http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Short-Timers

The Short-Timers is a semi-autobiographical novel by former Marine Gustav Hasford about his experience in the Vietnam War. It was later adapted into the film Full Metal Jacket by Hasford, Michael Herr, and Stanley Kubrick.
The book is now out of print, but Hasford's website contains the entire text.
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The book is divided into three sections, written in completely different styles of prose.




"The Spirit of the Bayonet" chronicles Pvt. James T. "Joker" Davis' days in the Marine Corps boot camp, where a drill instructor (Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim) breaks the men's spirits and then rebuilds them as brutal killers. Here Joker befriends two privates nicknamed "Cowboy" and "Gomer Pyle." The latter, whose real name is Leonard Pratt, earns the wrath of both Gerheim and the rest of the platoon through his ineptitude and weak character. Though he eventually shows great improvement and wins honors at graduation, the constant abuse has unbalanced his mind. In a final act of madness, he kills Gerheim and then himself in front of the whole platoon. This section is written in a very simple, savage style.




"Body Count" shows some of Joker's life as a war correspondent for the Marines. He travels to Huế with Rafter Man, his photographer, and is reunited with Cowboy, now assistant squad leader in the Lusthog Squad. During a battle, Joker is "wounded" (actually only knocked out by an RPG concussion blast) and the book goes into a psychedelic dream sequence. After his quick recovery, Joker learns that the platoon lieutenant was killed by a friendly grenade, while the squad leader went insane and attacked an NVA position with a BB gun only to be shot down. Later, Joker and Rafter Man battle a sniper that killed another Lusthog soldier and an entire second squad; the battle ends with Rafter Man's first confirmed kill and Cowboy being wounded slightly. As Joker and Rafter Man head back to their base, Rafter Man panics and dashes into the path of an oncoming tank, which fatally crushes him. Joker is reassigned to Cowboy's squad as a rifleman (a grunt) for wearing an unauthorized peace button on his uniform. The writing style in "Body Count" is more complex than that in "The Spirit of the Bayonet."




"Grunts" takes place on a mission through the jungle with Cowboy's squad, outside of Khe Sanh. They encounter another sniper here, who wounds three of the men multiple times. After the company commander goes crazy and begins babbling nonsense over the radio, Cowboy decides to pull the squad back and retreat, rather than sacrifice everyone trying to save the wounded men. Animal Mother, the squad's M60 machine gun carrier, threatens Cowboy's life and refuses to retreat. Promoting Joker to squad leader, Cowboy runs in with his pistol and kills each victim with a shot to the head. However, he himself is repeatedly wounded in the process; before he can kill himself, the sniper shoots the gun out of his hand. Realizing his duty to Cowboy and the squad, Joker kills Cowboy and leads the rest of the men away. This section is written in a more complex style than the previous two, with more time spent on Joker's inner thoughts.

Just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Good book. I guess it has been made into a movie and will be out in theatres later this month.

I finished The Gathering Storm several days ago, and I'm pretty mixed. I like that we're getting a conclusion, but sometimes the prose is so clearly not Robert Jordan's that it was distracting to me. I like Sanderson's writing in general, I've read many of his previously published novels, but I thought he really struggled to find some of the characters' voices, most notably the women (I thought he was off with all the female viewpoints for most of the book). Which struck me as odd, because Mistborn is told primarily from the perspective of a heroine, so it's not like a woman's perspective is something he hasn't done before.

But, all that said, it wasn't bad. It's pushing the series forward, and there's a clear sense for the first time in the Wheel of Time that the end is coming.

That''s great. Sounds like something I would like. I tend to think of war in human terms, and really don't think "true meaning" exists.

I hope that doesn't make people think I'm "soft", and I am not a liberal, but we're sent to enforce the reality of abstract ideals, but most of us are not cheerleaders, we just have a good job and don't really question what we have to do, plus we have an exceptional cameradery and our greatest loyalty is to our friends. Now that I am retired, that human connection between fighting men fascinates me, and I miss it.

I could be wrong but Weinstein Company has played musical chairs with their release dates so I think it got pushed back into February.


Not 100% positive.

So it occurred to me over that last year or so that I know next to nothing about eisenhower. So I've been reading a book called Ike for the past few weeks. 800 pages, it starts with his childhood and details everything. But it it very interesting. So far I'm loving it. I'm only to the planning stages of D-Day, but I can't hardly put it down.

That was one dark and depressing read. I liked it very much, but damn I needed some serious sunshine after reading that one. I'd advise anyone with a desire to read it, to read it outside in the brilliant radiance of the sun.

I'm reading the latest issue of Virgina Quarterly Review which is all about Mexico's failing war on drugs this issue. Just some wonderful nonfiction about life in Juarez.

well i finished superfreakonomics and i was disappointed compared to the first one. not because of the global warming chapter, but it seems all in all that they just kinda mailed it in hoping they could cash in on the success of the original.

Recommendation from Hamas:

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col Dave Grossman.

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psycho.../dp/0316330116

Planning on reading this over my holiday break.

I don't need to read any more or see any more to know that the drug war is the most inefficient, fraudulent war and biggest waste of resources this country has ever produced. And the sad thing is, it says we learned nothing about prohibition.

And that's precisely what the global warming chapter, which got shredded, said to me.

Absolutely. Though these pieces are focused on the war on drugs that Mexican President Felipe Calderon instituted in 2007; policies which caused the cartels to fight with unspeakable violence in competition for territory (and how America is affected by Mexico's failures regarding drugs).

That'd be an interesting angle.

Interesting, thanks for looking that up, i just cant figure out why Dispatches isnt mentioned as a major influence though...the 'slick' door gunner, the ass chewing from the colonel 'get with the team', those are just a few scenes directly lifted from it.

Oh well, sounds like another good book to check out.