The Short - Timers The Short - Timers is a 1979 semi - autobiographical novel by American U . S . Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford , about his experience in the Vietnam War . It was later adapted into the 1987 film " Full Metal Jacket " by Hasford , Michael Herr , and Stanley Kubrick . Hasford ' s 1990 novel " The Phantom Blooper " was a sequel to " The Short - Timers " . Plot summary . The book is divided into three sections , written in completely different styles of prose . " The Spirit of the Bayonet " . " The Spirit of the Bayonet " chronicles Pvt . James T . " Joker " Davis ' days in the Marine Corps boot camp , where a drill instructor ( Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim ) breaks the men ' s spirits and then rebuilds them as brutal killers . Here , Joker befriends two privates nicknamed " Cowboy " and " Gomer Pyle " . The latter , whose real name is Leonard Pratt , earns the wrath of both Gerheim and the rest of the platoon through his ineptitude and weak character . Though he eventually shows great improvement and wins honors at graduation , the constant abuse has unbalanced his mind . In a final act of madness , he kills Gerheim and then himself in front of the whole platoon . This section is written in a very simple , savage style . " Body Count " . " Body Count " shows some of Joker ' s life as a war correspondent for the Marines in 1968 . While in Da Nang , he runs across Cowboy , now assistant squad leader in the Lusthog Squad . As the Tet Offensive begins , Joker is dispatched to Phu Bai with his photographer , Rafter Man . Here , he unwillingly accepts a promotion from Corporal to Sergeant , and the two travel to Huế to cover the enemy ' s wartime atrocities and meet up with Cowboy again . During a battle , Joker is " wounded " ( actually only knocked out by an RPG concussion blast ) and the book goes into a psychedelic dream sequence . After his quick recovery , Joker learns that the platoon commander was killed by a friendly grenade , while the squad leader went insane and attacked an NVA position with a BB gun only to be shot down . Later , Joker and Rafter Man battle a sniper who killed another Lusthog Marine and an entire second squad ; the battle ends with Rafter Man ' s first confirmed kill and Cowboy ' s being wounded slightly . As Joker and Rafter Man head back to their base , Rafter Man panics and dashes into the path of an oncoming tank , which fatally crushes him . Joker is reassigned to Cowboy ' s squad as a rifleman , as punishment for wearing an unauthorized peace button on his uniform . The writing style in " Body Count " is more complex than that in " The Spirit of the Bayonet " . " Grunts " . " Grunts " takes place on a mission through the jungle with Cowboy ' s squad , outside of Khe Sanh . They encounter another sniper here , who wounds three of the men multiple times . After the company commander goes crazy and begins babbling nonsense over the radio , Cowboy decides to pull the squad back and retreat , rather than sacrifice everyone trying to save the wounded men . Animal Mother , the squad ' s M60 machine gun ner , threatens Cowboy ' s life and refuses to retreat . Promoting Joker to squad leader , Cowboy runs in with his pistol and kills each victim with a shot to the head . However , he himself is repeatedly wounded in the process ; before he can kill himself , the sniper shoots the gun out of his hand . Realizing his duty to Cowboy and the squad , Joker kills Cowboy and leads the rest of the men away . This section is written in a more complex style than the previous two , with more time spent on Joker ' s inner thoughts . " Short " vs . " lifer " vs . " poge " . Joker and his fellow Marines refer to military personnel in various ways . A " short " service - member or " short - timer " is one who is approaching the end of his tour of duty in Vietnam , usually 13 months for Marines and 12 months for other armed services . " Lifers " are distinguished not necessarily by the length of time they have served , but rather by their attitude toward the lower ranks . ( Joker describes the distinction as follows : " A lifer is anybody who abuses authority he doesn ' t deserve to have . There are plenty of civilian lifers . " ) Finally , " poges " ( an alternative spelling for the slang term " pogue " , or " Person Other than Grunt " ) are Marines who fill non - combat roles ( i . e . cooks , clerks , mechanics ) ; they are a favorite target of the front - line troops ' derision , and vice versa . Film adaptation . The novel was adapted into the film " Full Metal Jacket " by Hasford , Michael Herr , and Stanley Kubrick . The first section of the novel , " The Spirit of the Bayonet " , is faithfully reproduced in the movie . There are only minor differences of events and names . The most profound difference is that , in the book , when Pvt . Pyle kills Gunny ( Gunnery Sergeant ) Gerheim ( renamed Hartman in the film ) , Gerheim tells Pyle " I ' m proud [ of you ] " before being killed , finally assured that he transformed Pyle into a killer . The movie then combines certain elements of " Body Count " and " Grunts " for the second part of the movie . In the film the combat is in Hue , and they do take on a sniper , although the actual sequence more closely resembles the sniper battle in " Grunts " . Dialog in the second part of the movie is also a mixture of elements from " Body Count " and " Grunts " . Several important sequences are omitted from the movie adaptation : a previous meeting between Joker and his squad at the movies , the slaughtering of rats at the camp by Joker and his friends as Rafter Man watches , Rafter Man ' s lapse into cannibalism , a description of a tank running over a girl and a water buffalo , and a flashback revealing the origins of Rafter Man ' s ( actual name Lance Corporal Compton ) nickname . Rafter Man is later run over and killed by the same tank that ran over the girl and water buffalo . Then Joker is demoted to a " grunt " ( Basic Rifleman ) for wearing his peace symbol button . Additionally , some names are changed and certain characters in the book do not appear in the movie , and vice - versa : several " lifers " ( Capt . January , Mayor Lynch , General Motors ) have been left out or have been merged into one character ; Private Leonard Pratt in the book is renamed Leonard Lawrence in the movie ; Gunny Gerheim in the book becomes Gunny Hartman in the movie ; and the character of Alice in the book seems to have been renamed and altered slightly to portray Eightball in the movie . In additional divergences from the book , in the film T . H . E . Rock does not die , and Crazy Earl is killed by a booby trap . The book characters Daytona Dave , Chili Vendor and Mr . Payback are also characters in the movie , appearing just prior to and during the Tet Offensive , but in the book Daytona Dave is described as a California surfer - type , while in the movie he is played by an African American . Out of print . According to the Official Gustav Hasford Web site maintained by Hasford ' s cousin , " The Short - Timers " and " The Phantom Blooper " are currently out of print . The texts of both novels were previously available at the Web site , but has since been redesigned and his cousin " likely won ' t be reposting the novel " there .