What did the Marine Corp think of this show...
My husband is an ex marine and he thinks the USMC must have hated it because the show was so silly, except for Public Relations of course..
shareI think back in the day the average military person did not like it but over time military people have come to accept it for what it was which was a comedy that took place in the Corp and not a literal interpretation of Corp life. The Marines at one point honored Nabors so they must have felt it created a considerable amount of goodwill for them. My pet peeve has always been there have been worse depictions of the military on television than GP : USMC. Also, knowing something of the time and people I knew that went in the service there were plenty of Gomers enlisting in the service. After all the military needed people to maintain the grounds and load trucks plus other menial tasks. The services only needed so many John Rambos especially in the peacetime late 1970's and early 1980's.
shareActually they had no problem with it at all. The first two or three episodes had scenes shot at MCRD San Diego.
In the opening Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton are marching with real Marines and the Marine Corps Band appeared in an episode. That wouldn't happen without the cooperation of the Marine Corps.
As far as reality goes not many shows of 50s-60s reflected the times.
Yep, you're right. Those were real marines who marched with Nabors and the sergeant in the opening.
I read somewhere that some of the marines featured in the opening sequence of the show actually died over in Vietnam. Jim Nabors said once that this is why he was always reluctant to watch the opening of the show in reruns.
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I've read Sutton tried to enlist in the Marines but was turned down going to the Army instead.
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