Watch Jarhead

Jarhead is a dramatic film that follows a young man, Anthony, Swofford, as he attends the Marine Corp boot camp and prepares himself for going into war. Swofford finds boot camp extremely difficult. He only decided to become a Marine after failing out of college and breaking up with his cheating girlfriend. Boot camp is regimented and tough and Swofford does not like it. His attitude begins to change when he is approached by Staff Sergeant Sykes who wants him to go a special sniper training school.

Swofford accepts the Staff Sergeant’s invitation and he heads to sniper school. The training is so tough that one of the other soldiers dies but Swofford is so addicted to shooting. Swofford ends up getting sent to the Persian Gulf. While he is excited to be in war zone, he soon finds out that it does not live up to its promises. The war zone is boring and the Marines often do not have a lot to do. They tend to end up waiting for battles to come to them.

Swofford gets some unauthorized alcohol for the base Christmas party. The men end up getting drunk and burning down a tent. Swofford is demoted and is forced to depose of the base’s excrement. This makes Swofford feel humiliated and he starts to experience a mental breakdown. Swofford and another man are sent of a sniper mission which gets called off at the last minute. The U.S. ends up ordering an air strike in which Swofford and the other men on the group are forced to watch, experiencing no part of the action themselves. Swofford and his fellow soldiers are then sent home to their mundane lives. Swofford discovers his girlfriend was cheating on him so he breaks up with her. The film ends with all the men reuniting at a funeral.