What Am I Reading?

I'm one of those guys who wouldn't survive a day in basic training; I'm just not built for the physical brutality and the Cro-Magnon mentality necessary to get through something like that. Nevertheless, one of the things I love to read about is the on-the-ground, first hand accounts of the vagaries of people in extremis. And war, Vietnam, WW II and the invasion of Iraq are just that: people in extremis, systems running amok and most of all, survival of the fittest and the pathos of the not so fit.

So I'm reading "Jarhead," by Anthony Swofford. I saw the movie and happened upon the book at the local library. Kind of reminds me of "In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War," by Tobias Wolff. You can read a short review of "Jarhead" at amazon.com.