A Mile A Minute

The Gulf War, otherwise known as Operation Desert Storm and before Operation Desert Shield, was a coalition effort by several nations led by President Bush in 1990- 1991. 14 years after the end of the war, the film Jarhead was released in Cinemas starring Jake Glyinhal as the lead. The story follows the events of the novel Jarhead: A Soldiers Story of Modern War, published in 2003 by former Marine Anthony Swafford.

The Gulf War could be considered one of America's most one-sided victories, as few Americans died in comparison to graveyards like Vietnam or World War 2. While a massive success, the toll it took on the soldiers who fought was far different than any war previously. In the film, we see Swafford make his way through boot camp and basic training. He is broken down as a man in a very similar light to the opening act of the famous Vietnam movie Full Metal Jacket. As his drill instructor says, "You are no longer white, black, red, or yellow, you are green!" Basic training turned these men into soldiers, killers, and individuals who are driven by one purpose: to get that kill. To kill is the only thing they know, they are Marines after all.

Stationed on the Saudi border, they wait endlessly for combat. When they are finally blessed with the advent of Operation Desert Shield ending to become Operation Desert Storm, they feel that their purpose can be fulfilled. The Soldiers are driven by the idea of the perfect kill. The ones they saw and heard of from those who fought in Vietnam and World War Two. Despite seeing combat, they quickly realize that the war had been fought at "A Mile A Minute". War was no longer a game of inches, with America's superior technology in warfare, wars could be over in less than a year. The soldiers realized that next to tanks, jets, mortars, artillery, airstrikes, and light armored vehicles, they had no real stake in this war. Despite the threat of combat, Saddam's gas attacks, and the supposed 4th largest military in the world, the Soldiers could not fight back as there was usually nothing to fight back against.

The Soldiers also had no identity of their own. Inspired and driven by the bravery and culture that World War Two and Vietnam had brought to the nation, they wished to be like their fathers and grandfathers. They soon realized, however, that they had no identity next to these wars. They played Vietnam music and movies, the tactics were similar to that of World War Two, and in general, they felt under the shadow and as lesser Soldiers to those men who fought before them. This crisis of identity further weighed on their minds.

The lack of combat skills, action, as well as the conditions and mental strain that the war brought had caused many soldiers to have mental breakdowns, which we see happen to both Swafford and his battle buddy Troy. Both men break mentally under the strain. Troy specifically breaks because he realized his involvement in the war had no purpose. Denied of the kill he desired so desperately, everything he experienced had come out at that moment. Without this kill, he would have nothing to show for the war. These men were driven by the one perfect kill. It is what they were drilled repeatedly to want in basic and boot camp. To deny these men of what they have come to fundamentally desire is like stripping a starving dog of a hard-earned steak.

Jarhead is a different kind of war movie. It doesn't focus on the blood pumping, inane, and intense combat and danger that Full Metal Jacket had tried to show in its portrayal of Vietnam. Nor does it try to fill the audience with sorrow and pain of soldiers like in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Jarhead shows a different intepritation of war, it interprits the Gulf War as a new kind of war. One that left its soldiers mentalliy bruised and miles behind any form of combat. While it seems ironic or schetchy that a lack of combat would cause soldiers to break, it makes sense as the will to fight is in their American blood.
Sources:
Jarhead (2005)
Jarhead: A Soldeirs Story of Modern War (2003)