Word: drilling
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...first half of the movie portrays the transformation of a group of new recruits--the stars of the show--from civilians into fearless killers, guided by a dictatorial drill sergeant...
Under his ruthless direction, the recruits learn to overcome feelings of compassion and to make their rifles their greatest friend. They are trained so that one day they will learn to shoot as well as Lee Harvey Oswald on Texas mass murderer Charles Higgins, both of whom the drill sergeant believes were part of the great brotherhood of Marines...
...this first half of the film is occasionally confused, uncertain whether to portray Pyle as a comic figure or as a troubled man. His sudden psychopathy is barely convincing, because Pyle's getting his act together would have gotten the drill sergeant off his back. Kubrick seems slightly off the mark in portraying the tyrannical nature of the drill sargeant. The sergeant at times seems patriotic to the point of ridicule--tough so he can make his men great in the name of his country--but when he invokes the ghost of Lee Harvey Oswald as a great marine worthy...
Some of the students could probably break the ice at a meeting of Marine Corps drill instructors...
...supposed to run no farther than five miles, and jogging routes are lined with emergency telephones and water hoses. Regulations require that ambulances be present during all activities involving "heights or fights." As three platoons of recruits in San Diego waited to begin close- combat training last week, a drill instructor complained, "We can't start without an ambulance present...