Jarhead is a book I wouldn’t have picked up without seeing the movie. Subtitled “A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles,” Anthony Swofford’s memoir makes me wonder again that my father was in the Marine Corps reserves. Just doesn’t feel like my father’s kind of organization, but then I didn’t know my father as a young man. I never considered how much the military (especially the Marines?) still live up to the reputation of sex, drinking and general hell-raising…even (especially) at overseas postings. Tough to be an ambassador when you’re under 21, loaded, and horny. Hmmm.
The book isn’t political. It’s personal…which makes the observations stronger. All of America is aware (now) that the restraint of Gulf War 1 was smart, not weak, however disorienting and disappointing it was for Swofford and his mates at the time. The lack of combat is maddening, though, to both author and reader.
Side note: reading Swofford on their crappy gas masks (fortunately never required), it’s disappointing to see that the military couldn’t improve much in the 70-odd years since World War I.
Now that I’ve read the book, it’s even more surprising this was made into a movie. But I’m glad it raised my awareness enough to pick Jarhead off the library shelves.