North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News

Tim wrote on Mar 16, 2006 7:40 AM:I read the book. This guy is an insult to all Marines.

Terry wrote on Mar 28, 2006 12:09 PM:I served with Marines many times while a Seabee and Jim nailed it. Yeah sometimes we were animals. But when it was time to get your stuff together they did and we did. And, like jim mentioned its something not talked about at reunions and such. Do civilians reminisce about college frat parties? Guys may have hated an inept officer but I never saw open disrespect of an officer. For one that disrespectful guy would have been squashed like a bug from the entire chain of command. I know its hard for civilians to understand the culture but trust me it works and I'm proud to have served with 'em.

MACK GySgt[Ret] wrote on Mar 28, 2006 1:47 PM:HAVEN'T SEEN IT~! DON'T WANT TO SEE IT~! WILL NOT SEE IT~! SEMPER FIDELIS ~ ONCE A MARINE; ALWAYS A MARINE~!

DEHA wrote on Mar 28, 2006 9:45 PM:I have not seen the movie, I am a marine wife and my husband is in Iraq. he has served in the corps for 12 years. He is home every oppertunity he has with myself and our children. Some marines give the corps a bad name as well as some wives give others a bad name. We are all survivors, do not let a few bad seeds cloud your judgement. I dare anyone to do what our troops do and stay in a sound state of mind 100% of the time. In any aspect of life there are people who stereotyped, would you want to be because of a few people's behavior?

Isaac wrote on Apr 3, 2006 7:47 AM:Everyone and his war buddy has written an "Ooh Rah," semper fi, flag-waving book about how great the Marine Corps is/was. It was refreshing to see that one Marine (Swafford) was brave enough to take another, more personal and introspective, look at the difficult issues surrounding combat service. I've been to Iraq during this latest war and seen some of the things portrayed in Swafford's novel with my own eyes. Anyone who says that his book/movie doesn't accurately portray at least one aspect of the Marine Corps is wear "semper naive" blinders. Wake up and smell the suck that comes with all the good stuff.

Phil wrote on Jul 13, 2006 5:54 PM: The book was trash; and insult to the Corps and especially the enlisted Marine; why waster the time and money on the movie. I was priviledged to be a company commander in Vietnam and the book detracts from the Marines that I was fortunate to serve with. As a junior officer, all helped me and others JOs mature into the job. My Dad, that has passed, would be sickened by the book/movie he was a China Marine and then a WW2 Marine making 5 or 6 of those terrible amphibian assaults. The old Gunny, in his day, with his 6 purple hearts and 2 Bronze Stars would have cleaned up the squad bay with these punks. Semper Fi!

John wrote on Aug 15, 2006 6:55 AM:Im not a Marine ,although,Im a veteran of the US Army, I diddnt see the movie Jarhead although I read the book. It offended me,If I were a Marine ,I would be extremely pissed that the snivveling author was allowed to have some face time.Semper Fi.

USMCDad wrote on Sep 15, 2006 7:26 AM:I read the book, and that was enough for me (couldn't finish it actually) ... I would never see the movie, and I'm sorry I bought the book. Complete junk. Swofford needs psychiatric help, and he now has the money to pay for it. Hollyweird wins again!

Phil wrote on Oct 9, 2006 3:54 PM:NCT please stop pimping this story. It was onld when you ran it 3 months ago. Semper Fi!

JOE wrote on Jan 19, 2007 8:28 AM:FORMER MARINE 1976 - 1984 THIS ARTICLE SURPRISED ME. I BOUGHT AND WATCHED THAT TRASH THINKING IT WOULD BE A GOOD REPRESENTATION OF THE CORP. I HAD TO STRUGGLE TO WATCH IT TILL THE END. ONCE IT WAS OVER I TOLD MY WIFE, "DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAW IN THAT MOVIE." MY FIRST REACTION WAS TO TAKE IT BACK TO THE STORE FOR A REFUND, BUT THEN I THOUGHT, "WHY" THEN SOMEBODY ELSE IS GOING TO WATCH IT. AFTER SERVING IN THE CORP I CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THE CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY THAT I LEARN. THIS MOVIE IS A COMPLETE DISGRACE TO THE MARINE CORPS. I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT THEY SHOULD ROUND UP ALL THE SISSY PUNKS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING THAT TRASH AND SEND THEM TO MCRD. I AM GLAD TO KNOW THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS OFFENDED BY THAT WASTE OF A GOOD DISC.

Edward wrote on Mar 2, 2007 2:33 AM:Can you imagine training and bonding with your fellow Corpsmen until ALL insecurities, ALL physiological urges, and ALL questions of self-intellect were completely open, recognized, and openly dealt with by one another? Anything that crosses any dark part of your mind has enough time that it is shown in the light, and your fellow Marines deal with it openly and humanistically. You truly bond with one another. No one back home has ever had this kind of human connection, because they don't have the urgency recquired to break these horsesh** insecurities. You are stripped so bare of insecurities that you treat every physiological impulse as real, no matter how "ugly." And your fellows don't hate you for it, cause they are human too, because they have seen it too. They don't deny it. That would be freaking liberating! You learn to live life above the boards of forced courtesies and self-doubt. Then you go home, stateside. Second-guessing, passive-aggression, under-handing, manipulation, rampant insecurity. Everyone lives at one-tenth your speed because they pay heed to the useless notions you have abandoned since training. You are an alien. You actually LOOK different.. until you can adjust to what is appropriate with the rest of the slow-witted people who have never been bare. You've been bare. You SOUND different. And you look back, to how much all of these guys knew you, how you knew all of them....you can't find that honesty of a united struggle, ANYWHERE in the world of resumes and shmoozing and ass-kissing in the business world. That's why you are bonded to everyone else who has been a Marine. You've truly been human together, at a thousand miles an hour. Despite the details of what this Swofford experienced, it is that scene at the end, actor-embraced with the truest heart, by the Vet happy to sit in the bus, that gets at what could possibly seen as positive, not negative, about the Marine experience. The young kids thought he was strange, but it was obvious that they would understand him within months. If it makes civilians appreciate the depths endured, it is not a dishonor to the Corps, it bridge - and one that could hopefully make Vets feel not so weird about what they went through, but bonded and assured that we are all human. They are just some of the very few with the guts to endure it at such a high rate of speed from one decision to the next. If you have a small mind, you'll look at the details of actions in the movie. If you have a positive mind, like what is needed in battle, you'll notice the reflection and energy, the love. Bottom line is, they all respected the officers, no matter what they did that got them disciplined. Bottom line is, they never turned their backs on anyone. Bottom line is, it was hard, and they fought with all they had. Most of will be able to get by without ever giving it all we truly have. It's not a Marine pamphlet, but it's an artistic effort. Go Corps! Go humans!

Jorind wrote on Nov 23, 2007 2:01 PM:I have neither seen nor read " Jarhead", so am not qualified to judge its merits re: the Corps. However, I do not consider the term " Jarhead" to be a pejorative adjective in describing me or one of my brothers-in-arm.

nick wrote on Jul 9, 2008 11:45 PM:Hey come on... take it for what it's worth. E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-M-E-N-T Not even that good of entertainment but entertainment none the less. It is not a tell all factual account nor is it a based loosely movie. It's fiction for entertainment and again bad entertainment at that so don't go all witch hunt on Hollywood yet. There will be more. They can't always get it right or we'd be bored of watching all of these amazing movies. So you have to dumb a few down to make the good ones look great. But by no means should anyone take this stuff serious. Laugh it off and let it go. It's Hollywood for Christ's sake.

Never wrote on Jul 10, 2008 10:56 AM:Will never watch it. Trash. I suspected what it was about when it was on TV and changed the channel. Biased-yes. As as Viet Name vet I wont watch this trash. I wont watch Platoon or the other garbage. Two minutes into the film I turn the channel. I watched Patton and the one about the Normandy Landing-they were more realistic. When I hear the profuse use of the F word it is a signal to stop and not watch trash. I cant watch immature vulger low class people as depicted in the film. Disredits the military. Over 20 years service-never used the F word or associated with such low class people-they would have been booted out!!! I was in nuclear, so if you were late three times for work-you were discharged from the service!! Your words and actions behavior was always under watch, as well as what you did off duty.