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Summary: There is war, and there is the so-called Gulf War
Review: Swofford's swashbuckling and scatalogical chronicle up to becoming part of the Gulf War portrays a troubled youth and the many battles he faced and faces. We all fight personal battles. When this numbimg tale finally reaches the Gulf War, he is pretentious to claim it as one of his battles. He views a lot of enemy bodies and squalor, but mises completely the true test of Marine combat.Out of over a half million U.S. troops, 111 were killed in enemy action. The mission is to kill, yes, and not to be killed. Combat makes and loses good men.What the author needed was a punishing saturation shelling by hostile artillery and mortars, surviving honorably a well equipped armored infantry attack,maybe even experiencing some enemy areial bombing and strafing: real battle experience endured by less fortunate soldiers and marines in real wars. Were he a true combat veteran, there would be far less swash in his swashbuckle. Being in a shooting war does that for a fellow.
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Summary: The bitterest pill of all...
Review: is not the one your superior officer makes you swallow to combat a chemical weapons attack. There is nothing more leaden than the realization that your leaders and your country ultimately consider you expendable. Swofford's account of his stint with the Marines is full of unpleasant revelations about service, the meaning of war and warriors and ultimately himself. You'll find out just how he ended up in the middle of nowhere, waiting to die a most unpleasant death at the hands of either the invading Iraqi army or errant attacks from his own side. It's no fun being a grunt, no matter what the recruiter tells you about easy (...) in exotic locations. Swofford's book is an incandescently bitter essay on the futility of war and of the soldier's lot.
Rating: 
Summary: Not likely to be a classic
Review: I read Jarhead as a result of the very favorable reviews that it garnered and the fact that I have read most of the memoirs of this genre. A couple of the reviewers compared this book to a Rumor of War or Friendly Fire. Not in your wildest dreams. I kept waiting for the book to develop into something more than a puerile confessional until I realized that it wasn't going to happen. Most of us who have been in the military knew a few jerks like the author, but generally avoided them. It had some very readable moments, but there were all too few of them.
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Summary: George W. Bush needs to read this book.
Review: If you think you're getting the real story by watching the media play the brilliantly manipulative and cynical Pentagon game of "embedded with the troops" -- we'll show them everything, that way they'll see nothing -- you have to read this book. It's painful, disturbing, profane, twisted, ugly, offensive, insulting, macabre, gruesome, chauvunistic, jingoistic, obnoxious and utterly brilliant. Swofford was a marine sniper in the first gulf war and he writes with the laser accuracy of the weapons he was trained on. this is war reporting from the hearts and minds of the young men sent across the world to fight -- for what? It's hard to say for sure but as we learn from this instant masterpiece of war reporting, the jarhead cares nothing about politics, oil or united nations posturing. he spends every second in the desert fighting, scheming and praying to stay alive and keep his buddies alive, too -- even the ones he can't stand. Our president -- make that your president, not mine -- knows nothing about war or the men doing his bidding. He's the first person who should read this book. He can read, can't he? All the rest of us should follow. Anthony Swofford has done his nation much more genuine good than he did by serving in Gulf War I. He deserves every bit of success and good fortune that comes his way. He has a great story to tell and he writes like his heart is plugged into an amplifier. A thrilling, fantastic and important piece of work. Thank you, Jarhead Swofford. I can't get this book out of my mind. It will haunt you as you watch the absurd television coverage brought to you by the cheerleaders at the networks. I'm especially proud to know Swofford grew up where I now live and took a writing class at the junior college up the street from me.
Rating:
Summary: horse shoes and handgrenades
Review: Close but not quite. Anthony Swafford does in fact capture some aspects of what its like being a Marine. I found his description of his combat experience close. However; his self described antics prior to the actual events and descriptions of boot camp were extremely exagerated. I too am a Marine. I too went to the same boot camp and was even a Drill Instructor at one point. I too went to the Gulf war. But for the life of me I dont remember seeing any Marines behaving like that either at Camp Pendleton or in Saudi or Kuwait. Of course it is possible he and his platoon were the only ones who did anything there. Please spare me. I found it an entertaining read if nothing else. But to describe the book as anything but one persons view through a straw. Of events and experiences in the Marines during that period of time as anything else but BS is exageration.
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Summary: More "real" than anything on CNN, FoxNews, NBC, etc....
Review: As I sit and watch this new war and recall the 1st Gulf War, I laugh at the machoism of the reporters and retired military analysts who try and tell us what it is like being one of the soldiers in combat. Read this book and find out what it is/was really like. Anthony Swofford has opened my eyes to the horror, silliness, and sheer incomprehendibilty of modern war. Highly Recommended!
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Summary: Shock and Awe!
Review: What a timely read! Anthony Swofford revisits his days as a sniper in the Marine Corps, and takes us along with him from boot camp to Operation Desert Storm. The language he uses, and stories he tells may shock a naive reader, but to anyone looking for an up-close-and-personal from one who was there, this tale is awesome. If you want more of an in-depth interview than Ted Koppel interviewing some career army colonel who is all spit and polish, check out the message that Marine Lance Corporal Swofford sends home. Swofford pulls no punches. He describes the physical brutality of boot camp, and the hardening of eager, young, lovelorn souls into battle-ready killers. Before being deployed to Saudi, his troop enjoys its final days Stateside watching Hollywood war movies meant to shock liberal, peace-loving Americans on two coasts. Instead, the young jarheads (haircuts high and tight!) eat it up, whooping and hollering to Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and the sort. They "watch the same films and are excited by them, because the magic brutality of the film celebrates the terrible and despicable beauty of their fighting skills. Filmic images of death and carnage are pornography for the military man." Once in the desert, one feels it. Swofford describes in detail what it is to live with sand in every crevice of one's body, to sweat all day in a useless chemical suit, to be assigned the task of disposing of the latrines. The importance of constant drilling, of staying sharp, of cleaning a gun countless times each day pay dividends...later they learn how poorly the Iraqi regulars maintained their weapons. But for the long stay of many months before battle the drudgery seems endless. The psychological impacts are many. The pain of separation from family and friends; of the desertion of girlfriends, wives and cheating lovers; of fear and uncertainty mounts exponentially. Swofford makes it abundantly clear how dangerous it is to take very impressionable young men, to hype them up into killing warriors, to deprive them of basic humanities, and isolate them in god-forsaken parts of the world for months on end. It's quite a recipe. I laughed out loud at his story of the "Any Marine" letter writing. Swofford has a natural ability to drop the reader into a panoramic and colorful scene. You'll feel you're in his foxhole, endlessly shoveling the collapsing sand alongside him. The dialogue is rough and tough. And real. He isn't just any jarhead, he's the company "scribe". He's the guy reading Nietzsche and Homer. This is his Iliad. I recommend you read it now. It's a terrific companion reader to the talking heads cluttering your TV today.
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Summary: The Marines are the Marines....get over it.
Review: Anthony Swoffords's memoir, Jarhead, is a no holds barred, unblemished, and unvarnished picture of what the Marine Corps is really like. If you're looking for a made for TV or Hollywood version of the Marines or the Persian Gulf War, don't read this book. Swofford's story is up front and accurate. After reading Jarhead you may understand the Marines a little better. Behind the spit shined shoes, polished brass, and crisp uniforms is an organization that is demanding and unyielding....an organization that is difficult to undertand by many insiders. The brutality the Marines face everyday among their own is part of the experience. And Mr. Swofford captures it perfectly. Even with some of the Corps blemishes exposed, I wouldn't take anything for my experience with the Marines. At 54 I recognize that they gave me the tools to carve out a successful life. And I'm not the only one that would make that comment. Anthony Swoffords descriptions of life in and around a battlefield is some of the best descriptive prose I've read. The hellish descriptions of burning oil wells, tanks, personnel carriers will make you feel gritty........If you're a former Marine or a combat veteran you'll want to read this book. You'll recognize the truth of it. Semper Fi
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant and Moving Memoir
Review: What a magnificent piece of writing this memoir is. It excitingly heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent. Inevitably, "Jarhead" will be compared to and ultimately linked with Tim O'Brien's equally accomplished "The Things They Carried." The comparison will be an apt one. Even though Swofford and O'Brien are separated by a generation, their efforts both possess a timelessness that eludes all but the finest works. Swofford, like O'Brien before him, possesses an insight into the human condition that is truly rare and magnificent to behold. With our nation once again involved in a war with Iraq, "Jarhead" is garnering the audience that it so richly deserves. Please, make a point of acquiring and devouring this book, but not because it simply happens to be topical at the moment. Read it because "Jarhead" happens to be one of the finest works of art on war ever produced.
Rating:
Summary: Sellout
Review: This book was fantastic. Well written and quite graphic. I would rec. However, in order to achieve such success with this book, the author sold out his country, the Corps, his family and those close to him. For that he should be ashamed.
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