Directed by Taylor Hackman. Written by Douglas Day Stewart.

GySgt. Emil Foley

• [referring to Della Serra's haircut] Now this is my idea of an ass bandit. Wait till some of the local girls get a look at you, Scrotum Head.
• I don't believe what I'm seein'. Where've you been all your lives? At an orgy? Listening to Mick Jagger and bad-mouthin' our country, I'll bet!
• There's not gonna be any liberty for you boys, 'cause you'll be going home by then.
• In every class, there's always one joker who thinks that he's smarter than me. In that class, that happens to be you. Isn't it, Mayo-naise?
• [his first cadence, for Zack and the other OC's] Sergeant Foley, can't you see; A Puget Deb is after me; Please don't let me catch my tail; I'd be better off in the country jail...! My mom was a Deb, my grandma too; That's all them gals know how to do; She'll catch my butt before she's through; Sergeant Foley, it's up to you!
• [his second cadence, for Zack alone] Candidate Mayo's strutting in the dirt; Look at his face, he's starting to hurt; Here he is, thinking he's a great big star; But before too long, he's gonna D.O.R.; Seen guys like you a hundred times; I'm telling you, Mayo, I'm one of a kind; Gonna give you more than you can take; I'm gonna watch you crumble and watch you break!
• [when cadet Seeger fails to climb wall] You're one of those girls who couldn't get enough of daddy's attention because he really wanted a son...That's right, walk around, Sugar Britches!
• [After a trainee at attention tells him he comes from Tucson, Arizona] There are only two things come out of Arizona. they are steers and queers."

Others

• Sid Worley: Look, Zack. It's them. Holy shit. Look at them bodacious set of ta's ta's.
• Paula Porkrifki: You know something, you ain't nothing special. You got no manners, you treat women like whores, and if you ask me, you got ne chance of being no officer.
• Lynette Pomeroy: [last lines] Way to go, Paula! Way to go!

Dialogue

[first lines]

Zack Mayo: [whispered to his sleeping father] Hey.

[flashback to Manila]

Byron Mayo: Hey, kid. Are you Zack?

Young Zack Mayo: Yes, sir.

Byron Mayo: I'm Byron; nice to meet you.

Young Zack Mayo: Yes, sir.

Byron Mayo: I'm out at sea three weeks out of every month, and when I'm back at port, I don't have time for this daddy stuff, 'cause that's not who I am.

Young Zack Mayo: That's okay, sir.

Byron: Wait a second, kid, you don't understand. I'm too old for this. I don't care what the Navy says. This is no place to bring up a kid like I told you on the telephone. You're better of at that state school back at Virginia.

Young Zack: I'm never going back there. They treat me like shit.

Byron: Maybe that's not for you to say. Goddamnit, don't look at me that way. What happened to your mother had nothing to do with me.

Young Zack: It did. You said you were gonna come back. You promised.

Byron: Is that what she said? That's a female lie. That's bullshit! That a lie!

Young Zack: I found your letters. I read them right after she did it. You said you were gonna come back for us. You said you loved her, and she believed you. You're a liar!

Subic Street Thug: Akin na pera mo! ["Give me your money!" in Tagalog]

Young Zack Mayo: But I have no money!

Subic Street Thug: Bullshit! [punches Mayo in the face. Thugs take Mayo's wallet]

GySgt. Emil Foley: [looks at Mayo's tattoo] Where'd you get this tattoo?

Zack Mayo: Subic Bay, Philippines, sir.

GySgt. Emil Foley: I thought I recognized that work. Be proud of those wings. They're the only one you're leaving here with, Mayo-NAISE.

Topper Daniels: Who the hell is that guy?

Perryman: That's you momma and daddy for the next thirteen weeks.

Paula Pokrifki: Zack, when you're through with a girl, what do you do? Do you you say something or do you just...disappear?

Zack Mayo: I never had a girl.

GySgt. Emil Foley: Mayo, I want your D.O.R.

Zack Mayo: No, sir. You can kick me outta here, but I ain't quitting.

GySgt. Emil Foley: Get into your fatigues, Mayo. By the end of this weekend, you'll quit.

GySgt. Emil Foley: You can forget it! You're out!

Zack Mayo: Don't you do it! Don't! You... I got nowhere else to go! I got nowhere else to g... I got nothin' else.

Zack Mayo: You didn't kick him out, did you? Wait, sir! Didn't he tell you what he's been going through?

GySgt. Emil Foley: It doesn't matter what he's been going through; that's what bartenders are for. What does matter is that he freaked out for some reason at twenty-five thousand feet, and that can happen. Period.

Zack Mayo: There's this girl that he's gotten pregnant, and she's putting him through hell, sir.

Sid Worley: He's right, Zack. It doesn't matter.

Zack Mayo: Just like that? It's all over? With less than two weeks to go, you're out?

GySgt Emil Foley: It can still happen to you too, Mayo-naise.

Zack Mayo: I am talking to you, motherfucker!

GySgt. Emil Foley: What did you call me?

Sid Worley: Lynette, marry me. Make me the happiest man in the whole world.

Lynette Pomeroy: I'm sorry, Sid, but I don't wanna marry you. I really like you. We've had ourselves some really great times, but I thought you understood. I want to marry a pilot. I want to live my life overseas. The wife of an aviator...[bitterly] Damn you! Goddamn you! Nobody DOR's after 11 weeks! NOBODY!

Zack Mayo: Sir, this officer candidate request permission to see you in private... sir.

GySgt. Emil Foley: [gently] Mayo, the whole class already knows about Candidate Worley, and we're sorry.

Zack Mayo: Oh, I'm sure you are.

[upon graduation]

GySgt. Emil Foley: Congratulations, Ensign Seegar.

Casey Seegar: Thank you, sir.

GySgt. Emil Foley: Gunnery Sgt, Ensign Seegar, sir.

[upon graduation]

GySgt. Emil Foley: Congratulations, Ensign Mayo.

Zack Mayo: Thank you, sir.

GySgt. Emil Foley: Gunnery Sgt, Ensign Mayo, sir. [salutes]

Zack Mayo: I'll never forget you.

GySgt. Emil Foley: [with a straight face] Get the hell out of here.

Taglines

• Life gave him nothing, except the courage to win... and a woman to love.
• It will lift you up where you belong.

Cast