An overweight, mentally handicapped person who is the focus of Hartman's attention for being incompetent and fat, making him the platoon scapegoat. After a blanket party from the rest of the platoon for failing almost everything and earning them collective punishments , he turns psychotic and talks to his rifle, "Charlene", yet he becomes a disciplined Marine. In The Shor- Timers, Leonard Pratt is a skinny, awkward Alabama boy who shoots Gerheim, then himself, in front of everyone in the bunkhouse section of the barracks. In Full Metal Jacket, he shoots Hartman while in the bathroom, and then himself in front of Joker. The humiliating nickname Gomer Pyle originates from a likable but dim character from the American television program 'The Andy Griffith Show' who eventually enlists in the USMC.
'Gomey' during his breakdown