Plot
John Winger (Murray) is a cab driver, who, in the span of a few hours, loses his job, his car, and his girlfriend. Realizing that his life is a failure, he decides to join the United States Army. Talking his best friend, Russell Ziskey (Ramis) into joining him, they drive to a recruiting office and are soon off to basic training.
Upon arrival at Fort Arnold, they meet their fellow recruits, and their drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka (Oates). Moments after arriving, Winger offends Sgt. Hulka and is ordered out to do push-ups. He stands out as a misfit throughout the rest of basic training. Their commanding officer is the incompetent Captain Stillman (Larroquette). As basic training progresses, Ziskey and Winger become close to two female MPs named Louise (Young) and Stella (Soles). Not long before graduation, Sgt. Hulka is injured when Stillman orders a mortar crew to fire without setting target coordinates.
The men go to a mud wrestling bar, where Winger convinces Dewey "Ox" Oxberger (Candy) to wrestle a group of women. When the club is raided by MPs and police, Stella and Louise cover for Winger and Ziskey. The rest of the platoon is taken back to base to face Captain Stillman, who threatens to force them to repeat basic training.
Winger and Ziskey return, and Winger motivates the platoon with a rousing speech and begins to get them in shape for graduation. After a long night of drilling, they oversleep and almost miss the ceremony. They rush to the parade grounds out of uniform and give an unconventional yet highly coordinated drill display led by Winger. General Barnicke is impressed when he finds out that they had to complete training without a drill sergeant, and decides they are just the kind of "go-getters" he wants working on his EM-50 project in Italy.
Once in Italy, their mission is to guard the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle. Bored with sitting in an empty hangar, Winger and Ziskey steal the EM-50 to visit their girlfriends, stationed in West Germany. When Stillman finds the EM-50 missing, he launches an unauthorized mission to get the vehicle back before his superiors find out it is gone. Hulka, recovered and returned to the platoon, urges Stillman not to go, but is overruled.
Stillman inadvertently leads the platoon across the border into Czechoslovakia. Hulka, realizing where they are, jumps out of the truck just before it is captured. He makes a Mayday radio call, and Winger and Ziskey realize that the platoon came looking for them and that their friends are in trouble. Winger, Ziskey, Louise, and Stella take the EM-50 and infiltrate a Russian base where the platoon is being held. With some assistance from Hulka, they free everyone.
Upon returning to the United States, Winger, Ziskey, Louise, Stella, and Hulka are treated as heroes, each being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Hulka retires and opens the HulkaBurger franchise. Stella appears on the cover of Penthouse, "Ox" makes the cover of Tiger Beat, and Winger is featured on the cover of Newsworld. Captain Stillman is reassigned to a weather station near Nome, Alaska.
Read more about this topic: Stripes (film)
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