Jarhead

A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles

By: Anthony Swofford

Narrated by: Anthony Swofford

In his New York Times best-selling chronicle of military life, Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences in war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family.

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.

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)

Great writing

Unfortunately, this will never be a classic, too profane. But some of the writing is world class. However Swofford needs to learn more about depression and suicide.

Still a relevant and breathtaking book

I must’ve read Jarhead 15 times when I was a boy. It helped me into the military and into a life of purpose. Nothing can compare to this book read by Anthony Swofford himself. I hope that you get as much out of it as I did.

good, but rambling

hard to listen to, he starts rambling and you tune out, then you hear something interesting and need to rewind.
interesting though that almost everything in the movie was true.

monotone reading but good story

the author is very flat in his delivery but his story is genuine and very true if you've ever served in the military

Monotone, but full of truth.

Swafford put into words some of my experiences in the Marines for which I have no words because they are abstract. I knew this book existed and I saw the movie, but never read it. I wish I had a long time ago.

poor reading

he seems uninterested in his own book. the material was good but I couldn't finish due to the reading.

Brilliant memior

This book is very relatable to the vet who served in a combat arms. We all have seen and read the bullshit propaganda like American sniper and lone survivor, but this story is deeper. It doesn't glamorize war, it doesn't glamorize the service member, it's the journey of a young man being conditioned to do one thing for many years and then being told that the war he was destined to fight in, was already won. The reality and psychological confusion that Anthony faces is a story that anyone who actually served will find greater meaning in

Don’t let the low reviews fool you

If you’ve served, especially in or with the Marine Corps the book will describe a lot of the ways you feel but aren’t able to express. This isn’t a glorious novel about war, but the internal struggle the individual goes through during their enlistment. It expresses the confusion the majority of us have felt and supplies the answers to those questions in most ways; by no means complete solace, but rather the start to sorting through those emotions.

Great writing and telling

Fantastic listen. Moving, funny, devastating, heartwarming, grief ridden, I’m eager to listen to his next book and I’m glad the author did the audio he was great

Amazing - UPDATE: Still amazing

Intensely honest, honest in a way that you didn't think others thought inwardly the way you do, it's fanatically good. The movie is a travesty, a heartbreaking crime against this great autobiography.

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.