Looks like I'm an Iraqi war behind as well. Awesome book and well suited for competitive reading (a short, fast moving read).
Jarhead is Anthony Swofford's account of his time as Marine, focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on his deployment in Iraq during Desert Storm. It deals with the boredom and tediousness of training, the hurry and waitness (not a word) of the army and the deployment in the Gulf the first time around and the disappointment of not being able to act in what you train for.
The book moves through his time in training, being stationed accross the world (pre-Iraq), Desert Shield/Desert Storm and some time post the war.
While Swofford does come off as the typical "smarter than the average Jarhead along for the ride so he write about it afterwards" it is stil a very god read. In the earlier part of his service, his tiem alternates between boredom, harsh training and chasing booze & women. But it his time in Iraq that is the most intersting.
Swoffors, among many others in his unit, have been training and preparing for this moment for years. They are highly trained, expert killing machines ready and waiting to be unleashed and only miles away from the enemy. Swofford in particular, as a part elite Marine sniper unit, is raring to go. They make it several days into Iraq, and see minimal action, when, all of a sudden it is all over. And then what? What do they do now? What does it mean? Why are they there? What have they accomplished?
Obviously, the new "my experience in Iraq" books are very different from this one. Those will have very little dissapointment at lack of shooting, to & from. Still Jarhead is a great book, an easy ready and interesting insight into the mind of a trained soldier and what the opportunity to act on his training means to him.
Book can be found here (not where I bought it)
http://www.amazon.com/Jarhead-Marines-Chronicle-Other-Battles/dp/0743287215/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240715197&sr=1-1
14 down, 86 to go. April 5K book 4. Finished 4/16/2009 (review written way to late to count)
This post was written while listening to Adam Carolla interview Francis Ford Coppola
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