Gomer was a victim of the intense mind crushing subjugation that the drill sergeant enforced. Wreaking his self esteem, crushing him with guilt and getting him hated and hostilized his fellow recruits. He just snapped, he didn’t show any sign of resisting or trying to resist. Just a difficulty of performing his duties. Whether he would like to or not is uncertain, but he didn’t show that he wanted to change anything, my reading is that he jsut wanted to get by, and he did not got his wish. He got broken and snapped, and it is not clear his intention while on the bathroom, he might have opened fire into his fellow recruits, or anything else, he loaded a whole lot of bullets. He just snapped, so I don’t think it was meant as a heroic act, for as heroic it might seem as consequence to the drill sergeant’s action, he was someone driven beyond his limit, in a desperate action.