R. Lee Ermey Quotes

When I went through Marine boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina, we actually did have bayonets that we trained with.

We are extending basic training. It'll be the longest and toughest in the world.

There have been a lot of changes in recruit training in the past twenty years.

Boot Camp was great and very interesting. You got to use live rounds of ammunition and got to do a lot of crawling around with live rounds flying around you, so you really had to learn to keep your ass down - everything down for that matter.

We had times in '66 and '67 when we would pick up a platoon of privates out of the receiving barracks the week before we even graduated the platoon that we were on!

I joined the Marines, passed Special Forces selection, and became a young leader in the military.

Basic SEAL training is six months of long, torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable.

One doesn't become a soldier in a week - it takes training, study and discipline. There is no question that the finest Army in the world is found in the United States.

In the Marine Corps, your buddy is not only your classmate or fellow officer, but he is also the Marine under your command. If you don't prepare yourself to properly train him, lead him, and support him on the battlefield, then you're going to let him down. That is unforgivable in the Marine Corps.

Before they deploy, they train for the specific operations, but there is a danger that the Army is not retaining the core of its full capabilities.

After a hard day of basic training, you could eat a rattlesnake.

If we are going to win the next war, in my opinion, 50 percent of the time of training should be allotted to night training.

The Marine Corps is supposed to be the toughest and most rigorous of its class.

The drummer in my first band was killed in Vietnam. He kind of signed up and joined the marines. Bart Hanes was his name. He was one of those guys that was jokin' all the time, always playin' the clown.

I joined the Marines the week I turned 17, and that led to a few experiences that might qualify as adventure - eye of the beholder.

The volunteer system must be replaced … Let us not be blind to the realities … The day we could put guns into the hands of citizen soldiers, teach the manual of arms and send them to match their spirit and brawn against an enemy has passed.

The military mind always imagines that the next war will be on the same lines as the last.

The People there are very Skilful in the use of Fire-Arms, being all their Lives accustom’d to shoot in the Woods. This, together with a little exercising would soon make the Militia little inferior to Regular Troops.

We trained like we fight.

As combat infantrymen and special operators, we received thousands of hours of firearms training.

As a former Captain in the Army National Guard, I trained hundreds of soldiers to lead troops into combat.

Before leaving the Marines, I was the Training Non-Commission Officer, where it was my job to set up all training scenarios each week that my unit would partake in.

As soldiers in Israel's army, one of the most grueling training regimens we had to endure was a long march while carrying a comrade on a stretcher.

In the Army, I learned how to use and respect my rifle.

I've always had the fantasy of doing a boot camp for a military film, at some point. I've always wanted to know what the experience is like, to feel that mounting pressure of going off to war and needing to be so present and physically aware of your body because you ultimately need to fight for your life and for your country.