The Short-Timers

The Short-Timers

First hardcover edition
Author	Gustav Hasford
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Autobiographical, War novel
Publisher	Harper and Row (HB) & Bantam (PB)
Publication date	1979
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	192 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN	(paperback edition)
OCLC	13360352
Followed by	The Phantom Blooper

The Short-Timers is a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by U.S. Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford, about his experience in the Vietnam War. It was later adapted into the film Full Metal Jacket (1987) by Hasford, Michael Herr, and Stanley Kubrick. Hasford's novel The Phantom Blooper (1990) is a sequel to The Short-Timers. The book was supposed to be the first of a "Viet Nam Trilogy", but Hasford died soon after completing its sequel and before writing the third installment.

The book is divided into three sections, written in completely different styles of prose, and follows James T. "Joker" Davis through his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps and deployment to VietNam.

"The Spirit of the Bayonet" chronicles Joker's days in recruit training, where a drill instructor (Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim) breaks the men's spirits and then rebuilds them as brutal killers. Here, Joker befriends two recruits nicknamed "Cowboy" and "Gomer Pyle." The latter, whose real name is Leonard Pratt, earns the wrath of both Gerheim and the rest of the platoon through his ineptitude and weak character. Though he eventually shows great improvement and wins honors at graduation, the constant abuse unbalances his mind. In a final act of madness, he kills Gerheim and then himself in front of the whole platoon.

"Body Count" shows some of Joker's life as a war correspondent for the Marines in 1968. While in Da Nang, he runs across Cowboy, who is now assistant squad leader in the Lusthog Squad. As the Tet Offensive begins, Joker is dispatched to Phu Bai with his photographer, Rafter Man. Here, Joker unwillingly accepts a promotion from Corporal to Sergeant, and the two journalists travel to Huế to cover the enemy's wartime atrocities and reunite Joker with Cowboy. During a battle, Joker is "wounded" (actually only knocked out by an RPG concussion blast), and the book enters a psychedelic dream sequence. After his quick recovery, Joker learns the platoon commander was killed by a friendly grenade, and the squad leader went insane and attacked an N.V.A. position with a B.B. gun only to be shot down. Later, Joker and Rafter Man battle a sniper who killed another Lusthog Marine and an entire second squad; the battle ends with Rafter Man's first confirmed kill and Cowboy's being wounded slightly. As Joker and Rafter Man head back to their base, Rafter Man panics and dashes into the path of an oncoming tank, which fatally crushes him. Joker is reassigned to Cowboy's squad as a rifleman, as punishment for wearing an unauthorized peace button on his uniform.