Sergeant Hartman no relation Vietnam War
Plot
During the Vietnam War, a group of recruits arrive at the United States Marine Corps training facility at Parris Island. Drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman uses harsh methods to train them for combat. Among the recruits is the overweight and dim-witted Leonard Lawrence, whom Hartman nicknames "Gomer Pyle", and the wisecracking J.T. Davis, who receives the name "Joker" after interrupting Hartman's introductory speech with an impression of John Wayne.
During basic training, Hartman names Joker as squad leader and puts him in charge of helping Pyle improve. One day, Hartman discovers a jelly doughnut in Pyle's footlocker, blames the platoon for Pyle's infractions, and adopts a collective punishment policy in which any infraction committed by Pyle will earn a punishment for everyone else in the platoon. One night, the recruits haze Pyle with a blanket party, in which Joker reluctantly participates. Following this, Pyle appears to reinvent himself as a model recruit, showing particular expertise in marksmanship. This pleases Hartman but worries Joker, who believes Pyle may be suffering a mental breakdown after seeing Pyle talking to his rifle. After the recruits graduate and the night before they leave Parris Island, Joker discovers Pyle in the bathroom, loading his service rifle with live ammunition, executing drill commands, and loudly reciting the Rifleman's Creed. Hartman attempts to intervene, but Pyle shoots and kills him and then commits suicide.
By January 1968, Joker is a sergeant and is based in Da Nang for the newspaper Stars and Stripes alongside his colleague Private First Class Rafterman, a combat photographer. The Tet Offensive begins and Joker's base is attacked, but holds. The following morning, Joker and Rafterman are sent to Phu Bai where Joker searches for and reunites with Sergeant "Cowboy", a friend he met at Parris Island. During the Battle of Huế, a booby trap kills the squad leader, leaving Cowboy in command. Becoming lost in the city, the squad is ambushed by a Viet Cong sniper who kills two members. As the squad moves in on the sniper's location, Cowboy is killed.
Assuming command, squad machine gunner "Animal Mother" leads an attack on the sniper. Joker locates her first, but his M-16 rifle jams, alerting the sniper to his presence. As the sniper opens fire, she is revealed to be a teenage girl. Rafterman shoots her, wounding her mortally. As the squad converges on the sniper, she begs for death, leading to an argument over whether or not to kill her. Animal Mother agrees to a mercy killing but only if Joker does it; Joker shoots her after some hesitance. Later, as night falls, the Marines return to camp singing the "Mickey Mouse March". A narration of Joker's thoughts conveys that, despite being "in a world of shit", he is glad to be alive and no longer afraid.
no relation