Swofford's Jarhead is not one of those dodgy, gauzy, misty-foggy memoirs. It takes the reader back to a specific place and time.
It reminded me where I was and what I was doing when the Iraq invaded Kuwait. One day my boss came in the door all excited. 'We're going to war', he said. I put my nose back in my stack of veterinary medical records and continued what I was doing. I paid no attention to him because he was an idiot and a liar. In this instance he turned out to be right. I was living in Arlington DC at the time, which is basically a bedroom community for our nations government. Fort Myer Army base and Henderson Hall Marine Barracks were right down the street from my house.
Back in the late eighties the term jarhead, while not exactly a term of endearment, was usually spoken with a slight roll of the eyes, perhaps a wink and a nod with a small downward smile. The Jarheads were considered the bad-boys in town, the class bullies. While they were usually harmless, one kept one's distance.
For example, one day I was walking to my neighborhood 7-11 for a soft drink and some snacks. I saw two jarheads walking up the street towards me. As they approached, one of them suddenly stepped toward me and popped me in the jaw hard enough to send me sprawling against a nearby railing. A group of Japanese tourists scrambled to their car, afraid to get caught in the possible melee that would ensue. I was just pissed off enough to confront them about it. I yelled at them, "What'd you do that for?!" The one who hit me seemed taken aback that I even said anything, and he came up with a quick lie. He said, "Aren't you Joe? I thought you were Joe." He smirked at his buddy and kept walking.
Swofford describes in granular detail what it was like to be on the front line. These guys were pumped, the adrenaline was flowing, somebody was going to get hurt. I have read the book, and watched the movie. (I saw the movie first in the interest of full disclosure). The interesting thing was that the parts in the movie that seem so surreal are the same parts that seem surreal in the book; such as Swofford's run with his buddy, and the oil rain scenes. This surreal element may cause some people to doubt whether or not it is true.
Based on my personal experience with jarheads, I believe that Swofford believes what he says is true.
