In Full Metal Jacket, where does the U.S. Marine Corps recruit training take place?

In Full Metal Jacket, U.S. Marine Corps recruit training takes place at Parris Island.

Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film is divided into two contrasting sections. The first follows recruits undergoing brutal basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina. The second moves to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, following military journalists and Marines in Hue.

R. Lee Ermey plays Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the abusive drill instructor whose language and methods dominate the training section. Ermey was a former U.S. Marine staff sergeant and originally served as a technical adviser before Kubrick cast him in the role. Matthew Modine plays Private Joker, the film’s central viewpoint character.

Parris Island is one of two major Marine Corps recruit depots in the United States; the other is Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Full Metal Jacket was adapted from Gustav Hasford’s 1979 novel The Short-Timers.