R. Lee Ermey: Tony Van Camp

Quotes 

• Tony Van Camp : ...If America's considered a great melting pot, Southern California should be called pot luck. There's a different hostile tribe on every street corner.

  Officer Richie Fernandez : Some of us are proud of the diversity.

  Tony Van Camp : There's a fine line between diversity and division, especially without enough food and jobs to go around... This country may be called the United States, but its people are anything but united.

• Tony Van Camp : ...I just don't get what it is about smoking. Marines called that crazy even when I was an OC. Most people who did it were ignorant, but they sure could rationalize. Given what we know about it today, anybody who doesn't quit is either stupid or weak.

  Officer Richie Fernandez : My wife smokes. Is she stupid?

  Tony Van Camp : Depends. Does she smoke around the children?

  Officer Richie Fernandez : No, outside on the porch.

  Tony Van Camp : Then she's smart and caring, but still weak. If she smoked around the kids, that would make her selfish and a bad parent. You're lucky... Everybody's got at least one weakness. At least your wife's not punishing anybody besides herself.

  Officer Richie Fernandez : So what's *your* weakness?

  Tony Van Camp : I don't like to use certain types of tree bark as toilet paper, and my wife tells me I could be more tolerant.

• Tony Van Camp : [Gayle and Richie are dealing with a liquor store-owner who doesn't speak English; Tony proceeds to translate for them]  ... Those punks he's talking about roughed his wife up.

  Officer Richie Fernandez : How do you know?

  Tony Van Camp : Because he just said so.

  Officer Gayle Van Camp : [Gayle examines the owner's wife]  ... It looks like she's okay.

  Tony Van Camp : No, she isn't. They ripped off her veil and headdress; by their country's standards, that's rape.

  [He turns to address the owner, in fluent Arabic] 

  Tony Van Camp : ... I told him that you two would find the filthy dogs who dishonored his wife, and that you would bring them to justice in a fittingly painful and humiliating way. I also told him that he's in America, he owns a business here, and he should show us enough respect to at least learn the language... When I found out my unit was headed for Desert Storm, I requested language school; I got respect over there, because I spoke the language.