Lt. Reilly: So what was I doing in jail? What I was doing, let me advise you, was fixin' to shoot some mothafucka's working in that hospital, that's what I was doing.
Clark: The army don't wanna surprise us.
Meserve: Leave it to the dinks for that, huh?
Meserve: Brownie, look into my fuckin' eyes I'm gonna hypnotize you. YOU'RE fine.
Cpl. Brown: I knew it man, I knew it.
Capt. Hill: You couldn't let it rest, could you? You had to push it?
Eriksson: Go to hell. SIR.
Meserve: You probably like the army, don't you, Eriksson?
Eriksson: This ain't the army. This ain't the army, Sarge.
Lt. Reilly: What happened is the way things are. So why try to buck the system?
Eriksson: Can you imagine that? You escape Viet Nam and you die from an airline fatality.
Clark: Never happen, Cherry. You survive the Nam, you get to live forever, man.
Eriksson: Who got hit Sarge?
Hawthorne: The cherry. Man, that boy was bagged and tagged the minute they cut his orders to this place. They should've just shot him at home.
Meserve: You're taking your turn.
Eriksson: No.
Meserve: Well maybe when I'm through with her, I'm gonna come after you. Maybe when I'm done humping her, I'm gonna come hump you.
Cpl. Brown: I'm an armour-plated motherfucker.
Eriksson: Everybody's acting like we can do anything and it don't matter what we do. Maybe we gotta' be extra careful because maybe it matters more than we even know.
Meserve: Yea though I walk through the valley of evil, I shall fear no death. Cuz I'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley.
Answer: "Short" in this context is military slang for someone whose tour of duty is coming close to an end. It's a derivative of "short-timer."
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