Product Description

This is a harrowing, yet inspiring portrait of a tormented consciousness struggling for reconciliation and peace. Anthony Swofford's grandfather fought in World War II, his father fought in Vietnam, and he, a directionless, testosterone-battered teenager, became a scout/sniper in the US Marines and fought in the Gulf War. His account of that time is also part of a lineage - after Wilfred Owen, Norman Mailer, Michael Herr and Tim O'Brien, it brings the raw and searing tradition of soldiers' tales up to date In the West, many have become convinced that it is possible to fight a war largely without casualties. Swofford's brutally honest account of life as a marine in the Gulf shows that every human being trained to kill another is a casualty. The author endures six months of sand-ridden hell with his fellow "jarheads", tortured by boredom and fear. He suffers physical abuse from a training officer, is betrayed by his girlfriend at home, puts a loaded gun in his mouth, threatens to kill a fellow soldier, and comes under fire from both the enemy and another US military unit With the conflict over, Swofford hikes for miles through a landscape of incinerated Iraqui soldiers and is almos

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #778655 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Martin Amis
'JARHEAD is not only a work of reportage from a "privileged" observer, it is also a display of genuine talent'

William Boyd
'A scathingly honest and bleakly powerful book. A hugely disturbing insight into the minds of the very young men who long to go to war'

A.L. Kennedy
'A terrific memoir: intelligently self-aware, moving and considered. I'd recommend this book to anyone'

Customer Reviews

Forgotten Soldier Remembered
Once a member of the U.S Marines Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, Anthony Swofford studies himself with the same intensity and relentlessness as he would have a potential target. Jarhead is an historical from the heart, through the scope account of not only his involvement in the 1991 Gulf War, but of the 20 year old Scout/Sniper he was. The chronicle is his attempt to explain himself and his part in the conflict by examining the mind, surrounding events and history of this young man in the most intense and compelling of styles.

This unrelenting, intimate and painfully truthful memoir spans the time and space of Swofford’s life. There is no hesitation, nothing held sacred or in reserve as he draws from experiences both pre and post war, analysing and dissecting the man he was and the man he is by describing in vivid prose the history of “Swoff”. Locations span the globe from bars to barracks, with stories comedic to deeply upsetting – many memories long buried unearthed that are instrumental in the enlightenment of both himself and the reader as to what it is to be a modern day warrior in action.

The language used in Jarhead is poetic. There are no sonnets and rhymes – rather the sighing reflective melancholy is beautifully illustrated by a barrage of some of the most creative strings of expletives imaginable. Swofford occasionally takes a back seat in telling tales, allowing events to speak for themselves and often with these events come a mixture of inspired profanity coupled with a vocabulary more extensive and intelligent than is commonplace in the war memoir genre. The language used creates a clear voice. A voice which enables the reader to paint a vivid mental picture of both image and sound.

Whether or not the reader is familiar with modern warfare - especially the tactics, training and weapons used in sniping and counter-sniping - it is easily perceived that the author understood his discipline and was highly skilled. Small details throughout, intentional or otherwise, point to the fact that the mind of a sniper may be very different from that of an infantryman. Possibly the mentality of a sniper or a person with the potential to be a sniper is the reason this book exists. Without detached sensitivity and a clear picture at distance (in this case time) there could be no end result.

The first thing I thought when I put this book down was how much it reminded me of Guy Sajer’s Forgotten Soldier. Perhaps not in any context other than the fact that both have had a lasting impression on me. This is not another sensationalised account of one man’s experiences during the Gulf War of ‘91, but rather an intense and audible regurgitation of personal events and feelings which attempt to explain who Anthony Swofford was at that time, who Anthony Swofford is today and a reconciliation between the two. This glorifies nothing. War memoirs will never be the same.

Refreshingly honest and disturbing.
I have just finished reading Jarhead. I was a bit disappointed, as I imagine many others would be, with the lack of "action" in this book. However, Swofford has a deeper purpose than recounting a first hand account of his experience in war, and that seems to be an exploration of what it means to be a soldier in this world of modern warfare.

The first three quarters of the book are full of reminiscences. As a reader you begin to question; "when is the action going to start?" The waiting is frustrating. In the same way that you bought a book about war expecting action, Swofford was sent to Saudi Arabia to fight a war; and expected action. The book wouldn't be what it is without the build up to the final action. The action, the "war", that is finally described is over very quickly.

I found the last 50 pages of the book refreshingly honest and disturbing. Swofford is honest about the hollwness he feels after serving. "You consider yourself less of a marine and even less of a man for not having killed while in combat". The years of training, the months of waiting....all must have seemed wothless at the end.

What is disturbing is the sense of how war can effect the mind.

Read it.

Devastatingly topical…
Swofford’s memoirs are dark, brutal and gripping. They read neither as a recruiting card for the USMC or glorious tales of battle, rather the story of young enthusiastic men spat out the other side of conflict and the Marines all the more cynical from their experiences. Riddled with dark humour and tempered with the stark realties of warfare, I guarantee you will not debate any conflict quite as flippantly after reading this.