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The Pink Marine
Now a Netflix Original Series — BOOTS
Based on the memoir The Pink Marine
In The Pink Marine, Greg Cope White's sharp, funny, and unexpectedly moving memoir, he recounts how an insecure New Orleans weakling transforms into a Devil Dog Marine. A coming-of-age story set in the most unlikely place: boot camp.
When Greg's straight best friend Dale tells him he's spending the summer at Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island, all Greg hears is "summer" and "camp." So, he signs up too. Never mind that he's underweight, out of shape - and gay, which is illegal in the U.S. military at the time.
Yes, it's insanely dangerous for both of them. But as fate would have it, the Few and the Proud turn out to be a bunch of oddballs and eccentrics - and a brotherhood is born. In a world where the landmines are both literal and metaphorical, this book takes a hard - and hilarious - look at masculinity and what it really means to belong.
"An inspiring memoir that displays a balanced, surprisingly reverent view of the Marine Corps and military service." - Kirkus Reviews
Greg's chaotic childhood hasn't prepared him for military life. He packs five suitcases for thirteen weeks of training. The U.S. Marines strip him of all of it, shave his head, and put a rifle in his hands. At first, he struggles to keep up - afraid that his secret will be discovered. But as the weeks go by, the desire to survive and earn the title of Marine triumphs over fear.
He learns that everyone enters the Corps feeling different - judged for the color of their skin, their weight, or their past. Some even choose boot camp over jail. This will push every man past his limit and strip away who he thinks he is. What breaks them also binds them. Nobody comes out the same. Something shifts for Greg. For everyone.
Told with disarming honesty and biting wit, The Pink Marine follows Greg and his new brothers as they navigate the brutal system of recruit training. Greg must prove he belongs - and figure out who he really is.
Based on the memoir The Pink Marine
In The Pink Marine, Greg Cope White's sharp, funny, and unexpectedly moving memoir, he recounts how an insecure New Orleans weakling transforms into a Devil Dog Marine. A coming-of-age story set in the most unlikely place: boot camp.
When Greg's straight best friend Dale tells him he's spending the summer at Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island, all Greg hears is "summer" and "camp." So, he signs up too. Never mind that he's underweight, out of shape - and gay, which is illegal in the U.S. military at the time.
Yes, it's insanely dangerous for both of them. But as fate would have it, the Few and the Proud turn out to be a bunch of oddballs and eccentrics - and a brotherhood is born. In a world where the landmines are both literal and metaphorical, this book takes a hard - and hilarious - look at masculinity and what it really means to belong.
"An inspiring memoir that displays a balanced, surprisingly reverent view of the Marine Corps and military service." - Kirkus Reviews
Greg's chaotic childhood hasn't prepared him for military life. He packs five suitcases for thirteen weeks of training. The U.S. Marines strip him of all of it, shave his head, and put a rifle in his hands. At first, he struggles to keep up - afraid that his secret will be discovered. But as the weeks go by, the desire to survive and earn the title of Marine triumphs over fear.
He learns that everyone enters the Corps feeling different - judged for the color of their skin, their weight, or their past. Some even choose boot camp over jail. This will push every man past his limit and strip away who he thinks he is. What breaks them also binds them. Nobody comes out the same. Something shifts for Greg. For everyone.
Told with disarming honesty and biting wit, The Pink Marine follows Greg and his new brothers as they navigate the brutal system of recruit training. Greg must prove he belongs - and figure out who he really is.
266 pages, Paperback
First published February 7, 2016
720 people are currently reading
7295 people want to read
About the author
Greg Cope White
8 books57 followersGreg Cope White is a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, an author, and a film and TV writer and producer.
His memoir, The Pink Marine, has been adapted into a Netflix series, where Greg serves as a writer and Executive Producer. He is highly motivated about LGBTQ+ and veteran rights, and is featured in the PBS docuseries American Veteran and published in the military journal Zero Dark Thirty.
An avid cook, Greg's popular blog about his kitchen adventures led to contributing for Huffington Post and hosting a show for Food Network. His screenwriting credits include three Netflix original films and projects for HBO, CBS, NBC, Disney, Fox, and Sony. He is a bi-coastal, polo-playing, sixth- generation Texan with a voracious appetite for life.
His memoir, The Pink Marine, has been adapted into a Netflix series, where Greg serves as a writer and Executive Producer. He is highly motivated about LGBTQ+ and veteran rights, and is featured in the PBS docuseries American Veteran and published in the military journal Zero Dark Thirty.
An avid cook, Greg's popular blog about his kitchen adventures led to contributing for Huffington Post and hosting a show for Food Network. His screenwriting credits include three Netflix original films and projects for HBO, CBS, NBC, Disney, Fox, and Sony. He is a bi-coastal, polo-playing, sixth- generation Texan with a voracious appetite for life.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
September 15, 2025
Really enjoyable, especially the audiobook as it's narrated so well by the author.
As someone who left army training due to homophobia, it brought up a lot of memories and thoughts, and made me really think about that time in my life, which is more than most books can do!
As someone who left army training due to homophobia, it brought up a lot of memories and thoughts, and made me really think about that time in my life, which is more than most books can do!
March 20, 2017
When White joined the Marine Corps, he did and didn't know what he was getting into: he knew he'd have to beef up. He knew he'd have to take orders. He knew he'd be able to stay with his best friend. He knew that he was gay, and that he'd have to stay closeted for the duration of his—pre-Don't Ask Don't Tell—service.
He didn't know just how hard training would be. He didn't know that he'd rise to the challenge. He didn't know, or at least fully process, that "boot camp" had a whole lot less to do with tents and campfires than it had to do with endless drills.
White offers up a surprisingly balanced view here: he hates his trainers sometimes, and he hates the drills sometimes, and it takes a long time for him to see the point of things like having to make his bed perfectly...over and over and over again. He's constantly afraid of being outed. But he also develops, over the course of the boot camp that he describes here, a respect for what the Marines are teaching them. He also learns that he is, physically and emotionally, capable of far more than he'd expected.
Early on in the book, White goes into a litany of all the moves he experienced between childhood and high school graduation. One move after another. Dale, he says, one of the few friends he managed to keep through all these moves, was a constant—and it was Dale's enlistment in the Corps that led White to do the same. Consistency.
There's painful stuff here, some to do with White but just as much to do with other recruits: We never saw Baker again. McKinnon explained that Baker had been found incompetent to handle recruit training, and he was sent home. Baker's recruiter had filled out all Baker's paperwork—including the basic IQ test—for him. Baker couldn't read or write. His squad leader stuffed his belongings into his sea bag. (169) What was that recruiter thinking? I mean...I can guess. But this is in the context of Baker having been subjected to all sorts of humiliation, only after which he was sent home, and all of which could have been avoided if...I dunno, if the Corps had done a better job of it.
Still...I appreciate the balance, and I appreciate the snark. I wish there'd been just a little more on what Marine Corps life was like for White after his training, because I was curious about things like just how far in the closet he'd had to stay (what about when he was home?) and whether he stayed in communications and so on. Other than White being gay, the book also doesn't stray super far from other boot camp memoirs I've read. Worth the read, though.
He didn't know just how hard training would be. He didn't know that he'd rise to the challenge. He didn't know, or at least fully process, that "boot camp" had a whole lot less to do with tents and campfires than it had to do with endless drills.
White offers up a surprisingly balanced view here: he hates his trainers sometimes, and he hates the drills sometimes, and it takes a long time for him to see the point of things like having to make his bed perfectly...over and over and over again. He's constantly afraid of being outed. But he also develops, over the course of the boot camp that he describes here, a respect for what the Marines are teaching them. He also learns that he is, physically and emotionally, capable of far more than he'd expected.
Early on in the book, White goes into a litany of all the moves he experienced between childhood and high school graduation. One move after another. Dale, he says, one of the few friends he managed to keep through all these moves, was a constant—and it was Dale's enlistment in the Corps that led White to do the same. Consistency.
There's painful stuff here, some to do with White but just as much to do with other recruits: We never saw Baker again. McKinnon explained that Baker had been found incompetent to handle recruit training, and he was sent home. Baker's recruiter had filled out all Baker's paperwork—including the basic IQ test—for him. Baker couldn't read or write. His squad leader stuffed his belongings into his sea bag. (169) What was that recruiter thinking? I mean...I can guess. But this is in the context of Baker having been subjected to all sorts of humiliation, only after which he was sent home, and all of which could have been avoided if...I dunno, if the Corps had done a better job of it.
Still...I appreciate the balance, and I appreciate the snark. I wish there'd been just a little more on what Marine Corps life was like for White after his training, because I was curious about things like just how far in the closet he'd had to stay (what about when he was home?) and whether he stayed in communications and so on. Other than White being gay, the book also doesn't stray super far from other boot camp memoirs I've read. Worth the read, though.
April 1, 2016
Doesn’t matter if you’re military or civilian, gay or straight, The Pink Marine is inspiration for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider, kept a big secret, or feared they wouldn’t measure up. Greg Cope White’s honesty, grit and humor march the reader through the challenging mental, physical and emotional hurdles of a closeted, gay man at Marine boot camp at a time when homosexuals were banned from military duty. There’d be hell to pay if he were found out and, although the specter of that dogs him, we see this young recruit develop self-confidence, maturity and competence as both a Marine and as a man, thanks in part to the steadfast support of his dedicated and supportive friend, Dale, a fellow recruit.
White’s relatable and visceral style takes us into the squad bay, the communal showers, the firing range and the parade deck. We hear every drill instructor’s profanity-laden command, taste the barely-edible slop in the mess hall, and feel the intensity of excruciating shin splints. More so, we sense White’s poignant roller coaster of self-doubt, trepidation, pride, relief and triumph as he honorably evolves into one of “the few, the proud, the Marines.” The Pink Marine is a moving story for a modern time, with an historic nod to how far our military has come in the struggle for gay rights.
White’s relatable and visceral style takes us into the squad bay, the communal showers, the firing range and the parade deck. We hear every drill instructor’s profanity-laden command, taste the barely-edible slop in the mess hall, and feel the intensity of excruciating shin splints. More so, we sense White’s poignant roller coaster of self-doubt, trepidation, pride, relief and triumph as he honorably evolves into one of “the few, the proud, the Marines.” The Pink Marine is a moving story for a modern time, with an historic nod to how far our military has come in the struggle for gay rights.
September 9, 2025
Greg Cope White has a dry wit and take-no-shit-attitude that I recognize easily as directly from a Marine, given that my BIL hails from that branch himself.
A directionless young man when he entered the armed forces, he became a man with focus when he got out. It was a delightful transformation to read about. And some of the off-the-wall-shit he described as part of training certainly lines up with what my own BIL has told me about his days in boot.
Another layer of Greg's story is that he was a gay enlisted man 15 years before the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' laws were passed. It's an important, if jarring reminder that those days weren't all that long ago at all. Sure we've come pretty far since, but boy do we have a long ways to go.
Also, question for the males: do men really think about sex this often or is it just teenager boys that have that tape playing?
A directionless young man when he entered the armed forces, he became a man with focus when he got out. It was a delightful transformation to read about. And some of the off-the-wall-shit he described as part of training certainly lines up with what my own BIL has told me about his days in boot.
Another layer of Greg's story is that he was a gay enlisted man 15 years before the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' laws were passed. It's an important, if jarring reminder that those days weren't all that long ago at all. Sure we've come pretty far since, but boy do we have a long ways to go.
Also, question for the males: do men really think about sex this often or is it just teenager boys that have that tape playing?
October 15, 2025
Saw ads for the Netflix series ‘Boots’ coming out and learned it was based on this memoir. Over the years I’ve looked for stories from LGBTQ servicemembers who served during DADT as well as prior to and suprisingly there is little out there, so I was glad to see this.
One weakness of the story is simply that memoirs that prominently feature USMC boot camp can blend into each other, and this book, even with its unique perspective of the author’s POV, suffered from that for me. However, I’m a former Marine and that plays into my feelings on that; boot camp stories are mostly all the same. And almost every Marine memoir features at least some boot camp in its chapters, and since I’ve likely read more Marine memoirs than most people, that also plays into my feeling kind of tired of it. My point is, for non-Marines, you likely won’t have this issue. But it was an issue for me.
I guess I was hoping for more about what it was really like to serve as an LGBTQ Marine in that era, and boot camp is such an isolated, scripted, controlled enviroment, you don’t get that from this story. I want to know what it was like in the fleet; the barracks, in the field, on deployment, out in town on libo, the real Marine Corps where you really spend time with your fellow Marines. We learn early on the author was a reservist, so maybe he didn’t deploy or spend much time in the barracks/field/deployment/libos, etc… but I’d still think he did some of that during periods of active duty, or summer training, or at least he got some of that in MOS school, and he apparently also went to OCS (though he didn’t commission and said he finashed his six years enlisted.)
All that said… the author wrote a pretty damn funny boot camp memoir. He’s a funny guy and I liked the time capsule stuff of the era, eg, the recruiter pulling a fast one to get him past the doctor at MEPS, leading him to get on a plane that night… And in spite of the overall staleness of boot camp stories for me, the author made these fun even though everyone’s “unique boot camp experience” has really been experienced by almost everyone. The author also skips back and forth from boot camp to his life before he enlisted and this was very insightful and made the story flow well. It wasn’t disjointed at all, great flow, very well written and this provides a lot of insight, real personal experience, of what it was like to be gay in that era.
I was surprised to learn early the athor went to boot camp in the 70s, I believe I read the series will be set in the 90s, but it is what it is, its when the author served and its unique since it is well before DADT so its a different perspective that I’ve seen even in interviews and articles which mostly feature the DADT era.
For me this was a 3.5/5 star read, it probably would have been a 4.5 or 5/5 if it covered post boot camp USMC events. Boot camp is just… boot camp. But it was very well done and the author did manage to make his boot camp story fresher than many Marine memoirs. For that reason its worth a round up rather than down, so 4/5 stars. Hope he follows this up with book covering the rest of his USMC service.
Edit: I watched the series, binged it over a few days. It started off pretty good, but the longer it went the more cheesy, melodramatic, and improbable it got. It frequently fell into ‘presentism’, where many characters (the good ones) display perfect enlightened attributes of today, for lack of better term, wokeness, improbable in a 1990 setting and in general is wish fullfilment of people writing today. And many aspects of the production felt like check the box representation without any effort to make it natural or realistic. Unlike the memoir which is very realistic in this regard, where the author was honest with depicting the time and even his own faults. And while it is clear the show used great technical advisors, there are more than a few errors, many needless (from a minor thing like doing burpees instead of bends and thrusts in 1990, to even worse, featuring the Crucible, which was a huge change to boot camp and which only those who went post ‘96 experienced) there were just anachronisms and unrealistic aspects that served no purpose to the story, ie, they weren’t there just because the show was fiction unlike the book. But my main problem is the melodrama became overwhelming, even the melodramatic music seemed to just appear in the later episodes more and more; when it had started out it felt cool and edgy and like it was going to be something unique. I felt they maybe made the first episode or two the way they wanted, then a studio came in and polished the rest of the series based on “what sells”. I finished it just to finish it, but in the end I would not recommend the show Boots and instead would recommend the source material, this book.
One weakness of the story is simply that memoirs that prominently feature USMC boot camp can blend into each other, and this book, even with its unique perspective of the author’s POV, suffered from that for me. However, I’m a former Marine and that plays into my feelings on that; boot camp stories are mostly all the same. And almost every Marine memoir features at least some boot camp in its chapters, and since I’ve likely read more Marine memoirs than most people, that also plays into my feeling kind of tired of it. My point is, for non-Marines, you likely won’t have this issue. But it was an issue for me.
I guess I was hoping for more about what it was really like to serve as an LGBTQ Marine in that era, and boot camp is such an isolated, scripted, controlled enviroment, you don’t get that from this story. I want to know what it was like in the fleet; the barracks, in the field, on deployment, out in town on libo, the real Marine Corps where you really spend time with your fellow Marines. We learn early on the author was a reservist, so maybe he didn’t deploy or spend much time in the barracks/field/deployment/libos, etc… but I’d still think he did some of that during periods of active duty, or summer training, or at least he got some of that in MOS school, and he apparently also went to OCS (though he didn’t commission and said he finashed his six years enlisted.)
All that said… the author wrote a pretty damn funny boot camp memoir. He’s a funny guy and I liked the time capsule stuff of the era, eg, the recruiter pulling a fast one to get him past the doctor at MEPS, leading him to get on a plane that night… And in spite of the overall staleness of boot camp stories for me, the author made these fun even though everyone’s “unique boot camp experience” has really been experienced by almost everyone. The author also skips back and forth from boot camp to his life before he enlisted and this was very insightful and made the story flow well. It wasn’t disjointed at all, great flow, very well written and this provides a lot of insight, real personal experience, of what it was like to be gay in that era.
I was surprised to learn early the athor went to boot camp in the 70s, I believe I read the series will be set in the 90s, but it is what it is, its when the author served and its unique since it is well before DADT so its a different perspective that I’ve seen even in interviews and articles which mostly feature the DADT era.
For me this was a 3.5/5 star read, it probably would have been a 4.5 or 5/5 if it covered post boot camp USMC events. Boot camp is just… boot camp. But it was very well done and the author did manage to make his boot camp story fresher than many Marine memoirs. For that reason its worth a round up rather than down, so 4/5 stars. Hope he follows this up with book covering the rest of his USMC service.
Edit: I watched the series, binged it over a few days. It started off pretty good, but the longer it went the more cheesy, melodramatic, and improbable it got. It frequently fell into ‘presentism’, where many characters (the good ones) display perfect enlightened attributes of today, for lack of better term, wokeness, improbable in a 1990 setting and in general is wish fullfilment of people writing today. And many aspects of the production felt like check the box representation without any effort to make it natural or realistic. Unlike the memoir which is very realistic in this regard, where the author was honest with depicting the time and even his own faults. And while it is clear the show used great technical advisors, there are more than a few errors, many needless (from a minor thing like doing burpees instead of bends and thrusts in 1990, to even worse, featuring the Crucible, which was a huge change to boot camp and which only those who went post ‘96 experienced) there were just anachronisms and unrealistic aspects that served no purpose to the story, ie, they weren’t there just because the show was fiction unlike the book. But my main problem is the melodrama became overwhelming, even the melodramatic music seemed to just appear in the later episodes more and more; when it had started out it felt cool and edgy and like it was going to be something unique. I felt they maybe made the first episode or two the way they wanted, then a studio came in and polished the rest of the series based on “what sells”. I finished it just to finish it, but in the end I would not recommend the show Boots and instead would recommend the source material, this book.
August 7, 2023
I don't know that I expected the memoir to be devoted entirely to boot camp--I would've liked more detail about his career in the Marines thereafter and his eventual writing career (I hope there will be more memoirs to cover that?), but Cope gives an exhaustive account of his initial months as a Marine, and it's certainly a good read. He draws particularly good accounts of Dale, his best friend and all-around wunderkind, and of Santoro, one of his harshest drill instructors. The read can be grueling at times in that you really feel what the recruits are dealing with, and it's a lot, but the payoff is wonderful, understated and poignant.
October 19, 2025
It’s rare for a book to make you think so profoundly that it shifts your perspective significantly, and rarer still for it to be so entertaining and empathetic that it can make you cry tears of laughter and sadness within one chapter – this was both to me. Cope offers a brutally honest and moving account of his time in boot camp in a highly interesting and emotional view of masculinity and male friendship. Cannot recommend enough.
December 20, 2025
Read this after I really enjoyed the TV show Boots which was based on this memoir. I thought it was okay though. Kinda repetitive, humour fell really flat for me too.
December 3, 2025
I watched (and loved) the Netflix series Boots, so I sought out the book that was its inspiration. However, the book did not resonate the same. While obviously the Netflix adaptation takes a lot of dramatic and artistic license, I struggled with the book. I have read a lot of queer and military memoir, so I expected the combination to be perfect for me. Unfortunately, it was not, though it might just be stylistic preference.
I found a lot of the voice to be corny and cliche. There are several moments that are fatphobic or racially cringe. Those moments are realistic and lend to the honesty of the narrator. However, I still flinched.
A great portion of the narration is phallic focused (fixated, obsessed). Penis envy, penis curiosity, penis everywhere. Again, likely very honest, but it became very eye-roll for me to read over and over again.
All of the characters (aside from two besides the narrator) are very surface and throwaway. That might be accurate to the experience, yet it lessened the experience.
I appreciate the author's experience and everything he endured and accomplished. The way he told it just did not work for me.
I found a lot of the voice to be corny and cliche. There are several moments that are fatphobic or racially cringe. Those moments are realistic and lend to the honesty of the narrator. However, I still flinched.
A great portion of the narration is phallic focused (fixated, obsessed). Penis envy, penis curiosity, penis everywhere. Again, likely very honest, but it became very eye-roll for me to read over and over again.
All of the characters (aside from two besides the narrator) are very surface and throwaway. That might be accurate to the experience, yet it lessened the experience.
I appreciate the author's experience and everything he endured and accomplished. The way he told it just did not work for me.
November 18, 2025
Two things I didn't expect to happen with this book. The first was to give it five stars and the second was to make me emotional. For me, this wasn't so much about the army thing, or the gay thing or being gay in the army thing. It was about the ability to prove yourself wrong about everything you thought you are not or you can't do, even under the most difficult circumstances. Especially if you are in that mindset and you live it daily, this book will speak to you in so many ways.
I enjoyed everything about this; the life in the 70s, the best friends, the family dynamics, the unlikely friendships in boot camp... I don't particularly enjoy memoirs but this one I kept wanting to go back to. There's something about narrating your teenage life in your 40s or 50s that I find so tender and special and throughout this book, I was reading it in the voice of a 18 year-old gay skinny kid, joining the army, in the 70s and (very) slowly but surely finding his strength and his voice and his pride.
That's what got me, the pride he felt when he got that 'outdamnstanding'; I almost felt it. That amazement and surprise when you realise you can actually do whatever you set your mind on and the only thing stopping you is you. That's why, if I could sum the feeling of this book up, it would be with this:
I enjoyed everything about this; the life in the 70s, the best friends, the family dynamics, the unlikely friendships in boot camp... I don't particularly enjoy memoirs but this one I kept wanting to go back to. There's something about narrating your teenage life in your 40s or 50s that I find so tender and special and throughout this book, I was reading it in the voice of a 18 year-old gay skinny kid, joining the army, in the 70s and (very) slowly but surely finding his strength and his voice and his pride.
That's what got me, the pride he felt when he got that 'outdamnstanding'; I almost felt it. That amazement and surprise when you realise you can actually do whatever you set your mind on and the only thing stopping you is you. That's why, if I could sum the feeling of this book up, it would be with this:
When met with a struggle, always let them see you sweat. Tell everyone to shut the fuck up, because you're working on it. And then conquer it.
November 23, 2024
Heard Netflix was going to make a series.
The topic intrigued me.
An encouraging account that anyone can accomplish anything.
The topic intrigued me.
An encouraging account that anyone can accomplish anything.
Read
December 18, 2025Quite different from the Netflix miniseries based on this memoir. Some parts I liked the book more than the show and some parts I preferred the show.
Either way, very interesting to continue to learn more about Marine Corps initial training.
Some scenes kept reminding me of stories Erik has told me about his OCS training.
Either way, very interesting to continue to learn more about Marine Corps initial training.
Some scenes kept reminding me of stories Erik has told me about his OCS training.
October 23, 2020
Greg's rendition of Parris Island brought back so many memories. While I don't claim to have the same experience as Greg, dealing with suppressing a secret throughout his entire Marine Corps career was a huge burden to carry, I know what it feels like to be different. I was a minority female in this all-male club, so to be IN and feel a little bit OUT was an experience in which I could resonate. Greg cracks the Marine Corps boot camp gates open and offers a tour that you've likely never seen before. You are a fly on the wall through his experience but feel connected to the story as if you are a recruit yourself. It is a testament to his remarkable ability as a storyteller. Oddly, many of Marine Corps boot camp methods stay the same over the decades, which makes this experience timeless. Some of us experienced it, many are intrigued by it, and everyone can share in it via this brilliantly crafted memoir.
June 10, 2024
Not just another military trope..
A unique journey of a young man going through a life defining moment as he follows his friend into Marine Corps boot camp. Author does a wonderful job maintaining his voice as he is living the moment. Captures the environment and experience in a way that anyone who has shared the experience can laugh and reminisce over similar lived moments. Be ready for some narrative that is visceral, some focus that is is sexually charged, and a story that shared the innermost thoughts of a young adult as he rides the roller coaster of self discovery.
A unique journey of a young man going through a life defining moment as he follows his friend into Marine Corps boot camp. Author does a wonderful job maintaining his voice as he is living the moment. Captures the environment and experience in a way that anyone who has shared the experience can laugh and reminisce over similar lived moments. Be ready for some narrative that is visceral, some focus that is is sexually charged, and a story that shared the innermost thoughts of a young adult as he rides the roller coaster of self discovery.
October 5, 2016
This book is wonderful. It is inspiring & hilarious. Sorry for the cliche, but; I laughed, I cried. I strongly recommend it.
*I received a free copy from Greg Cope White in exchange for my honest review.*
*I received a free copy from Greg Cope White in exchange for my honest review.*
November 6, 2025
read after watching the series; there’s lots of parts I enjoyed, but I think the inherent expectation you get when going from tv to text is you want the same level of world building. I wanted to know more about other members of the platoon, and I thought the most exciting detail about another member being former-Navy got left to the end. I also felt a lot of repetition about how the author talked about his sexuality, in a way that didn’t push my understanding or interest; it’s difficult because this is set over just three months, so I guess there’s limits. 3.5
November 5, 2025
It’s actually a really good book. There had been some stuff that may have made me uncomfortable about it all but overall it’s a good read.
Knowing that this book was an inspiration for the movie “Boots” on Netflix, is very weird. I mean, I can see some resemblance. But, in my opinion, they made Sergeant Santoro real dirty in the movie. He totally loses the strict homophobe attitude and it doesn’t have the same effect as in the book. And also, the name differences like, Greg (book) is Cameron (movie) or Sergeant Santoro (book) is Sergeant Sullivan (movie). I like it how they act like a family and that they care about each other no matter what. It’s a good brotherhood and friendship.
Overall, 4.5⭐️ just because there were some info about personal boy stuff that I did NOT want to find out about.
Knowing that this book was an inspiration for the movie “Boots” on Netflix, is very weird. I mean, I can see some resemblance. But, in my opinion, they made Sergeant Santoro real dirty in the movie. He totally loses the strict homophobe attitude and it doesn’t have the same effect as in the book. And also, the name differences like, Greg (book) is Cameron (movie) or Sergeant Santoro (book) is Sergeant Sullivan (movie). I like it how they act like a family and that they care about each other no matter what. It’s a good brotherhood and friendship.
Overall, 4.5⭐️ just because there were some info about personal boy stuff that I did NOT want to find out about.
August 4, 2025
One of the most inspiring and important memoirs you’ll ever come across. Sargent Cope tells his unique story with honesty and love of country. Don’t be fooled by his self deprecating, at times a little crass humor; Sargent Cope’s experiences as a young Marine speak volumes about what it’s like to grow up with a secret, what it means to be an American, and how important it feels to belong, especially for those of us who’ve often felt like outsiders. Not only did I love the 1980s period details, I also loved Cope’s hilarious walkthrough of Marine Corps boot camp. It’s a delightful read that’ll make an out-damn-standing Netflix series. Oorah!
October 22, 2025
A closeted gay teenager enlists in the US Marine Corps with absolutely no idea as to what is about to happen to him. This true story tracks Greg Cope White through the 13 weeks of boot camp at Parris Island, SC. when being gay in the military was illegal. Cope is a limp noodle of a kid who faces the challenges of boot camp and not only makes it through but excels. Mild humor throughout but mostly Cope White looking inside himself and finding inner strength that he didn’t know that he had. Uplifting and inspiring.
March 11, 2016
The trouble I have with most people's memoirs is that they're boring. I could never say that about Greg Cope White's new book, The Pink Marine. If we start with the concept of his double bravery - telling the story of being gay in the Marines AND being in the Marines - we have the basics of a life well led and a story well told. His humor shines through the entire book and with quotes from actress Sally Field and others, makes it hard to put the book down. Highly recommend.
October 10, 2025
I am not sure what I was expecting but I doubt I was expecting to love this book. In the process of becoming a Marine Cope White earns his sense of self worth and we all share his pride.
I’m now watching BOOTS, the Netflix series based on this great book. I’m loving it!
I’m now watching BOOTS, the Netflix series based on this great book. I’m loving it!
December 5, 2017
I was disappointed that this was not funnier. I was pleasantly surprised at how moving and interesting it reads.
April 24, 2018
Fun, fast read!
October 17, 2025
Wanted to read this before we watched Boots. It was a great and easy read.
October 18, 2025
Well written.
December 11, 2025
I'm guessing that, like me, most readers found their way to this book via Boots, the Netflix series on which it's based. I admire all the changes the TV show made to the book; they make sense and invite more complications, higher stakes, and a deeper probing of the inner lives and backgrounds of each character. Greg Cope White's writing is funny and capable, but he's no Margaret Atwood, and that's okay. The Pink Marine isn't a memoir meant to redefine the genre or showcase erudite writing. This is a book about a rootless gay man's journey through the Marines at a time when being gay in the military was literally against the law. Anyone who's left adrift in their life can find value in The Pink Marine.
I'm a bit dismayed that Cope White didn't begin this memoir with an author's note. Since the day Oprah gave James Frey an international tongue-lashing, it has become common practice for anyone writing a memoir to inform readers that names have been changed, dialogue manufactured, composite characters created, events rearranged, and so forth. Did he keep a journal during boot camp? Did he seek out other recruits and interview them? Is he relying solely on his memory? He never tells us. This book was published around forty years after Cope White entered the Marines, and while those grueling thirteen weeks of boot camp would etch themselves on anyone's brain, I'd still like to know. It's still bonkers to me that he entered boot camp totally unaware of what was in store for him, but as someone who works with people in their late teens every day, I can attest that there's a universe of knowledge beyond their comprehension, despite their close attachment to their cell phones. The Pink Marine is so much more than a young gay man's time in the military during the years between the Stonewall Riots and the onslaught of AIDS. It's a search for belonging and direction in life, one we all can relate to.
And it's also an expose on the military's ethos and practices. Yes, the drill instructors make the recruits' lives utter hell: screaming, dehumanization, regimentation, cussing, profanity, racism, psychological torture--it's all on display here, yet it all has its purpose. Recruits need to learn to become killing machines. One the reasons people like me could never be in the military is that individualism and creative expression are ground out of recruits. Each exercise, demand, punishment, and even the songs they sing while marching serve a purpose, as Cope White eventually realizes. Defecating in a roomful of toilets with no doors or walls, wearing the exact same clothes as scores of other recruits, learning the language of the Marines--it's all done in the service of transforming seventy young men from various backgrounds into a single entity. What struck me is the way both homophobia and homoeroticism are used during boot camp. Although no one other than his friend Dale knew Cope White was gay, homophobia was rampant throughout his experience in boot camp, used, I gather, as a way to bolster these young men's masculinity and punish those who didn't measure up. But at the same time, this was an undeniably homoerotic environment, one that demanded scores of recruits shower each other all over, and parade their developing young bodies in front of one another. These guys even jerked off in front of each other, proving not only the Marine Corps' destruction of their sense of privacy and civility, but their full cohesion as a group. Again, this is all part of the psychological games the military plays.
Cope White's writing is okay, but not great. The book is repetitive, and he spends too much time fretting over his lanky body, but any closeted nineteen-year-old gay boy surrounded by beefy studs twenty-four hours a day would do the same. I don't know if the Marine Corps today is the same as it was in the late 1970s, but I'm pretty sure not much has changed. But even if one recruit like Greg Cope White no longer has to conceal his sexual orientation, that a good thing.
I'm a bit dismayed that Cope White didn't begin this memoir with an author's note. Since the day Oprah gave James Frey an international tongue-lashing, it has become common practice for anyone writing a memoir to inform readers that names have been changed, dialogue manufactured, composite characters created, events rearranged, and so forth. Did he keep a journal during boot camp? Did he seek out other recruits and interview them? Is he relying solely on his memory? He never tells us. This book was published around forty years after Cope White entered the Marines, and while those grueling thirteen weeks of boot camp would etch themselves on anyone's brain, I'd still like to know. It's still bonkers to me that he entered boot camp totally unaware of what was in store for him, but as someone who works with people in their late teens every day, I can attest that there's a universe of knowledge beyond their comprehension, despite their close attachment to their cell phones. The Pink Marine is so much more than a young gay man's time in the military during the years between the Stonewall Riots and the onslaught of AIDS. It's a search for belonging and direction in life, one we all can relate to.
And it's also an expose on the military's ethos and practices. Yes, the drill instructors make the recruits' lives utter hell: screaming, dehumanization, regimentation, cussing, profanity, racism, psychological torture--it's all on display here, yet it all has its purpose. Recruits need to learn to become killing machines. One the reasons people like me could never be in the military is that individualism and creative expression are ground out of recruits. Each exercise, demand, punishment, and even the songs they sing while marching serve a purpose, as Cope White eventually realizes. Defecating in a roomful of toilets with no doors or walls, wearing the exact same clothes as scores of other recruits, learning the language of the Marines--it's all done in the service of transforming seventy young men from various backgrounds into a single entity. What struck me is the way both homophobia and homoeroticism are used during boot camp. Although no one other than his friend Dale knew Cope White was gay, homophobia was rampant throughout his experience in boot camp, used, I gather, as a way to bolster these young men's masculinity and punish those who didn't measure up. But at the same time, this was an undeniably homoerotic environment, one that demanded scores of recruits shower each other all over, and parade their developing young bodies in front of one another. These guys even jerked off in front of each other, proving not only the Marine Corps' destruction of their sense of privacy and civility, but their full cohesion as a group. Again, this is all part of the psychological games the military plays.
Cope White's writing is okay, but not great. The book is repetitive, and he spends too much time fretting over his lanky body, but any closeted nineteen-year-old gay boy surrounded by beefy studs twenty-four hours a day would do the same. I don't know if the Marine Corps today is the same as it was in the late 1970s, but I'm pretty sure not much has changed. But even if one recruit like Greg Cope White no longer has to conceal his sexual orientation, that a good thing.
January 2, 2026
5 stars = one of the most enjoyable books I've read, would reread multiple times
4 stars = enjoyed the book, would read it again
3 stars = enjoyed the book, but unlikely to read again
2 stars = did not enjoy the books
1 star = disliked the book so much, didn't finish reading it
“When met with struggle, always let them see you sweat. Tell everyone to shut the f*** up, because you’re working on it. And then conquer it.” Pink Marine, Greg Cope White
After 11 months of reading fantasy series, one of which was almost 6,000 pages across 5 books, I wanted a break from the genre (and from series) and landed on this memoir of a gay man’s experience in Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island in the 70s when being gay was illegal in the military. Nobody thought Greg Cope White would make it through boot camp, he was underweight and had never done a pull up, push up, or run a mile. Boot camp has been described as breaking recruits down so that they can be built back up as Marines, and Cope White persevered that and the added burden of his constant fear that his secret would be discovered, and he'd be discharged and imprisoned. He tells his story of transformation with an easy style that includes dashes of humor and brutal candor.
4 stars = enjoyed the book, would read it again
3 stars = enjoyed the book, but unlikely to read again
2 stars = did not enjoy the books
1 star = disliked the book so much, didn't finish reading it
“When met with struggle, always let them see you sweat. Tell everyone to shut the f*** up, because you’re working on it. And then conquer it.” Pink Marine, Greg Cope White
After 11 months of reading fantasy series, one of which was almost 6,000 pages across 5 books, I wanted a break from the genre (and from series) and landed on this memoir of a gay man’s experience in Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island in the 70s when being gay was illegal in the military. Nobody thought Greg Cope White would make it through boot camp, he was underweight and had never done a pull up, push up, or run a mile. Boot camp has been described as breaking recruits down so that they can be built back up as Marines, and Cope White persevered that and the added burden of his constant fear that his secret would be discovered, and he'd be discharged and imprisoned. He tells his story of transformation with an easy style that includes dashes of humor and brutal candor.
December 3, 2025
Is this a case of the TV show being better than the book?
Hell to the yes!
So many times I questioned if it was worth even finishing this, but curiosity won in the end. A part of me wanted to see what other similarities I could find between Boots and this. The answer was not enough to be enjoyable.
Boots definitely turned up the gay for the show, something I am not about to complain about, whereas the book was more “does anyone know I’m gay?”
Aside from the formatting of this edition, the main issue I had with this book (aside from the lack of sexy, gay marines) was the repetitive nature of the story. It seemed like every chapter had a mention of how being yelled at until a task was done correctly was a good thing, a learning experience, that everyone is part of the team blah blah blah. After a while it got boring. I get it. It’s the Marines. There’s order. There’s respect. There’s responsibility. But there some a point where it loses meaning.
As much as I tried to stop comparing it to Boots, when this was so drab and repetitive it was very hard not to…
Give me Max Parker in his little shorts over having to read this any day.
Hell to the yes!
So many times I questioned if it was worth even finishing this, but curiosity won in the end. A part of me wanted to see what other similarities I could find between Boots and this. The answer was not enough to be enjoyable.
Boots definitely turned up the gay for the show, something I am not about to complain about, whereas the book was more “does anyone know I’m gay?”
Aside from the formatting of this edition, the main issue I had with this book (aside from the lack of sexy, gay marines) was the repetitive nature of the story. It seemed like every chapter had a mention of how being yelled at until a task was done correctly was a good thing, a learning experience, that everyone is part of the team blah blah blah. After a while it got boring. I get it. It’s the Marines. There’s order. There’s respect. There’s responsibility. But there some a point where it loses meaning.
As much as I tried to stop comparing it to Boots, when this was so drab and repetitive it was very hard not to…
Give me Max Parker in his little shorts over having to read this any day.
January 9, 2026
wanted to read this after watching boots on netflix, as i loved the show. the book started off a bit slow for me and i found it quite hard to connect to Cope, even after watching the show on netflix and loving the character. however, as his journey in the marines progressed, there was so much emotional depth and it was a beautiful read. great messages about proving yourself wrong, even when you’re in the hardest situation. really glad greg cope white got to share his story.
November 5, 2025
I read this after watching BOOTS on Netflix, and I wasn't disappointed.
A poignantly, witty memoir of joining the Marines as a gay 18yo in 1990, this is full of nostalgia of my youth as well as the kind of revelations that I remember viscerally. Same but different cos I wasn't a gay 18yo American boy.
Just read it. Norman Mailer thinks you should.
A poignantly, witty memoir of joining the Marines as a gay 18yo in 1990, this is full of nostalgia of my youth as well as the kind of revelations that I remember viscerally. Same but different cos I wasn't a gay 18yo American boy.
Just read it. Norman Mailer thinks you should.
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