Marine dies

Jarhead
$9.99
I remember reading a number of years ago in George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" that war was a period of intense boredom interspersed with brief intervals of absolute terror. Such a view would apply to the movie, "Jarhead".

Here, we see the military life of Anthony Swofford unfold. As a somewhat reluctant recruit to the US marines, Swofford (as played by Jake Gyllenhall) manages to be selected as a specialist sniper. The training period is harsh but does succeed in spitting out trained soldiers at the end. If these men have one common feature it is that they all wish to go to war. And George Bush Senior obliges by declaring war on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. The troops can hardly wait. But wait they must.

After landing in Saudi Arabia as a stepping stone to Kuwait, further training continues. Hopes of war are high amongst the young man. However, they are destined to train and wait, train and wait. They are itching to see action but always seem to play a secondary role to the modern war machine that relies upon precision bombs and aerial attack. The infantry sees little action. In fact, none of the men in Swofford's platoon gets to fire a shot in anger.

"Jarhead" is not a typical war movie. There is no direct clash between good guys and bad guys. The viewer is given a far more ambiguous view of war where politics plays a greater role. As a result, this film differs from the usual Hollywood fare where good triumphs over evil and no questions are left unanswered. It is this apparent ambiguity that gives "Jarhead" real credibility. It would have been so easy to fall back upon a formulaic production.

I can strongly recommend this film. The story is one that needs to be told. The acting is first rate and the scenes of destruction in the wake of Saddam's burning of the Kuwaiti oilfields are absolutely mesmerising. If only Hollywood could adopt the "Jarhead" approach to other films.

Standard Horizon STD-GX1500SW Quest-X Fixed-Mount VHF Radio (White)
$299.99
White GX1500S fixed mount submersible VHF marine transceiver with class D DSC distress call with NMEA GPS position input, oversized alphanumeric display and rotary knob, loud speaker audio (can be heard in noisy environments), 25/1 watts, DSC position polling when connected to GPS chartplotter, connection for RAM+ for VH-310 second station remote mics, programmable scanning, dual watch, priority scan and NOAA weather and alert, customizable channel names, die-cast chassis, repeat GPS information on the display, noise canceling microphone with 16/9 and channel selection keys

The Do-or-Die Men: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion at Guadalcanal
$6.99
Extremely well done tale of a superbly trained group of men who prevailed despite tremendous odds against their success. Much of their actions were as a result, as is usual in war, of trial and error. But their dedication to persevere were unheralded. All these guys were real heroes.