Read the book, won’t be seeing the movie. Every single marine I’ve ever talked to about it—hell, everyone I’ve talked to about it that was in the combat arms, myself included—is of the opinion that Swofford is the worst sort of combination of bald-faced liar and complete pussy. There are truly special stories that could be told from the Gulf War—the Battle of Khafji comes to mind—but Swofford’s is not one of them.
My son is a marine…I call him ‘jarhead’ all the time. He’s a respectful boy so he would never dream of calling me a ‘squid’. 
As for the movie, I saw the trailer…it looked kind of, I don’t know…trite I guess. I wasn’t too impressed by the trailer anyway…but then maybe it was the hip hop music and the deadpan ‘I thank god for ever day in the corps…oooorah.’ I doubt I’ll go see it. I haven’t read the book so maybe that makes a difference.
-XT
Can you elaborate on this?
Wow. . . I was joking. No need to act superior. Thanks for taking my post entirely too seriously.
There are many, many examples in his books of total fabrication.
Most glaringly obvious to any marine or soldier, even those not in his unit, are his claims of having free access to large stashes of alcohol and porno while in theater. Uh-uh. Did NOT happen. Some guys snuck a LITTLE alcohol or porno in, but nothing on the scale he bragged about.
He also brags about other flagrant violations such as sneaking his girlfriend into his quarters in Japan…quarters that had OPEN squad bays in real life. He talks about how he cursed out his captain and the officer just laughed about it. He brags about numerous bar fights where he kicked everyone’s ass and NEVER got in trouble for it. He relates how his unit never shaves unless reporters are coming by, DESPITE the fact that personal hygiene was at a PREMIUM during every phase of Desert Shield and Desert Storm in EVERY unit. He repeats the infamous and OLD urban legend about the sex tape from the Marine’s wife and claims it happened in his unit.
Those are just a few off the top of my head.
Now, maybe one or two of these things could have actually happened. Hell, maybe even ALL of them could have happened to different people scattered over the hundreds of thousands of military personell in the Gulf War…but for ALL of them to happen to the SAME GUY?
Sorry, he’s totally full of shit. Had he been writing a fictional Gulf War NOVEL, perhaps one could excuse piecing together various tall tales collected from different people in different units and collecting them in one represenative cast of characters. But this is supposed to be a FACTUAL autobiography.
Secondarily, it’s very clear that Swofford JOINED the Marines with a shitload of personal baggage and character problems. Then, when the Marines failed to change that, he universalized his own problems and stretched them out like a comforter over the rest of the Marine Corps. Two things are very clear from his book: 1)He hates the Marine Corps and 2) he hates himself.
Now, this might make his book quite the psychological study of an unbalanced young man, but it doesn’t make it very valuable as a study of the Marine Corps circa Desert Storm.
Thanks Rik
Well in the beginning of the book at some point he says something (and I am paraphrasing), “This is not true or false, this what I know.” I took that to be an indication that he is not trying to be typical or atypical, just himself.
Or a clever way to admit that he was just making it up as he went along.
Yep. Ranks right up there with the old standard “no shit, there I was…”
Funny, I didn’t get either of these assertions from the book. Definitely a struggle, an imbalance somewhere, but nothing I haven’t seen in other writers and soldiers (don’t know any marines).
Back at ya.
Guess this is as good a place to ask as any, but does anyone know the name of the song in the trailer?
Yes, there have been other soldiers and writers who’ve hated themselves as well. It’s pretty clear from his book that he expected the Corps to change him. When it didn’t, he began to hate it and blame that fact on his recruiters.
“Jesus Walks,” by Kanye West.
Thanks!
Don’t Worry Be Hap- Oh. That one.
Oops! You’re right—they use that first, just for a few seconds, before going into the West song.
The way I heard it in boot camp, it had to do with the high collars on our dress blues. Something about a jar-shaped head. Anyway, I would only consider it derogatory coming from a civilian or delivered with an obvious sneer. Coming from other services, it’s friendly ribbing. And I never ran into many Marines who called each other Jarheads. The usual slang term if addressing someone junior to you was Devil Dog.
Must…fight…the urge…Marine Corps sexy… too strong! BAH!
**Kyyrewyyoae **- How *YOU * doin?
I saw the movie today.
What I liked:
–the performances (for the most part) from all the major players; Jamie Foxx is especially watchable
–the soundtrack
–the direction and pacing. FWIW, I never even looked at my watch, which I usually do at some point during a film.
–the restraint factor–i.e., not preaching or being heavy-handed about the themes
–the desert attack footage
–a lot of elements from the book will be familiar to those who have read it
What I didn’t like so much:
–giving short shrift to Swofford’s conflicted feelings about his family, being in the Marines, and his friend Troy’s death. Possibly, more voice-over could have helped in this regard, but maybe then it would have been too much or the film would have run longer than 2 hrs. 15 min.
–the opening scenes with the drill instructor feel like rehashes from previous films
–no little blurbs on the screen (before the ending credits) that say anything about the people portrayed; it’s just something I’ve gotten used to seeing when movies are based on non-fiction events and people, but it’s not a huge deal.