Rating: 
Summary: Literature it is not, but...
Review: as a bar room tale of one man's story, it succeeds. "Jarheads" is a rather detailed and graphic description of a man's experience in the Marine Corps. From boot camp to the bar stool, it plays out as a long night at a pub, listening to a former Marine. The reader almost feels like they owe Swofford a round to keep this fascinating yarn rolling. But that's all it is! Unfortunately, Swofford fails to back up the flash of his story -- Marine reading Homer -- with any deeper thought and analysis. He uses his platform as a former Marine to complain about the Marine Corps, and never fully explains his questionable judgment and thought process on why he joined in the first place. On the margins, Swofford debates the purpose of the war -- and he was clearly against it -- but never explains the paradox, then, of why he joined a volunteer army. With any factual-based story, one must always question the motivation of the teller. Shakespeare might have been none too pleased in Swofford's interpretation of the past being prologue -- the book is almost all prologue, with only a quarter of it about the actual war -- but perhaps that's a fitting way for the author to let us know what he was sitting through. There is a place for "Jarhead", given the United States recent military adventures, yet its questionable motivation and veracity demonstrate that Amazon's Third Pick in the year's Top 50 is not it.
Rating: 
Summary: Dishonorable Discharge for Dummies
Review: Swofford has crafted with wit and whimsy the trials and tribulations brought upon one man over the course of his(nearly completed)4 year enlistment as a Marine. He speaks casually of his insubordination, vandalism and theft of government property. Knowing that the consequences of his actions will result in lasting effects on his fellow Marines' records in addition to their docked pay. He, like multitudes before him, has an unfaithful girlfriend (to whom he readily admits having been unfaithful to repeatedly before)while deployed. So he, until interupted, decides to wrap his lips in dramatic fashion around his M-16 and "end it" in the desert.
Swofford is painting false picture of the average life of a Marine at that time. It IS however HIS life at that time, and to that degree it is a compelling read. To get a glipse at war from behind the eyes of a scared child who's been forced into a Warrior's world and has to fake his way through it truely is heart wrenching. He talks about experiencing the sounds and vibrations of his first shelling and how he actually lost control of his bowels. Even being assigned to a sniper platoon the Author never actually engaged the enemy even once during his entire time in the Gulf. That's the kind of raw honesty that earned him his second star.
There are lot's of guy's out there who will pick this one up just for the title and they'll be disappointed. To them it's not about judging a book by it's cover. It's about the Title. We've earned it. Swofford knows that, so does his publisher. Swofford should rely on his talent not his title.
Rating:
Summary: Does Not Live Up to the Hype
Review: After reading and hearing the accolades for this book I figured I just had to read it. I was looking for the perspective of the guy on the ground during the Persian Gulf War. I was a carrier based bomber pilot at the time with my own experiences but wanted to know more about what it was like for the ground pounders. This book provided little in that regard. Swoffard seems a little too distressed and saddened for his brief experience in combat. I got the sense that some of his recollections were exaggerated for the purpose of bolstering his views. He fails to understand the purpose of the military; to carry out the orders of the Commander and Chief, regardless of ones feelings for the justification of action. Sorry, the military is not a democracy, soldiers can't pick and choose which war they feel is worthy of their participation. Let's face it, once the shooting starts all any of us who have been in combat care about is not getting killed, which basically means killing as many of the other guys as possible. I would rather look down on a 1000 dead Iraqis than one dead American. If a hero's tale or combat action is what you are looking for, look elsewhere. This is not a war memoir, it is just a memoir.
Rating:
Summary: This book is therapy for Swofford
Review: Swofford gives his account of his experience in the Marines and the Gulf War. He reduces his exeriences to the rawest of emotions and his descriptions are never sugarcoated. It was obvious (even by Swofford's own account) that he was not only dealing with the hardships of life in the Marine Corps and war, but he was also fighting internal battles from his childhhod - mainly issues with his father. Some Marines can handle the cards the Marines and war deal him. Others, like Swofford, hold on to all of the negative aspects and allow them to fester. The result? Swofford sticks an M16 in his mouth when the going gets tough, pisses his pants when he must actually perform on the battle field, and then writes a book about it. This book was mildly entertaining, but being a former Marine made it clear that most of what Swofford cried and whined about, the majority of Marines would laugh about in retrospect.
Rating:
Summary: Jarhead
Review: Not for "New Marine Moms". One mans disappointing view of the Marine Corps. Direct and easy to read. I hope he finds what he's looking for. I couldn't put it down, hoping for a hint of hopefulness. Unfortunatly, I didn't get it.
Rating: 
Summary: gritty, insightful and raw
Review: In "Jarhead" Anthony Swofford paints a unblinkingly raw picture of life in the military. His career in the Marines starts as a child of Seventeen already hopelessly in love with the romantic notions of soldiering. Those notions quickly dissolve as the harsh realities of the life of a soldier begin to wear and tear at the fabric of his soul. He offers insights to armed service life that is rarely portrayed - and his memories of his short time in the Gulf War are brutal and honest. this book is not a glorification of Military life. On the contrary, it is a stark, bloody, baudy, bold and jarringly sophisticated slice of life that will leave you thinking about what you thought you knew about our Government and those who choose to protect her.
Rating: 
Summary: full of lies
Review: as a retired marine and a desert storm vet, i found this book full of lies. no jr marine would talk to a senior officer the way he has the marines in his book. this was not so much a book about desert storm but about his feeling about the marine corps. it was wrong to make everyone feel that the book was a truthful account of the marine corps during desert storm. this book should never have been comparied to a rumor of war.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Marine Corps!
Review: Being a former Marine and sharing many of the same duty stations as Swofford I found "Jarhead" to be an accurate portrait of the Marine Corps. While at times Swofford comes across as a disgruntled former Marine, I believe he successfully presents an honest view of day-to-day life in the Corps. I will always be proud of my 4 years in the Marine Corps, but I do share many of the same views as Swofford regarding the adolescent antics of a typical young Marine, and the mindless games that occur in the Marine Corps. While Swofford's story is intriguing, I believe he may have used poetic justice to jazz up some of the experiences he details in "Jarhead". Marines tend to exaggerate when describing bar room brawls and their sex lives. Also, the title of the book is a bit deceiving. The gulf war is minimally covered in this book. The "other battles" refer to the inner demons Swofford struggled with due to the Marine Corps and his family. Overall, I recommend this book for its candor and insightful view of life as a Marine, but you will be disappointed if your looking for a book that chronicles the events of a war from a soldier's perspective.
Rating:
Summary: If this book is true then why isn't the author in prison?
Review: Most of what the author describes in this book should have gotten him courtmartialed and thrown in a military prison. Even if you want to be charitable about it, at the least he should have gotten a dishonorable discharge.
Rating:
Summary: It All Depends On What You Want In A Book
Review: Let me be sure I understand the reviews of "Jarhead". Here we have a work where the author writes in a self-serving manner, commonly called "smarmy". However, reviews call his writing "powerful", "eloquent", and "truthful". Let's look at what the author tells us. He relates his failure to control his urination, attempted suicide, feigned gangbang rape of a fellow marine, threatened murder of a fellow marine, and theft from his fellow marines. Oops, I left out his acts of disfiguring, mutilating enemy courses with a bayonet. Was all this caused by the stress of the firefights he suffered? No, he never had to endure that experience. One must be thankful; who knows what even more "powerful" acts could be related to the reader had he really been in combat. Note that his acts against others were all against fellow marines. The enemy had to be dead for him to act. If you wish to read a powerful, eloquent book about such antisocial, ... acts, this is the work for you.
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