Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Book Review: Jarhead (didn't see the movie yet)

Once upon a time I read a review of the book Jarhead, by Anthony Swofford, which peaked my interest. Jeff was thoughtful enough to pick me up a copy recently. I'm glad he's not a marine, or at least anyone like Mr. Swofford. Honestly, I kept thinking, "what a horse's ass this guy (Swofford) is." And, did I need any reminders that so many of our young marines will screw anything around - and I do mean anything? Especially while they're bemoaning their unfaithful women at home? But these items paled in comparison to the narrative close to the beginning of the book of what evidently was the desert version of a code red, only involving the rape of a fellow marine (because he "...[had] recently been a jerk or abused rank or acted antisocial, ignoring the unspoken contracts of brotherhood and camaraderie and esprit de corps and the combat family" - I kid you not) instead of just beating the crap out of him. I sincerely hope I misunderstood this charming narrative and will berate myself for my immediate gut reaction of "these guys are indeed expendable and it's a good thing we have so many stupid, violent, drunk, sexually diseased ones to throw at the enemy," if that is the case. Then the aforementioned hole-chasing philosophe whines at the end that he didn't get to kill anyone. At least it was a quick read.

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