
Jarhead
A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
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Narrated by:
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Anthony Swofford
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By:
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Anthony Swofford
When the U.S. Marines, or "jarheads", were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the first Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was punished by boredom and fear; he considered suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As engagement with the Iraqis drew near, he was forced to consider what it means to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.
©2003 Anthony Swofford (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"A searing contribution to the literature of combat." (The New York Times)
"This book offers...the casual reader, an unflinching portrayal of the loneliness and brutality of modern warfare and sophisticated analyses of, and visceral reactions to, its politics." (Publishers Weekly)
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Great writing
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Still a relevant and breathtaking book
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2021 UPDATE: I've read this book and listened to the audible.com version several times now over the years since it's come out. In 2020/21, during COVID, this book has helped me greatly. It reveals and confirms that some of the hardest battles are fought in the mind and that you don't always win or come out with the answers you seek. That sometimes you're stuck in the middle of the middle. And I've often adopted the phrase, "The following is neither true nor false, but simply what I know." I find that phrase covers a lot of what I have to say at work. This book has also accomplished what so many war movies fail at: not promoting war. This is a point that Swofford makes in the book, that all war movies promote war by creating or reinforcing the hero narrative, covering over the rough, messy bad cake with sweet smooth frosting. But Jarhead makes you admit that these are real people, not simply characters, and that war can only make everything worse. And if they come back from war and extol war's benefits, they are either people who never fought or they are liars who risk America's reputation and more. America is currently in 2021 in a tough spot where we've created generations of veterans, many of whom invaded the capitol. And the American veteran has an identity crisis, loved and feared and pitied all in the span of a single news story. This book can help the average civilian understand the complexity of what it means to be a veteran, and what war does to good and smart people. It also talks about the hero narrative, the rewards showered onto the hero and the value those rewards really have.
I'll say that this book sparks a lot of introspection, or it did in me. Swofford hoped that his war effort, if nothing else, helped the Vietnam vet who they pulled onto that bus. But I'd venture that he helped many people. He helped me through a lot of my own dark times in my life. I'm not a veteran but I've fought as an intelligent person in a sometimes idiotic world, struggling with what it means to be in a family of veterans, what it means to serve or not, what is means to be a man, and how we should treat each other when everything around you is falling apart. It's also helped me to realize the impact you can have with the creative work you create. During COVID, my world has become so much worse while working in healthcare, and in some ways so much better with so many more opportunities for doing great things and interacting with great people. I've also experienced death and dying and ignorance and stupidity that makes me want to write my own book about this insane time. And when I have felt lost or bad, listening to this book has made me feel so much better, almost like I'm a part of his struggles or like there are other struggles that other people do, which suck, and so many my own struggles can suck and it's OK.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book. The movie is absolute garbage and a betrayal of what really happened in real life. Skip it and just listen to the book. I love Swofford's reading of this very honest, raw, personal and extremely creative autobiography.
Amazing - UPDATE: Still amazing
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awesome
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great book from the average veterans perspective
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interesting though that almost everything in the movie was true.
good, but rambling
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monotone reading but good story
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Monotone, but full of truth.
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poor reading
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Brilliant memior
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