R. Lee Ermey "Gunny " Dies at 74

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Sad day indeed, while his most famous role was from Full Metal Jacket, I really enjoyed his various shows about military weaponry and other stuff. He will be missed.
 
Private Pyle is now the Kingpin, but Ermey was the King of the Drill Sergeants!
 
RIP. He will be missed.
He made the history channel so much more bearable to watch. He was always giving history lessons of a museum of military collectibles while smashing watermelons. Knowledgable guy with a service record. His style and format were never bland. He inspired generations of kids to take interest in military history. The watermelons are glad he's gone.
People like Ermey brought credibility to the tv channel before history channel ruined its own content with aliens and other garbage. I got A's in history as a kid and yes the old history channel had a lot of quality content back in 90's. We miss Gunny.
 
Got to meet him briefly a number of years back. Seemed like a really cool guy. He will be missed.

Semper Fi Gunny
 
Jack Webb in "The DI" set the standard, but Gunny definitely raised the bar and really stole full metal jacket.....

Frank
 
"We'll put it to the test against my old nemesis: The Watermelon......."


[video=youtube;BdXNuqy9_JU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXNuqy9_JU[/video]
 
Got to meet him briefly a number of years back. Seemed like a really cool guy. He will be missed.

Semper Fi Gunny

He was genuine. Hollywood can make Chuck Norris, Rambo, Vin Diesel, John McClain, and other hardcore wannabes seem tough on a movie screen. Gunny has this been there done that appearance without speaking a word. He never bragged about it. Even Michael Westen and Jason Bourne were other spy "actor" wannabes. Then you had Gunny who was just himself and a far better cool headed actual marksman with actual experience. Gunny didn't need fancy bling to be cool because Gunny's skills and background career were cooler than 99% of the actors I mentioned. Gunny was legit hardcore tough guy not an actor. Gunny would trash those guys on a bar fight or a camp perry shooting range any day of the week. He had spunk and bravery or whatever you want to call it. A hero people looked up too. Those others can't compare. He made Mail Call what it was and other movies better by simply being himself, a badass real hero of sorts.
 
Gunny's favorite rifle. No wait. Andrew_ASC is wrong...
This is his favorite rifle in the article here, the M-1 Garand his first issued rifle.
https://www.odcmp.org/0910/default.asp?page=RLEEERMEY

Anyways seeing him with a M-14 makes me smile that he enjoyed it.
[video=youtube;Q-7i-svGLK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-7i-svGLK8[/video]
"Both rifles perform superbly, but being the sentimental old softy I am I still prefer the M14."

The M-14 iron sights were right off the Garand, no wonder he liked it, arguably the best iron sights ever created, and the extra range is always a nice feature. What I'd give the M16 is after all the bug tinkering, correct ammo, training, and cleaning kits was it gradually improved. It removed the gunsmith and machinery from gunsmith labor. I've heard the M14 was slower to reload than a Garand. I've shot a Garand and they were nice.
He would be proud knowing the M16A1 lowers with upgraded triggers and MK12Mod0 and Mk12mod H PRI uppers are practically sniper rifles and that the M-14 came back into limited service when the military wanted more range out of DMR rifles with upgraded optics. Hate to get too far off topic, but the gas piston operating system contributes to reliability which was enjoyed by troops while the direct impingement is more theoretical accurate although it took decades for bullet design to improve on M-16. The m14 and garand got a bad rep for if you ever got mud in the right end forward stock opening it would jam that action too. The m14 wasn't known as accurate long term by disassembling and reassembling it that degraded its accuracy when optics were mounted but basically I'm nit picking them all. (Re-zero the scopes and the weapon mounts every time cleaned, the scopes themselves helped accuracy until cleaning required taking it all apart long term.) The Soviet AK47 uses gas operation for reliability. POF and HK went to AR shaped gas operated 5.56 and 7.62 NATO weapons. Some new designs made it where optics didn't need re zero for cleaning. Caliber and cartridges would influence tactics at ranges. They are all superb when used appropriately and Gunny understood the limits.
A weird oddball action would be a HK G-3 roller delay blowback but the bolt design only likes certain bullet weights but it has no gas system at all and has rollers as cams which I find fascinating. That star bolt pattern on the M16 was hated as being hard to clean without CLP dunk tanks or a jewelers bit. All guns got design flaws. Supposedly dropping a G-3 and denting the receiver caused it to be not fixable in field by its stamped nature, the m14 was forged steel.
There is something nostalgic about a wooden stock firearm despite it being heavier. It's smoother on the cheek in my opinion than polymers,but it swells in wet climates.
 
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"Here, you are All equally worthless!"

My two other favorite R Lee Ermey quotes - from Siege of Firebase Gloria:
There are no Atheists in a Combat Situation.....

[video=youtube;buSpGWq9aS4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buSpGWq9aS4[/video]

Anyone know who these belong to...? (go to 0:44 )

[video=youtube;aXiQ9racQaI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXiQ9racQaI[/video]
 
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