As coincidence would have it, Jack Webb in "The D.I." was the 'Movie of the Week' on television during my very first leave after USMC Boot Camp in 1966; it ran daily for the whole week...he did a decent job, but he was too soft compared to those A-holes I'd just dealt with.
At the time, I was very pleased to hear that a buddy from the same training platoon had seen Sergeant Landers' body in a ditch in Vietnam some months later. That was one guy (head DI) who knew the true definition of sadism.
(A couple of years ago, I Googleized the Vietnam Wall and found out that Landers hadn't been offed after all - so no need for me to feel guilty after all)
As coincidence would have it, Jack Webb in "The D.I." was the 'Movie of the Week' on television during my very first leave after USMC Boot Camp in 1966; it ran daily for the whole week...he did a decent job, but he was too soft compared to those A-holes I'd just dealt with. LOL - we had several people in my BCT platoon who were told by some of the sergeants "as soon as you see me, start pushin'! ". They said this was to save themselves the time to tell them to drop because they screwed up so often.
It got funny after a while. "You can see me, Private Smith!" They also had "special" exercises, like the "double sand bag mule kick".
Unfortunately, from what I have read, Army basic has become kinder and gentler. It was nothing but PC stupidity to have coed basic training. Kudos to the Marines for resisting this.