Joker
Joker is the squad leader during boot camp and is given the responsibility of training up Pyle so he doesn't bring down the squad. When Pyle continues to screw up, Joker, along with the other recruits, beat him in the middle of the night. The beating leads to Pyle killing Sgt. Hartman and taking his own life on the last night of boot camp. Joker goes on to Vietnam as a journalist, but uses his rifle far more than most writers do, and after encountering a young female sniper—who has killed his friends and now is fatally wounded—he chooses to kill her and take away her pain, fulfilling what he believes to be a responsibility to another human being—one that he didn't fulfill with Pyle.
Leonard Lawrence (Gomer Pyle)
Lawrence is a recruit in Marine boot camp. Overweight and slow, he appears to be the weakest link in his squad, and Sgt. Hartman nicknames him Gomer Pyle, after the dim-witted character from the Andy Griffith show who joins the Marine Corp and is a thorn in the drill instructor's side. "Pyle" continues to fail at the physical training, and when Sgt. Hartman finds a jelly donut in his locker, all the rest of the squad is punished for his failures. Then, because they are catching flak for his mistakes, the other recruits beat him while he is sleeping. This beating seems to break something in Pyle. Though he starts performing his duties, he becomes emotionally vacant and unresponsive. Brutal military discipline seems to have wrecked his soul and the only thing he has left is his rifle, which he uses to kill Hartman and take his own life.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sgt. Hartman is in charge of the new recruits to the Marine boot camp, and he's hard on them. He verbally abuses the men in order to figuratively beat the weakness out of them, and molds them into soldiers by extreme physical training. He is especially hard on Pyle as he sees him as a screw up, but his way of helping him is to repeatedly beat him down. Once he catches Pyle with a donut, he punishes the rest of the squad which leads to them ostracizing Pyle and beating him. Pyle then flips a switch, and when Hartman confronts him with the same aggression in the bathroom on the last night of boot camp, Pyle shoots and kills him in cold blood.
Rafterman
Rafterman is a journalist working for "Stars and Stripes," a newspaper covering the war for America. He's eager to get to the battlefield, as he hasn't seen action yet. Joker wants him to hold back, but Rafterman requests to go on mission with Joker to the front lines which he is granted. Once there, he kills for the first time, and he begins to enjoy it. Instead of being saddened by killing, he seems to crave it, wanting to kill more and more people. When he mows down a young female Vietnamese sniper and begins to jump and scream for joy, we realize just how drastically the war has changed him.
Cowboy
Cowboy is one of Joker's friends from boot camp who goes on to lead a unit of men in Vietnam. Joker and Rafterman are assigned to Cowboy's unit in order to cover the war. When he and his men are pinned down by sniper fire, he demands that they fall back, but no one listens to him, and they overwhelm him and cause the unit to go after the gunman against his orders. He goes with them and is soon shot and killed by the sniper while trying to call for reinforcements.
Animal Mother
Animal Mother is arguably the most fearsome member of the Lusthog Squad, wearing ammunition belts across his chest and a helmet that reads "I AM BECOME DEATH." Although Animal Mother seems hostile toward Joker upon his arrival, Eightball assures Joker that Animal Mother is "one of the finest human beings in the world" in combat situations. Unlike Cowboy, who urges the men to retreat in the climactic sequence, Animal Mother would rather forge ahead and seek vengeance on the sniper who has ambushed them.
Eightball
Eightball is an African-American member of the Lusthog Squad, who Joker meets upon arriving in Phu Bai and joining up with the platoon. Eightball assures Joker that Animal Mother is a loyal and reliable soldier, and later tries soliciting a prostitute, showing her his penis after she expresses concern that it might be too large. Eightball is injured in the climactic sequence by a sniper, and dies in combat, enraging Animal Mother.
Crazy Earl
Crazy Earl is a member of the Lusthog Squad, who props up a Vietnamese corpse in the men's makeshift camp in Phu Bai, referring to it as his "bro." Crazy Earl seems to relish the combat experience, expressing to the other men that they will miss being able to kill whenever they want upon returning home to the United States. Crazy Earl is put in command of the squad when Touchdown dies, and is killed when he picks up a stuffed animal that is rigged with an explosive device.
Touchdown
Touchdown is the commander of the Lusthog Squad, who Joker meets on the side of the road upon first arriving in Phu Bai. Touchdown's nickname stems from his time playing college football at the University of Notre Dame. Touchdown informs Joker that his old friend Cowboy is a part of the platoon, and is later killed by an explosion in the battle that also claims Handjob's life, leaving Crazy Earl in charge of the squad.
Lockhart
Lockhart is the editor under whom Joker works in Da Nang as a war correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Lockhart's editorial advice encourages the men to depict the war effort as noble and successful, prohibiting them from using potentially controversial phrases like "search and destroy," and encouraging them to include grisly details about enemy defeats. Joker's habitual irreverence leads Lockhart to deploy Joker, along with Rafterman, to Phu Bai, where they are able to witness combat firsthand.
