Saving Private Brian

The episode featured guest performances by Gary Cole, Louis Gossett Jr., Juanita Jennings, Phil LaMarr, Samm Levine, Rachael MacFarlane, Denis Martel, Enn Reitel, Stacey Scowley, Fred Tatasciore and Wally Wingert, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series.

A U.S. Army recruitment officer comes to the high school to hold an assembly and entices the students with a glamorized, deceptive video presentation, which impresses everyone including Chris.

Stewie wakes up and finds Brian packing his suitcase, but he manages to talk him out of leaving, insisting that he had never finished anything significant in his life and that the Army will provide him the discipline he needs.

The two are patrolling the streets of a village, commenting on the "good situation so far"; however, after the pair get caught up in a terrorist attack, they become dissuaded and decide to find a way to get out of the Army and return home.

As a last resort, they attempt to get "Wounded in Action" by shooting each other in the foot; they do this, only to find out from another of their superiors that the Army now takes anyone no matter what, going so far as to allow two corpses to guard the ammunition.

[2] Meanwhile, to distract Chris from the Army, Peter takes him to look at extracurricular activities at his school, where he is accepted into a heavy metal band.

Upon the receiving of the news that democracy has come to Iraq, one scene shows a man having a knife held to his throat, which caused some controversy after the episode was broadcast.

The Sergeant punishes Brian by informing him that he will have to listen to singles from Chris Gaines' album: this entire scene was based on a sketch from Saturday Night Live approximately 10 years ago.

Brian shown performing numerous different tasks to complete his army training is a reference to An Officer and a Gentleman,[5] with the music playing in the background from Stripes.

When Brian is frustrated with the recruits recommending Chris to join the Army, Stewie jokes that "the bottom 10% of our high school class is off to fight another battle".

During the obstacle course, Brian rides a unicycle, solves a Rubik's Cube, plays Perfection, finds Waldo, offers a couple eating a salad at a dinner table some fresh pepper, and consoles a woman who was just dumped by her boyfriend.

The episode also acquired a 3.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, slightly being edged out by The Simpsons, while still winning over series creator Seth MacFarlane's second show American Dad!.

[8] Brett Love of TV Squad noted that "The Full Metal Jacket/Stripes angle for Stewie and Brian was great, right down to the Stripes music during the obstacle course.