<P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> Ermey was cast in his first film while attending the University of Manila in the Philippines, using his G.I. Bill benefits . He played a First Air Cavalry chopper pilot in Apocalypse Now, doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola . Ermey then was cast as a Marine drill instructor in Sidney J. Furie's The Boys in Company C . </P> <P> For the next few years, Ermey played a series of minor film roles until 1987, when he was cast as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket . Initially, he was intended to be only the technical advisor . Kubrick changed his mind after Ermey put together an instructional tape, in which he went on an extended tirade towards several extras, convincing Kubrick he was the right man for the role . Seeking authenticity for the film, Kubrick allowed Ermey to write or edit his own dialogue and improvise on the set, a notable rarity in a Kubrick film . Kubrick later indicated that Ermey was an excellent performer, often needing just two or three takes per scene, also unusual for a Kubrick film . Ermey's performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor . </P> <P> Ermey later played a drill instructor in the pilot episode of Space: Above and Beyond and the ghost of a drill instructor in the film The Frighteners, both similar to his character in Full Metal Jacket . Ermey subsequently appeared in about 60 films, including Purple Hearts, Mississippi Burning, The Siege of Firebase Gloria, Dead Man Walking, Se7en, Fletch Lives, Leaving Las Vegas, Prefontaine, Saving Silverman, On Deadly Ground, Sommersby, Life, Man of the House, Toy Soldiers, and The Salton Sea, as well as the remake of Willard, and as an evil sadist in two The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films . </P>

Who played the drill instructor in full metal jacket
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