Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Semper Fi... R. Lee Ermey

Another one of my hero's passed away today. His name was R. Lee Ermey. I think like a lot of people I was taken by storm in his performance as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket".


We lost him today (April 15th, 2018) due to complications from pneumonia. He was 74.

Before he got into the acting business, he actually served as a Marine. I pulled the following from his wikipedia page.

U.S. Marine Corps

In 1961, at age 17, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and went through recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California. For his first few years, he served in the aviation support field before becoming a drill instructor in India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where he was assigned from 1965 to 1967.

Ermey then served in Marine Wing Support Group 17 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, Japan. In 1968, he was ordered to Vietnam with MWSG-17, and spent 14 months in country. The remainder of his service was on Okinawa where he was advanced to staff sergeant (E-6). He was medically discharged in 1972 because of several injuries incurred during his service. On May 17, 2002, he received an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant (E-7) by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James L. Jones.

Not only did I love him in "Full Metal Jacket", another little known movie he was in that I enjoyed was called "The Siege of Firebase Gloria". Lastly he was well known on History Channel show entitled Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which discussed the history of various weapons used by militaries of today.

He will be missed. Rest in peace Gunney.




Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. AntonApril 15, 2018 at 11:11 PM

    RIP Mr Ermey, our world is less brilliant with your passing

    ReplyDelete
  2. SkipApril 16, 2018 at 9:23 AM

    Few of us play our parts well. He was superb every time I saw him!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KevinApril 16, 2018 at 1:58 PM

      In the Army we call them Drill Sergeants, and R. Lee Ermey certainly gave me flashbacks to mine. They say you never forget your Drill Sergeants, and I certainly do remember mine.... Senior Drill Sergeant SFC Flowers, and Drill Sergeant SSG Eddings. Two dudes that were bigger than life. It would be cool to have a beer with them today.

      Delete
  3. DeanMApril 20, 2018 at 10:07 AM

    RIP, Marine! Yes, I loved him as the Sergeant Major in Fire Base Gloria. Surprised and saddened to hear of his early passing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KevinApril 20, 2018 at 6:45 PM

      His speech to his men after one of his boys fell asleep at his post was out of the box!

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)