Once a blue moon I watch ‘Jarhead’ , a story of a Marine’s encounter in the Gulf war. A great outlook on war and the soldiers (usually 18-20 yr olds) that signed a contract and our deployed all over the world in the most gruesome conditions.One key factor in the movie that always resonates with me is the troop deployment over the Kuwaiti-Iraqi war … (490,000). Unparalleled with today’s strategy and troop numbers over in Afghanistan and Iraq. I’m not the one to say let’s throw as many of our young lives over there as soon as possible but, with a person like Col. Powell objecting to the minimum troop reinforcements that occupied those areas, I wondered what competency the Bush and Obama administrations have towards these two non-stop wars.It’s a great piece of film with great actors and very well directed. (the book is somewhat better but a 2hr screen fix works well also). It’s a theme of how these soldiers miss their home even in a short war like the ‘Gulf war’ and the lack of contact plays on their morale over the months. It has humor mixed in as well as some gratuitous action scenes.Last night I saw a 10 minute documentary/news video on how the govt and it’s diplomacy towards Afghanistan yielded no exit strategy from the start and their goal was never to have reasonable success in those regions. This isn’t us going over to a foreign country to protect some oil fields from an invasion. To their radicals we are the invasion giving them strength and propaganda to recruit new terrorist and insurgents that will give up their lives in an instant.Obama offered to send 40,000 troops (the minimum) ordered by 1 of his generals. A complex issue that everyone wants to resolve and with the last bombing in Baghdad that left 150 dead and 400 injured, one has to wonder if their way of dealing with these two fronts is a reasonable one.Just some thoughts on this current news events as I watched ‘Jarhead’ .
p.s. ‘Every war is different, and every war is the same’
Mari1980
Real interesting thoughts, Lucas.
One does wonder what exactly is happening with this long standing war. Is the only reason they fight— is for the simple fact that the US is occupying their land? I spoke to a Vetern’s widowed wife last night and she said..as far as she’s concerned this is another VeitNam war.
She said we (USA) went to VeitNam and then when the all was said and done, we abandoned the people in Veitnam.
But, there needs to be some kind of answers to want is the real purpose we are fighting.
are they fighting for this country…or is an agenda?
I have several friends right now fighting. At least 5. And the other 7 are home for the time being. They dont want to go back but they will b/c that’s their job.
All they want are answers.
lukasz79:
I understand you totally on that one. There are similarities between the Vietnam war and this one, which makes it more eerie. There doesn’t seem to be a winning scenario and with the Afghani govt proving to be unstable, the war seems to be stretching itself. We shall see if the Iraqi govt withstands the recent attacks and maybe the troop withdrawl from there would be in the near future. It’s a very complicated issue and answers are not forthcoming. I wish your friends all the best and may they return home safely from their duty.
Mari1980
I forgot to say something about that movie.
it’s so good in the way it depicts the Gulf War. The issue with there women.. was insane…sad and terrible.
One by one they all made it to board of ex’s. haha.. not funny I know….. but, just awful in a way that you have to laugh.
lukasz79:
Oh yeah…that sucked…the main character was just waiting to put her up there and it just killed the morale of the rest of them. Still, those were mostly young guys with girlfriends… rarely you saw a wife up there (hopefully). The one scene…wow…what a way to watch ‘Deer Hunter’ ….ouch.
Mari1980
OH!!! yeah…that scene was HORRIBLE!!!!!! Geez i forgot that …until now. the homemade porn movie… wow.. that was just awful!
You know though when I watched it for the first time, I watch w/ my husband.
He literly walked out … he couldn’t watch it. i remember he squezed my leg and walked off. He got so angry at this tone of the movie.
I was perplexed… he got so angry… i laughed it off.
but… He didn’t think it was funny..
lukasz79:
Yeah I get different feelings when I watch that part every time… too drastic and harsh but funny at the same time.
Mari1980
I think my favorite “WAR” movies… if you don’t mind me making a list here…
they have to be…
Paths of Glory (1957) — Stanley Kubrick(d) and Kirk Douglas. it’s during WW1. If you watch it resonates today’s war, it’s really strange. Ralph Meeker is in this movie too and he’s a great character actor! I highly recommend this movie.
Full Metal jacket- Kubrick (d) — this is also another great movie! I’m sure you’ve seen it, but i think out of all the Veitnam movies this one is true to what it’s must have really been like over there.
lukasz79:
Never seen ‘Paths of glory’ but ‘Full metal jacket’ is one of my all time favorites. From the boot camp scenes all the way to the war and the quotes are hysterical. My next top favorite would have to be ‘Saving private Ryan’ … and if you’re talking about TV series then it’s ‘The Band of Brothers’ .