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.
Rating:
Summary: Rotten to the Corps
Review: According to Bing West, a former Marine combat infantryman and assistant secretary of defense, far from telling the story of The Universal Soldier -- the grunt's unadorned truth, as reviewers have intimated -- "Jarhead" is the over-written memoir of someone who did not experience any serious combat (Swofford experienced no firefights and only two shellings in Desert Storm). During his short stay in the Corps, Swofford, according to his own story, either told tall tales or committed criminal acts under oblivious leaders whom he does not name. Either way, this is not how combat soldiers behave. "Jarhead" is to nonfiction what "Platoon" was to the movies.
Rating:
Summary: what a joke
Review: I was one of the Marines who served with swofford and I have to say I am embarrassed by this disgusting account. Not only was he a depressed and often whining individual but this book does not do justice to the fine men we served with. Swofford was not a QUALIFIED sniper but just a guy they got from a line company to fill in the blanks. he was also a man they should never have let join the Corps to begin with. Obvious mental problems led him to write a book that was nothing more than a lame attempt to make a buck and portray himself as some sort of tortured soul. I served a total of 12 years and I will still say that I am immensely proud to have served with those fine Marines that were STA 2/7. Every day I remember something about those beautiful guys and I will never forget them. Especially our friend Troy Collier who was tragically killed driving his truck one morning. My memories of that guy are great. I always remember him pointing out his favorite runner (he read runners world i think it was) some guy with a lions mane for hair who wore space age glasses while running! Those men deserve better than this and I sincerely hope Swofford will fix himself.
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