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A review of Jarhead

by Anthony Swofford

Harrowing and intense story of a thinking man’s indoctrination into the Marines

Reviewed by: Nancy Chapple

Jarhead I abhor war. I understand there must be some justifiable situations for resorting to weapons, so I’m not a strict pacifist, but I do wish that the world’s governments would find other ways to resolve their differences. I deplore how wars are conducted as a policymaking tool. And one of the institutions I have trouble believing in is the US military. What I never realized so clearly before reading Jarhead: you can only deploy the US military to carry out policy if you build up a military culture capable of executing such wars. So I was horrified at the contents of Anthony Swofford’s story of Marine indoctrination.

But I love this book.

For most of the men, companionship with other military men comes to replace family life, usually far from happy to begin with. We learn about the nature of camaraderie, of male friendship.

Though the theme would seem to be rather narrowly defined – one man’s deployment in the Marines in the Gulf War, we keep learning more about the man behind the uniform: a few childhood years spent in Japan, dad troubled after returning from Vietnam, an institutionalized sister, thoughts of suicide – and of killing. There are detailed discussions of what a sniper does, of the ritual cleaning of the weapons, of target practice, of cleaning the "shitters". The barroom brawls form a bridge between the military and the civilian worlds – Swofford has a tough time making the transition back after his years in military service.

Certain military installations, e.g. the Philippine Islands or Okinawa, are much more conducive to having affairs than Saudi Arabia. The realistic details of life in the military – for instance, their relations with faraway girls – can be very unsettling. Though over the years Swofford meets various girls who just want to get close to Marines because of the mystique around them, the nicest ones seem to keep their distance. Their battalion receives Any Marine letters "from young women, high school seniors and college freshmen and sophomores, girls just our ages or a year or two either way" that get distributed among the men. All of them hope vaguely for romance, sex, excitement, a real interchange. When they’ve all received so many, two unlucky junior soldiers get the task of answering further bags full of letters. His platoon builds a Wall of Shame, a six-foot tall post covered with pictures: "photos of unfaithful women, women who’ve gone bad on debts or stolen some poor jarhead’s car and all of his clothes or simply informed him that the ride has ended."

Swofford undergoes a kind of intellectual transformation as the book proceeds. He reveals which of the classics he’s reading, how he both belongs to his platoon and feels isolated. He analyses a colonel’s way of talking: "He tells us that we are both the tip and the eye of the storm. I think he’s blending metaphors, and that most of us don’t know what a metaphor is, and that he’s confusing the troops."

Though I’ve revealed a few passages, you’ll still need to consume the book on your own. The language is riveting, sometimes shocking, certainly explicit and full of swear words – Swofford himself calls it "trash … jarheadese, pure profane smack." It’s just what American society inculcates into its military men. You may feel some pull of identification with the subject matter – or complete horror – but either way you will not be able to put the book down.

And one final note: I hope they never try to make a movie of it, because it’s the story of a journey within one man’s head.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Jarhead

Copyright © by Nancy Chapple, 2004










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