At Parris Island, Williams stands on the yellow footprints, the same as his brother had fourteen years before. His drill instructor, Sgt. Talley, asks Recruit Hart why he joined the Marines, but Hart’s answer—to be tough—is unacceptable to the instructor, so he “digs” them, or exercises them to the point of exhaustion. The idea is to break down the recruits, to destroy their sense of security and self-confidence, to erase their individual identities so they might begin to work as a team. Williams sees the rage building in the other recruits, and thinks how the ideas of honor, courage and commitment to a greater good are recruiting clichés used to get naive young kids to join the Corps.

As the drill instructor continues to punish them with physical exercise, he also continues to ask recruits why they joined the Marine Corps. In the midst of such suffering, Williams has already forgotten he joined to honor his brother’s memory. Instead, he thinks of a rote answer from the movie Full Metal Jacket. After Drill Instructor Talley asks Williams why he joined, and Williams says that any answer he gives will be wrong, Talley strikes him hard in the chest, and before they are finally allowed to go to bed, the senior drill instructor tells them to always remember they joined the Marine Corps in order to learn to kill.