The episode title is a reference to G.I. Joe. The army video game shoots down Osama Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, Jason Voorhees and a "deadly hurricane". The music is taken from Prokofiev's score for Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky. Marge references an earlier episode with a similar plot, "Simpson Tide", in which Homer joins the U.S. Navy. The episode parodies several scenes from Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987). Homer wonders if the drill sergeant will ask the recruits "what our major malfunction is" (Homer's is he cares too much). The drill sergeant gives Homer the nickname "Snowflake" (in the film Full Metal Jacket one of the black recruits is nicknamed "Snowball" by the drill sergeant as an ironic jibe). Later, Homer receives a punishment of being made to eat doughnuts while the other recruits have to do push-ups. Homer mentions "Stripes" when heading for Moe's basement, Homer imagines the greatest leader as Cap'n Crunch. The scene with Homer being chased by the mini helicopter parodies the style seen in many Looney Tunes cartoons. The scene makes a nod to "Bugs Bunny", "the Road Runner" and "Tom and Jerry". The scene ends with a computer monitor showing the "That's All Folks!" end title card, with the early closing of The Three Stooges shorts from the 1930s. The episode also contains the melody of "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye". The song that the U.S. Army plays on stage during the video shown at the school is a variant of "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zeppelin though most likely changed for copyright purposes. During the training scene, the Martika song "Toy Soldiers" plays. The episode also includes a reference to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison when Homer says that the Army will strip people naked, put a bag over their face, and have hicks laugh at them.