A teenager joins the Marines and goes to Quantico for training, but it is not longer before he starts to wonder whether he can endure the physical and mental challenges he faces there.

A teenage Marine recruit befriends another recruit who dreams of becoming a a New York City artist. Together, they fight in the Vietnam War: he develops epilepsy, and his friend dies.

Fifteen members of the United States Marines tell stories about their time serving in Europe during World War I.

A group of Marines recall their horrifying memories of fighting on the Pacific front of World War II, while a journalist attempts to glorify their experiences for his readers.

After a man goes through hell because of his training sergeant in basic training after being drafted during the Korean War, he becomes a sergeant himself to get back at the man.

An instructor for the Navy helps one of his students — a young, lonely, and drunk man who already has the Purple Heart — and subsequently feels less bad about his own loneliness and insecurity.

Despite his initial excitement at being drafted as an aidman in the war, a young man soon realizes that the demands of the job are far more than what he expected.

An auxiliary naval officer posted on night watch is forced to reflect on the life he left behind and his failed dreams.

When a woman’s husband accepts his army commission for World War II, the woman can only watch with despair as her husband's battalion joins the ranks of those expected to perish in war.

A veteran tells his acquaintance about his darkest memories as a solider the Vietnam War.