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Dear Editor:
I am responding to an article in the Dec. 6 paper titled “Thumbs down for ‘Jarhead.’” First, let me say that I feel your paper should stick with reporting the news, and if you are going to have a section for movie critics, please get a professional critic to write the column.
That being said, every person has a right to free speech in this country and the right to their own opinion. Mr. Troy Brewer has a right to say how he feels, but I take great offense to the fact that a pastor would degrade anyone. According to him, I have no conscience or one redeeming virtue. Yes, this movie was vulgar, rude and obscene at points, but it was also one soldier’s account of what happened while he was in the Gulf War. Let’s not forget the movie was based on a book written by a man who was there. Also, you can’t forget it is a war movie like all other war movies such as “Platoon,” “Hamburger Hill” and “Saving Private Ryan” — all just show the accounts of one soldier or a group of soldiers.
I am sure Hollywood took liberties when making this film, but for Mr. Brewer to say “Nothing about anything real that actually happened in the Gulf war that we watched on CNN.” Does he really think that the military and government is going to show us all of the bad things that happen during war? My best friend severed as a Marine during the Gulf War, and the stories that he has told me about accounts over there during that time would match some of the scenes I saw in the movie.
Mr. Brewer seems to think that anybody who would pay to see this movie is sitting around the house making suicide bombs and planning a jihad. Well, did he not pay to see the movie also? He also seems to think that this movie stands against anything red, white and blue. Mr. Brewer apparently has never served in any form of military or paramilitary organization. I would bet if you asked every single soldier who has served in at least one combat situation, he could give you a scenario that would closely match a scene from “Jarhead.”
Mr. Brewer does say one good thing in this article: “The American military is still an honorable profession full of disciplined and moral men and women, and if you don’t like them, you can kiss their military grits!” I agree with this statement, and my brother who is serving in Afghanistan would agree with this statement. Don’t forget, though, that majority of the soldiers are in their late teens or early 20s and their main objective is to kill the enemy.
Back to the reason for the letter. I did not think “Jarhead” was the best movie, but I did enjoy it. It showed what mental and physical obstacles some of the soldiers in the Gulf War had to go through. I did not feel that it slandered the Marines or the military, and I am sure the soldiers who served in the Gulf War will not feel that way either.
I am a God-fearing Christian, and I was raised in a Southern Baptist church. Why is it that I never hear a pastor on the TV, radio or read in the newspaper having anything good to say? Instead, they are always talking about the newest movie or the next book that is going to be banned or boycotted. All that does is put more interest into the person’s mind who had never planned to see or read whatever the new gripe is about.
Thank you for your time,
Jon Graves
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