Rating: 
Summary: Once There Were Wars; Now Only Conflicts
Review: Profane, outrageous, sick, bitter, vomitous, grotesque, ruthlessly honest, scathingly funny -- this has the stink of war leaking out of its binding. Combining a nearly faultless storytelling strategy with piercing insight and no-holds barred reportage, Swofford relentlessly draws the reader into his desperate tale of gathering despair with precisely timed shocks, strategic backcasting and foreshadowing to rachet up the tension until the final explosion of war. A writer with a gift for the well-honed description -- his description of the smell of death is the best I've ever read: "the hollow smell of death" -- as well as the ability to artfully render conversation -- wild, outrageous profanity in particular -- Swofford also obviously labored over JARHEAD for years, honing to just the right edge of gut-wrenching bleakness, cynicism and compassion.A few examples. Keenly observant, Swofford knows as soon as he lands in Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War that he's just a chump who's working for Cheney and his pals, happy to fight and even die for a few cheap medals and ribbons -- just like the foreign workers in Kuwait who do all the heavy lifting for their Kuwaiti masters. He makes the startling observation that all war movies -- even the classic antiwar movies -- are underneath the proselytizing, pro-war movies for these post-modern soldiers. For instance, when his unit is told they're going to ship out, they rent videos of Vietnam and WWII movies, drink beer for three days, butt heads, fight and wrestle, and pump themselves up with Hollywood versions of war, a version of war which Swofford comes to see has very little to say about his experience in the Gulf. Swofford is the master of the bizarre vignette, the sick twist. He tells, for instance, the story of how the Barrett .50 caliber sharpshooter rifle was introduced to his unit of sharpshooters for the Gulf War, hurried into the field after years of development. Swofford notes that soon thereafter, this obscenely powerful weapon made bullet-proof glass in limousines and around presidential podiums obsolete, became the weapon of choice for men like Timothy McVeigh, and was the main reason why the ATF were using heavy combat vehicles when they went to arrest David Koresh. Nothing is lost on Swofford, especially the scary and unpredictable machinations of the human heart. His ruthless honesty about himself is almost shocking: no failure, no sore spot, no wound goes unreported or unexamined. JARHEAD is fine, important, and, especially now in the prop wash of Gulf II, a particularly necessary book.
Rating:
Summary: At last... some honesty
Review: Very refreshing to read an honest account. So often books of this genre are full of bravado and appear to be written by the same brainwashed machines. This one cuts through all of that and the humanity of the author shines splendidly. There isnt talk of heroics and blind patriotism... rather, Swofford pees his pants when things get dangerous. Honest, real stuff. Research indicates ~50% of soldiers in WW2 did the same when under fire... but you'd be hard pushed to get your Dad or brother to admit it to you... they have an image to uphold, while Swofford deals with the reality rather than the myth of the modern soldier. This book will undoubtedly annoy a lot of military personnel who feel removed from and superior to everyday civilians. I guess many of them wont admit that antics such as those described in the book actually occur in the military. Well, let me assure you that they do. Just speak to a soldier who doesnt have anything to prove to you. Personally I think that in writing this book Swofford has done something more brave than most would admit. Well written, well structured, and well done. Buy it and take a fresh look at whats going on behind the hype and bs.
Rating:
Summary: Not simply about WAR
Review: I guess many people expect a book about war with just many grizzly details of killing and death.
Anthony Swafford does not deliver that. He does more than that.
First of all I don't belive that it is fair to judge him simply on the basis of anti war or pro war statements.It would be unfair to judge a soldier or ex soldier without having been there yourself.
Swafford has a very intruiging way of writing and his credits of creative writing courses and university degree definetly pay off. He reaches the reader without using the usual military lingo and Johyn Wayne type of talk. He does brag here and there though. But what makes it so worth reading is the insight he gives the reader into his soul and private moments, something that one would not find in many military bios or spec forces accounts out on the market.
The book deals with the effect war and the military have on the human soul rather than details about the gulf war. Although he also get svery honest about that as well. CNN reporters and Pentagon folks will probably hate Swafford as he collectively bashes everything that the US military has brought forth to the public market. War movies, USMC recruiting propaganda and censored news all get it big time.
Not very many books out there are so deeply honest and straight from the heart of the "guys that do the job" and yet still share the truth about what happens to human nature in wartime.
The only book that I would consider similar is EXCURSION TO HELL by Vincent Bramley, a hard to get classic about the true gut wrenching bloody nature of the Falklands War ,a book as disturbing as this one. I would disagree that this book is an attempt to undermine the moral or spread anti american propaganda. Swafford says things that he feels need to be said and that will shock readers, left or right wingers alike.
Rating:
Summary: really, really good
Review: Swofford's account of the war is sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always gripping and never dry. The account is fascinating, but what puts this book on top is Swofford's eloquence and way with words. Jarhead is made even more relevant given the situation in the world today. This is a beautifully crafted book.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Honest, Well-written
Review: Jarhead is great 24-hour read: which means I stayed up reading it late at night and during break at work. Swofford's honesty reveals the extraordinary within the mundane and the mundane within the extraordinary. He covers his youth, romances, and enlistment/training/combat with great style that never distracts from the story. A fascinating perspective on the Gulf War for those of us who were around but never went there. He tells the funny, the passionate, the sad, all in good measure. A great story.
Rating:
Summary: Grunt's Diary
Review: Once you get past the braggadocio (I can bench press 350 pounds!), the intellectual name-dropping (Nietzsche, Celine, among others), the faux depth ("We are soldiers for the great fortunes of others"), and some embarassingly bad prose ("Our bodies were entwined like the history of our nations"), "Jarhead" is and excellent memoir, a standup triple in his first at bat by a serious new writer. Anthony Swofford's first book is funny, smart, and profane. Mr. Swofford was part of the largest force ever assembled, that which chased Saddam Hussein's "elite" Republican Guard (they've flung down their weapons and fled in terror twice now) out of Kuwait and back to Iraq. Marine Swofford was part of an "elite" Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon (it's hard to characterize a unit as elite when its first sergeant, finding himself several men down, dragoons recruits from a slop chute), a sniper. Mr. Swofford never got to fire his fancy sniper rifle in anger and his combat exposure was limited-he almost called in an artillery strike and he almost kicked a trip-wire. That's not his fault; it takes two to make a fight and one side here had no stomach for it. However, Mr. Swofford has accurately and often hilariously captured the behavior and the dialogue of young men at war. He also has written the funniest descriptions of the creative brutality of Marine Corps boot camp since Gustav Hasford's "The Short Timers", even if Mr. Swofford did go to boot camp at San Diego, where they turn out "Hollywood Marines", and not Parris Island, where they don't. "Jarhead", though funnier and flashier and not nearly as thoughtful, is reminiscent of W.D. Ehrhart's "Vietnam:Perkasie". Gulf I, however, still awaits the arrival of its warrior/poet, its Tim O'Brien. It still might be Anthony Swofford, assuming Gulf I rates a Tim O'Brien; it might take a Greek tragedy like Vietnam to produce an O'Brien. The book jacket informs us that Mr. Swofford is at work on a novel and we all know how notoriously autobiographical first novels are. Perhaps the disciplined freedom of fiction (there are fictional elements in "Jarhead") will allow Mr. Swofford's obvious gifts to deliver his generation's "Going After Cacciato". He's worth rooting for because he is good and he is important.
Rating: 
Summary: A work that gets under your skin
Review: I would say this work is more like 3 1/2 stars but, I'll give Swofford the benefit of the doubt. Swofford's writings are shocking, startling, and anything but pretty. However, I found that I couldn't put "Jarhead" down. (Perhaps it's a bit like rubbernecking at a highway crash...) Many of the images, phrases, and ideas linger for hours afterwards. "Jarhead" is fascinating because it provides the reader a completely different perspective on the Persian Gulf War than any civilian has been exposed to. Although, I would say that Swofford's experiences before and after the war are entirely his own (and I wouldn't take it as representative of others' experiences.) I recognize that one of Swofford's writing techniques is to freely utilize the element of shock in order to drive in an emotion or mood(sometimes it's rather overwrought.)Even his title choice, reflects Swofford's desire to "shock." At times, it's hard to discern what is exaggeration, myth, fact, or personal reality--but I believe that is part of Swofford's explanation of his own personal experience as a combatant for our country. I can understand that his work can be unpalatable at times; his attitude towards the U.S.M.C is without question a hate/love relationship. There is a great deal of bitterness in his treatment of his experience as a Marine, but he compensates somewhat by describing the friendships he formed with his comrades. The best and most redeeming sections of "Jarhead" is Swofford's description of his time in the Middle East. This is where he provides the most unique and worthwhile part of his memoirs--a direct glimpse of the combat conditions most of us will never see. An interesting and eye-opening read.
Rating:
Summary: Completely transporting and immensely entertaining
Review: I felt totally immersed in Swofford's experience of endlessly preparing for and then briefly enduring the hell of warfare. Ironic, cynical, troubled,and (yes, possibly) deceitful, Swofford's distinctive voice reminded me of such other troubled yet intensely aware and bitingly funny cynics as Salinger's Holden Caulfied. While I understand the bitterness and skepticism with which some Gulf War vet reviewers here have pounced on a few of the notorious and seemingly incredible anecdotes in the book, I think those commentators are missing the point -- I almost don't care if Swofford did embellish or exaggerate a few incidents-- he wasn't intending to write a history of the Gulf War, but, instead, to take readers into a far off world, both literally and figuratively -- a world where very young men are necessarily being turned into ruthless macho killing machines, while barely having emerged from their first sweet utterly human taste of sex, romance, love, jealousy, longing,etc. for the women left behind. The picture Swofford paints of living in the oppressive desert heat, undergoing the dehumanizing experience of military training, with all the attendant boredom, helplessness, loneliness, fear, and doubts -- leavened by the boisterous camaraderie and the wonderful language of jarhead-speak felt absolutely real to me. Forever reminded after 9/11 that savage enemies are intent on destroying us, I marvel that having emerged from a process that converts young men like Swofford into killing machines able to thwart our suicidally maniacal foes, he retains wonderfully human qualities of ironic wit, artistic expression, and self-awareness.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Great Reading for those exposed to USMC
Review: Once I started reading I couldn't stop. Swafford is a great author, and anyone who has had a brush with the Marines will agree with me. I am sorry that some have not understood the hard hurmor and truthfullness of this book, but for those who have been in the military, no matter what branch; and especially for all us "dependants" (or once were), this book is a MUST READ! I especially recommend this book to all young recruites!!!! A note to the author... I Love your Book!
Rating: 
Summary: Jarhead? It should be titled Jughead.
Review: Oh thank God Mr. Swofford is out of the Marine Corps. I am grateful for all the lives that have been saved since he is no longer in the Corp to steal from the very Marines that would give their own lives to save his. What type man would gleefully and proudly boast about selling out his comrades for profit? The book's lack of direction is glaring but I would imagine that would just be a reflection of Mr. Swoffords lack of character. It is no wonder he is such a hit in France. Fortunately, I borrowed the book from my daughter and didn't waste a cent on the tripe Mr Swofford is spewing. My recommendation would be to stay as far away from the book as humanly possible. Shame on Anthony Swofford for attempting to profit from his proud betrayal of the sworn oath he took when he became a United States Marine.
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