‘Oh’ and give up. We continue to march and we attack until we achieve our goal and we accomplish our mission.”

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Fast forward 29 years later and Sgt. Hartman is considered one of the most iconic film characters of all-time, while R. Lee Ermey is a national icon in the firearms industry.

Scroll through the gallery above and read through the 10 best quotes from Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in “Full Metal Jacket” as we honor R. Lee Ermey on his 72nd birthday.

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