Declassified File Shows What R. Lee Ermey Really Did in Vietnam

In the National Archives there is a declassified Marine Corps report from Da Nang, dated September 1969 and signed by Staff Sergeant R. L. Ermey. This film reads it line by line, together with the awards the Marine Corps released, the two accounts of how his career ended that do not match, and what really happened when Stanley Kubrick told him no. Every claim is tied to a document or to an interview Ermey gave on the record. Where the sources disagree, you see both. The voice at the start and in five other places is Ermey himself, from Department of Defense video. CHAPTERS 0:00 The page from Da Nang 1:07 Staff Sergeant, not "Gunny" 1:48 The judge and the recruiter 4:12 Drill instructor: San Diego, not Parris Island 6:00 Da Nang, September 1969 10:29 Out of the Corps 12:21 Kubrick said no 16:41 The Gunny 18:47 Section 82