Le Merdier: Full Metal Jacket

by Hasford Gustav

En 1967, les jeunes recrues de la base des Marines de Parris Island suivent un entrainement de 8 semaines avant de partir pour le Vietnam.
Le sergent Hartman, chargé de l'instruction, leur mène la vie dure. Malgré la protection de Joker "l'engagé Guignol", "Baleine", le souffre-douleur du sergent Hartman et la bête noire de ses camarades, finit par devenir un excellent tireur.
Mais il ne sort pas indemne de cette formation et ces semaines de souffrance et d'humiliation ont affecté sa raison : une nuit, il est surpris par "Guignol" jouant dans les toilettes avec un fusil chargé...

Genres: Fiction, War, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Novels, Literature, American

219 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1979

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

A brutal tale. A disturbing tale. A vicious tale. A creepy, overwhelming tale.

Get set to enter a savage world where men are turned into bloodthirsty killers.

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket is one thing; Gustav Hasford's The Short-Timers, the novel on which the film is based, accelerates to full throttle.

Oh, yes, the film is tough, the film shows violence but compared to the novel, it's as if Kubrick rounded off the many sharp edges of Hasford's shrapnel.

Gustav Hasford takes your head and shoves your face down into the gritty, green hell of what it meant, really meant, to be a Marine in Vietnam.

His first day on Parris Island, our story's narrator is given the name Joker by his drill sergeant. And we're right there with Joker all during his Marine training and then when Joker is shipped to Vietnam where he witnesses his Marine buddy growl, grunt, chew and swallow a piece of human flesh; a helicopter gunner smoke marijuana while firing his machine gun at a farmer in a rice paddy, giggling as bullets tear the farmer to shreds; Marine Animal Mother talk of his times fucking and killing twelve year old Gook girls - “If she's old enough to bleed, she's old enough to butcher"; Marines hack off ears, fingers, feet of corpses to serve as souvenirs; Marines torture and set fire to rats to take the edge off their boredom; a Marine crushes a Vietnamese child with his tank since he's driving as if in a sports car.

For a more complete taste, smell and feel for Hasford's saga, I'll link my comments to the author's actual words for each of the novel's three sections:

THE SPIRIT OF THE BAYONET
Joker as recruit at Parris Island: “Sergeant Gerheim explains that it is important for us to understand that it is our killer instinct which must be harnessed if we expect to survive in combat. Our rifle is only a tool; it is a hard heart that kills.”

The sergeant goes on to let all the men know if they survive recruit training, they'll be ministers of death, praying for war. Joker reports coldly and unapologetically on his own transformation to a hard-hearted minister of death, as if what he's describing is happening to someone else.

“The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear.”

Sergeant Gerheim detects the recruit he calls Gomer has developed into a fearless killer but the drill sergeant doesn't like Gomer's attitude since Gomer always remains silent and has ceased, in spirit, to be part of the platoon. Gerheim has to remind Gomer of the Marine Corps motto - semper fidelis, always faithful – and that “Gung ho” is Chinese for “working together.” Will Gomer's nonconformist attitude prove deadly? For Gustav Hasford to tell.

“Religious services in the faith of your choice--and you will have a choice--because religious services are specified in the beautiful full-color brochures the Crotch distributes to Mom and Dad back in hometown America, even though Sergeant Gerheim assures us that the Marine Corps was here before God. "You can give your heart to Jesus but your ass belongs to the Corps."”

Nothing like the military making sure everybody wearing the uniform believes they are killers in the name of God.

BODY COUNT
"I'm a combat correspondent assigned to the First Marine Division. My job is to write upbeat news features"

With searing irony, Joker acknowledges he's a public relations man for the Vietnam war in general and for the Marine Corps in particular. Nowadays, we might call Joker a spin doctor, putting his rhetorical skills to work to make sure war is wrapped up in good, healthy flag-waving. However, there's a benefit: Joker now has photographer buddy Rafter who tags along with him wherever he goes, even into battle.

One of the Marines tells Joker: "No Victor Charlie ever raped my sister. Ho Chi Minh never bombed Pearl Harbor. We're prisoners here. We're prisoners of the war. They've taken away our freedom and they've given it to the gooks, but the gooks don't want it. They'd rather be alive than free.""

This anti-Vietnam War sentiment would gain momentum year by year, month by month, right up until the USA's dramatic withdrawal.

Joker speaking to his Marine photographer buddy following a spat of killing out in the field: "It's not the kind of thing you can talk about. There's no way to explain stuff like that. After you've been in the shit, after you've got your first confirmed kill, you'll understand....Don't kid yourself, Rafter Man, this is a slaughter. In this world of shit you won't have time to understand. What you do, you become. You better learn to flow with it. You owe it to yourself."

A necessary consequence of becoming a killer: you're better not thinking about or reflecting on your actions. And there's the rub: we're humans not robots, invariably we brood over our past. How many times have Vietnam War vets relived their wartime experience, over and over and over and over?

GRUNTS
"Sorry Charlie is a skull, charred black. Our gunner, Animal Mother, mounted the skull on a stake in the kill zone. We think that it's the skull of an enemy grunt who got napalmed outside our wire. Sorry Charlie is still wearing my old black felt Mouseketeer ears, which are getting a little moldy. I wired the ears onto Sorry Charlie for a joke. As we hump by, I stare into the hollow eye sockets....Charlie always smiles at us as though he knows a funny secret. For sure, he knows more than we do."

The Short-Timers stings, a laconic and terrifying novel deserving a wider audience as we move deeper into our 21st century.

The Short-Timers is available free-of-charge via this link: https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/i...


American author Gustav Hasford, 1947-1993

[TK421 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gustav Hasford’s THE SHORT-TIMERS is my unicorn. It is the book that has eluded me for almost fifteen years. Finally, I wizened up and went to my library; I guess there are some books that will not become part of my personal collection. Enough about me. The book. My unicorn.

As a kid I knew that the movie Full Metal Jacket was based on this book. (Brief interlude: most of the best lines quoted from the movie were never said by that character in the book.) My father, a veteran of Viet Nam was part of the 1st Marine Division, 5th Regiment, 1st Battalion in ’68-’69 and told my brothers and I that this movie was as close as it got to any art form depicting Viet Nam in any sense of accuracy. So, I thought I knew the story.

WRONG.

THE SHORT-TIMERS gave Stanley Kubrick some ideas, an outline. Had Kubrick stayed faithful to the novel I am certain that the book would still be in print today. Where Kubrick went wrong was how he took aspects of a Marine’s psychology and twisted it to show only the parts that could be sensationalized.

Hasford’s novel has other ideas. THE SHORT-TIMERS wants to show how an ordinary man becomes a monster, but still maintains (or struggles to maintain) some semblance of humanity.

You see, it is easy to say that the guys who humped through the jungle during that much neglected and disrespected war were crazy, but it is harder to understand why exactly they were the way they were. These men were changed. One moment at a time they were transformed into killers. Joker and Cowboy and Pyle were never given a chance to be individuals; individuals get you dead. Rather, Joker and Cowboy and Pyle were twisted and broken and shaped into one tiny metallic splinter of a cog in the Green Machine wheel. And as their individualism was erased, something else took its place. It’s hard to say exactly was this something was. Attitude? Bravery? Loyalty? Fantasy? Bat-shit craziness? But by the time these men (except Pyle; you all know what happened) reached Viet Nam, this new persona became hardened. Death was nothing to fear. Killing was to be embraced. Even when a tank commander runs over a little Vietnamese girl and a water buffalo or when some of the guys are killing rats (VC rats) in their bunks or trenches there is a moment when the grisly nature of war should become apparent, but never does because the little girl’s papasan only wants reimbursement for the dead animal, knowing that the girl’s life is worthless monetarily and he needs money to buy food, and the rats are merely a gesture by God as a means to entertain the Marines while they are waiting for that moment when Charlie and ten-thousand of his closest friends run through the wire, eager to taste the blood of American soldiers.

By the time Joker meets up with Rafterman (and there is a heck of a back-story as to how Rafterman got his name) human emotion is only felt by the New Guys, the phony-tough and the crazy-brave. Once Rafterman experiences his first taste of bloodlust, once his first confirmed kill has been acknowledged, Hasford paints one of the most horrible scenes this reader has ever pictured in his mind. (I will not spoil this for you…trust me; it’s worth the wait to read it for yourself.) And it is during these times that Hasford’s novel far surpasses Kubrick’s film.

Allow me to illustrate my point. There is a scene in the movie where Joker and some of the other Marines are fighting in Hue. The movie shows some destroyed buildings, rubble mounds, and military movements.

Hasford describes it as such:
We see the great walls of the Citadel. With zigzagging ramparts thirty feet high and eight feet thick, surrounded by a moat, the fortress looks like an ancient castle from a fairy tale about dragons who guard princesses in need of assistance. The castle is black stone against a cold gray sky, with dark towers populated by shadows that are alive. The Citadel is actually a small walled city constructed by French engineers as protection for the home of Gia Long, Emperor of Annamese Empire. When Hue was the Imperial Capital, the Citadel protected the Emperor and the royal family and the ancient treasure of the Forbidden City from pirates raiding from the South China Sea. We are big white American boys in steel helmets and heavy flak jackets, armed with magic weapons, laying siege to a castle in modern times…Metal birds flash in and shit steel eggs all over the place. F-4 Phantom jet fighters are dropping napalm, high explosives, and Willy Peter—white phosphorus. With bombs we are expressing ourselves; we are writing our history in shattered blocks of stone…Wise, like Solomon, we have converted Hue into rubble in order to save it.

DAMN! THAT IS SOME WRITING!

As I said, this book is my unicorn. But that’s not all; Hasford goes further into the mind of a Marine in Viet Nam. In surrealistic dream sequences, Hasford examines what it means to be a lifer, poge, or grunt through strange interactions between Joker and what can only be described as a vampire who is also a colonel in the United States Marine Corp. Great metaphor, strange (yet incredible) storytelling. There is also a scene when Joker gets knocked off his feet from an explosion and his body splits in to three parts: mind, body, and spirit. The mind and body want Joker to heal, but the Spirit only wants to leave Viet Nam, seek some other realm. I wish I could give you more detail, but that would only ruin an extraordinary reading experience.

By the time the book gets to the third part, Joker is only a skin-suit. He no longer resembles himself. He has become a Short-Timer, a person that only has x amount of days and a wake-up. He has become paranoid, worried about self-preservation. In essence, he has become an animal. And that is the message Hasford successfully conveys. War is ugly. War is harsh. War is cruel. War has no survivors. And as Plato so succinctly stated: “Only the dead have seen the end of war,” to which I have to agree. For the living must carry that burden with them for the rest of their lives.

HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the movie, which surprised me because I like Kubrick. There's actually two separate sniper scenes in this which get merged to one in the film, and the training stuff is over relatively quicker in the novel.

The novel, at its best, feels like it has a drumbeat under it, propelling you forward. At its worst it's just a bunch of jarhead dialogue, collections of sayings from psycho-killers and guys just trying to survive the war, not always as pithy as the speakers think. But there's some really great stuff in here, especially how the ethical dilemma of the novel's climax, when the enemy sniper is taking out their friends. I can't remember if the movie has the same resolution or not, but damn, what an ending.

Also, finally, the bit where he's confronted about his peace pin is better in the novel. I don't think they'd be allowed to show what happens onscreen, even though it's not that violent or shocking, but it's subversive in a way that very little in American culture is ever allowed to be.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although, at this writing, hardcover copies of this out-of-print book sell for over $200 and paperbacks over $47 on Amazon, this excellent violent short novel is also available for free download, but acquiring it is a little tricky. It is on the official web site of the late author in three parts – in Hypertext Markup Language (.html) format
here and in Rich Text Format (.rtf) here. [2020 update: the links cited in the previous sentence no longer work, but the link cited in the following sentence does.] If the site is unavailable, an old copy of the site is available at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine here.

(After downloading the .rtf file, I used the “Send to Kindle by E-Mail” function. Put the word “format” (without quotation marks) in the subject line. The resulting display is good, with only a few misformatted words, or maybe misspellings from the original. Also, sometimes the paragraphs are a little jagged, but this seems appropriate somehow for the subject matter.)

On the basis of the Wikipedia article, outdated website, and slightly-less-outdated blog, it seems like author Gustav Hasford was one difficult cuss to start, and then serving in Vietnam probably did not improve his disposition any. It had that effect on many people. He quarreled frequently, drank continuously, and stole library books compulsively.

He had a way with words:

Humping in the rain forest is like climbing a stairway of shit in an enormous green room constructed by ogres for the confinement of monster plants.

He understood that, more or less by accident, he was present at an important moment in history. He tried to capture it in fiction. The reality was full of pointless bravery and senseless brutality – so is the novel. A lot of people who were there seem to think that it captured the way it was. I wasn't there, but I believe them. Don't read it if your world is difficult enough already. Read it to know and understand a little about a time that is in some ways long gone but in others is still very much with us.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by Gustav Hasford on his “real-life experiences” being a U.S. Marine in Vietnam. Trained as brutal killers & “grunts”. Then the story goes to Vietnam horrors, snipers & their death.....

A short read under 200 pages.

You can read how the war & survival scenes from the book are used in “The Full Metal Jacket” movie

🍿YouTube trailer🍿movie rated ‘R’ 🍿

[Libros Prohibidos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con una narrativa que recuerda a La carretera de Cormac McCarthy, este libro deja un amargor en la boca similar al que dejan El corazón de las tinieblas de Conrad u Hogueras en la llanura de Ooka, con un regusto extrañamente antibelicista parecido al de Le grand troupeau de Giono. Reseña completa:
http://www.libros-prohibidos.com/gust...

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like I lived this book instead of reading it. Experienced it rather than scooted my eyes across some digital letters. Each character was a living breathing being sprung from the whirlpool imagination of author Gus Hasford. As much a character, too, is the bullet-shredded landscape of Vietnam itself. In some scenes the scenery almost comes alive and fights against both VC and American soldiers alike. The brutal events are part of a fictionalized account of a war that was stranger than fiction. I can only hope that writing about it relieved a tiny measure of the strain it must've exacted on his, and his fellow Marines', psyche.

This, along with Johnny Got His Gun, should be required reading for our elected officials before sending young people to war.

[Carolina Morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this novel after I watched Stanley Kubrik's movie Full Metal Jacket, with Matthew Modine as Private Joker (the narrator). The novel is quite different from the movie but equally sharp and still a powerful heartbreaker. I strongly recommend it to all as source of historical context and study of human 'barbaric' behaviour, except for extremely sensitive people, folks who have already been on a war or had a painful experience at the Army because the narrative contains several possible traumatic triggers for these issues.

[Tori Tecken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read a war fiction book that so thoroughly and seamlessly wove itself into the horror genre the way this book does. It is a surprise and disappointment that The Short-Timers is out of print. Definitely a must read for any war fiction reader.

War fiction as a genre explores all facets of its topic: the brutality, the dehumanization, the tragedy, the heroism and bravery, the grief, the toll that war takes on the people who fight in it... some authors choose to tread lightly over the horrific brutality and animalistic instincts that are often found in this topic, but Gustav Hasford brings it full front and center with a blunt and unforgiving narrative about a group of men in the Vietnam war whose humanity is shredded to expose the monstrous within. A very difficult but potent read.

[NOLBAC · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Maldita sea, ¡por lo menos hay un gusano que sabe que el espíritu de la bayoneta es matar!”

Un chaleco de acero, de Gustav Hasford es la novela en la que se basa la famosa película Full Metal Jacket de Stanley Kubrick. Publicada en 1979, la obra nos sumerge en la crudeza y el caos de la guerra de Vietnam, explorando cómo esta transforma a los individuos y expone lo peor de la naturaleza humana. Hasford emplea un estilo directo, crudo y casi autobiográfico, que refleja a la perfección la violencia y la brutalidad del conflicto. Aquí no hay rodeos: desde las primeras páginas, el lector es lanzado a un mundo donde la vida y la muerte están siempre al límite, con un lenguaje seco, implacable y sin florituras.

La novela sigue de cerca a Joker, el protagonista y narrador, quien nos da una perspectiva íntima y visceral de la guerra desde su posición como soldado raso. A través de su mirada cínica y sarcástica, Hasford nos permite experimentar la desesperanza y el cinismo que sienten muchos soldados. La estructura de la narrativa, rápida y fragmentada, nos mantiene en un estado de alerta constante, reflejando la imprevisibilidad de la vida en un entorno hostil. Cada capítulo es como una ráfaga, apenas hay tiempo para procesar un evento antes de ser lanzados al siguiente. Este ritmo vertiginoso captura la sensación de estar atrapado en un ciclo interminable de violencia, donde solo importa el presente inmediato.

La novela se divide en tres partes principales: “El espíritu de la bayoneta”, que relata el duro entrenamiento del protagonista antes de la guerra; “Recuento”, donde Joker se sumerge en la guerra como reportero; y “Abuelos”, que muestra la cara más cruda y salvaje del conflicto. A lo largo de estas tres etapas, el estilo de Hasford se adapta al deterioro psicológico de los personajes, volviéndose cada vez más crudo y perturbador. Aquí no hay heroísmo ni épica; la guerra se presenta como es: sucia, caótica y profundamente deshumanizadora. Hasford no busca embellecer ni glorificar la experiencia bélica, sino mostrarla en su forma más pura y brutal.

El lenguaje militar y el argot de los soldados añaden una capa de autenticidad a la historia. Los diálogos están llenos de jerga y humor negro, reflejando cómo los soldados usan el cinismo como mecanismo de defensa ante el horror que enfrentan a diario. La falta de sentimentalismo y la economía del lenguaje refuerzan la atmósfera de desesperación y nos sumergen en la realidad cotidiana de los marines. Hasford nos hace sentir la rutina de la supervivencia diaria, con una prosa tan implacable como la guerra misma.

En comparación con la película de Kubrick, la novela es aún más cruel, violenta y explícita. Las escenas que describe Hasford son tan crudas que muchas de ellas serían imposibles de llevar al cine sin caer en lo gore. A diferencia del protagonista de la película, Joker en la novela no refleja tanto una dualidad sino una evolución progresiva hacia la oscuridad más profunda del ser humano. La historia se expande en el libro, no solo hacia adelante, sino también hacia los detalles que enriquecen y complejizan la narrativa.

Un chaleco de acero es más que una simple novela bélica; es un documento brutalmente honesto sobre la naturaleza de la guerra y su impacto en quienes la viven. Hasford no da respuestas fáciles ni finales redondos. Nos deja con una pregunta inquietante: ¿qué queda de una persona después de enfrentarse al caos? Esta obra desafía las narrativas tradicionales de la guerra, mostrando su verdadera cara: no como una prueba gloriosa, sino como una experiencia deshumanizadora y devastadora. Para aquellos que buscan una mirada intensa y desafiante sobre la esencia humana en tiempos de guerra, esta novela es una lectura obligatoria.

Hice un vídeo hablando de esto en mayor profundidad, si quieres verlo puedes entrar aquí: https://youtu.be/AvoRU5XzXDo

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and heartbreaking. The grit in The Short-timers is comprised mainly of bloody bone fragments.

The dehumanisation process is depicted with far more depth, terror, and atrocity than Full metal jacket, the Kubrick movie that takes its cues from this book.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

good short story that was the basis for "full metal jacket" it was let down by a mediocre middle and also by spelling mistakes (may have been my copy). all in all a good vietnam war story.

[Asghar Abbas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full Metal Jacket, ahead and all the way.

[Ryan Toh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford is an autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford; described as a "thinly-veiled" account on his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War.

Sometimes words can be powerful, they can evoke emotions that grip the soul. There are multiple ways to do this, from telling a heartbreaking narration to simply showing reality up close and personal. This book does the latter - telling a veteran's account of war actually is.

This isn't a book that glorifies war, but rather shows the true side of it - describing war on the front-lines, where politics and simple words don't paint a different picture. Shown in the dehumanizing, brutal, gritty, terrifying, and bloody reality that war is, the book explains to us civilian "lifers and poges" that violence isn't as clear cut as many of our politicians make it out to be. As stated by one of the soldiers, "You think we waste gooks for freedom? Don't kid yourself; this is a slaughter ... They waste our bros and we cut them a big piece of payback. And payback is a motherfucker." They justify their role in the war as not one defending freedom but vengeance for the deaths of other soldiers. This view seems to only justify the escalation of a mindless cycle of violence and destruction that is evident in this novel.

The prominent themes in this book are vengeance and the loss of innocence. The mental trauma inflicted isn't something that can be forgotten, evidenced by the main character's reflection as they are attacked by a sniper, "Those of us who survive to be short-timers will fly the Freedom Bird back to hometown America. But home won't be there anymore and we won't be there either. Upon each of our brains the war has lodged itself, a black crab feeding." It is apparent that the more experienced soldiers share a cynical view on war that contrasts against the idealistic view that the new recruits and civilians don't share.

I recommend this book to fans of Full Metal Jacket, those seeking a soldier's perspective on the front-lines, and our politicians sending our young men and women to war. I hope that writing this novel has done a bit to lighten the mental burden that Hasford got from his service in Vietnam.

[Aleksei Vrublevskiy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Оружие говорит правду. Оружие никогда не говорит: «Прими за шутку». Война отвратительна, ибо истина бывает безобразной, а война говорит все как есть"

Густав Хэсфорд написал роман в некотором роде автобиографический. У нас бы такого писателя назвали фронтовиком. Он действительно, как и его герой Джокер, прошел Вьетнам военным корреспондентом и вернулся, чтобы рассказать эту историю. Где в ней вымысел, где правда, зависит от намерений автора, но в любом случае - он знал правду о Вьетнаме, а это уже многое.
Автор от первого лица показывает весь ужас войны и показывает так как есть: кровь, грязь и конечно трупы. Герои появляются, раскрываются, а при следующей перестрелке большинство может оказаться в числе изувеченных трупов. Смерть и страдания описываются так буднично, что невольно становится страшно, но довольно быстро привыкаешь к этому, что опять же вызывает очередную порцию жути, а ты уже подсел на крючок и не можешь оторваться от чтения.
Диалоги наполнены руганью, шутками о смерти, жизни, доме, беззаботным отношением к себе и ближним. Солдаты превращают всю жестокость войны в шутку, ведь если воспринимать ее всерьез, то можно просто слететь с катушек. Атмосфера Вьетнама во время войны манит и завлекает тебя с каждой строкой больше и больше.
Итог: книга показывает войну без завуалированных метафор из-за чего пропитана болью и страхом. Она прекрасна в своей прямоте, в своей правде. Читая её как будто слушаешь историю друга и не воспринимаешь написанное как художественное произведение. Книгу хотелось перечитать сразу же после окончания, она наполнена огромным количеством жаргонизма и сносок его объясняющих.
Из всех книг о войне Старики – лучшее, что я читал.

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent novel, from where Kubrick used ideas and script for the now classic war movie "Full Metal Jacket". The book is edgy and (I thought) shoves the reader up against the horrors of war and our inhumanity to each others not just during the actual combat but the inception/beginning of that learning process. Is human kind a natural killing machine, Is war a necessary evil that keeps the vast majority from killing their own and therefore killing others? For me "The Short-Timers" is on par with "Apocalypse Now" in that their basic message (at least to me) is that nothing about war from training to combat to any good. Good soldiers die and "mad men" are set free to be "mad men".
The book reads quickly and never loses it place and/or its message. Admittedly the story is about the Vietnam war, but it's truth is that it's about the cost to our humanity in any and every war.
A highly recommended read to those not of weak stomachs.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found the book itself to be a nice, compelling read- and fairly short to boot- the author's super terse, super clipped style began to grate on me after a hearty measure of unbroken jargon, especially when all the best bits of dialogue were used in Kubrick's (incredible) adaptation. It's easy to see why Kubrick's version was 'loosely' based on the novel- the book has none of the scope of classics of the genre like Naked And The Dead, and bits of absurdity made the 'authentic' feel of the book seem a bit forced, something Kubrick dealt with my breaking out a big trimming knife and amalgamating the best parts of the book into a coherent format. On the whole, however, not too bad. And, also, bonus points for being available online to read.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel like someone put my insides through a paper shredder and shoved them back into me. The Short Timers might be the most horrifying and painful book I've read about war so far. It is skillfully written, mixing humor, horror, and Hasford's own experiences in Vietnam. It does not show you any mercy or leave you with any hope. I highly recommend this book but you should know what you're getting into! Though Full Metal Jacket is a great movie, it's not as hard hitting as the book is.

[Yomi Eluwande · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW!
This book made me feel like I was in it. I was so concentrated from beginning to end.
The way Gustav Hasford describes every movement, activity of Corporal Joker and everything in the book is just too good! And I hear it has a sequel?!
I'm off then

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably closer to a 3.5. This is the book that the film Full Metal Jacket is loosely based on. The first half is better than the second, just like the film. It's very disjointed, which I understand is on purpose, but it makes for a slog at times in reading. Basically, it follows a guy named Joker and how he gets through basics and becomes a marine, then sent to Vietnam. At first, he is a correspondent, and then he becomes a grunt sergeant. Mainly, he just counts the days til his enlistment is over.

Recommended if you want to see where a lot of the film comes from, other than that, it's an ok read.

[awesomatik.de · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

Die Vorlage zu Stanley Kubricks "Full Metal Jacket". Liest sich wie ein hyperbrutaler Drogentrip.

Von der Verfilmung ist mir vor allem der Anfang in Erinnerung geblieben, wo es um die Marine Ausbildung ging.

Im Buch dagegen fand ich besonders den Teil, der in Vietnam spielt beeindruckend. Enthemmte Gewalt im Poetry Slam Style. Maximal zynisch mit ein paar großartigen Passagen, die den Wahnsinn des Krieges "wunderbar" einfangen.

Interessant wäre noch ein Teil über die Rückkehr in die USA gewesen.

Ich hätte mir insgesamt eine etwas linearere und Erzählweise gewünscht. Manchmal hat man das Gefühl, der Protagonist wandelt da einfach alleine in Vietnam durch die Gegend ohne jegliche Supervision. Charaktere tauchen auf und wieder ab. Das wirkte alles etwas zerstückelt und unfertig.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seen "Full Metal Jacket"? This is the original story......

[Marshall Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

crazy earl was my favorite character in full metal jacket

[O'Keeffe A · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the movie Full Metal Jacket(1987), which I quite enjoyed, was based off of this book, it was definitely different.
The two main things being movie condensed the book scenes into what seemed to make more sense for a movie, and the book being so much more vile. If anything it reminded me more of Platoon(1986). Both movies focus on the psychological aspects of soldiers and the villainy of the characters in this book seems to be much more akin to that of the ones in Platoon, and by that I mean objectively awful people. In Full Metal Jacket, Animal Mother is still a prominent character, and while still an antagonist, he was so much more vile in the book and his role was kind of different. While still being this awful killer in the movie, he represented what Joker wanted to be, a cold-blooded killer, in the book Joker could not want to be less like him.

One major change plot wise was that there were two sniper/combat scenes in the book, condensed into one which ended up being the climax of the movie. In The Short-Timers the first sniper scene was where they find the girl sniper and peer-pressure Joker into shooting her out of her misery, the second being the one where prominent characters such as Cowboy are shot, and being to dangerous to get them with their wounds are shot by their fellow soldiers, out of their misery. This is obviously a jarring difference from the movie where Cowboy dies in Jokers arms rather than to his gun.

I understand some changes, like condensing the sniper scene for time, removing some of the child assaulting and murder done by characters, as well as not having Joker shoot his buddy, but those things were there for a reason and both the book and movie have their strong suits. The major themes and points of the movie were slightly different from the book, but I wouldn't consider them lost. Just a bit different, and besides the name of the film was changed, it was never claiming to be a perfect representation. It still had the famous boot camp scenes though I think it meant less to the book then to the movie and I understand why it was extended for that. In the book the jarring difference between the first third didn't mean much just an explanation for how Joker got there but they're both good media that are worth looking at, comparing, and viewing separate of one another.

[ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

“War is ugly because the truth can be ugly and war is very sincere”

My favorite movie of all time is Full Metal Jacket, so I was unbelievably stoked to get my hands on a copy of this novel, which is extremely difficult and pricey. Not sure if Thriftbooks glitched, but my copy was $5 with shipping.

This is so much deeper and darker than Full Metal Jacket. I wish the movie had followed the book exactly because WOW. This is haunting. It’s hard to remember that this is based on Hasford’s, and others’, time in Vietnam because the themes in the book are so tough to read. Humanity and innocence are at the forefront of the story - can you keep any semblance of them while in the depths of hell in war? It’s so well written that I felt like I was experiencing the book rather than reading it. Highly recommend this as a novel that truly depicts the horrors of war rather than glorification of it.

[Plaidchuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that perfectly encapsulated the absurdity of being in the military, on top of being deployed in Vietnam which adds a whole other layer of absurd in itself. The clipped dialogue full of grim gallows humor combined with the stream of conspicuous type prose near the end of the book really captured the chaotic nature of indoctrination in the military and war.

This of course was the source book for Full Metal Jacket, but as good as that was I still recommend reading this book. Whereas Kubrick's movie leaned heavily on the Parris Island portion of the book, it left out many characters encountered in Vietnam as well as more combat sequences.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book upon which Kubrick based his classic Vietnam opus Full Metal Jacket, though the film stops at the book's 2/3 mark. NOT a reflective Tim O'Brien-esque war story. This is the grit, blood, terror, violence, destruction, and madness of war in all it's many facets. As intense as Full Metal jacket is, it still comes off as young adult material compared to the book of its origin. Sadly it's out of print, and even tattered paperbacks fetch $20-30 on Amazon, but I do have a copy if any of my friends are interested.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fabulous narration about war, by Hasford who was personally involved in Vietnam for a while. The Stanley Kubrick verses of the book is another perspective of the circumstances, I believe!
به گمان من "غلاف تمام فلزی"، روایت دیگری، و از نگاه دیگری به وقایع کتاب و جنگ در ویتنام است، روایت "کوبریک" بر مبنای روایت گوستاو هاسفورد، که خود به عنوان گزارشگر، مدتی در ویتنام خدمت کرده است.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing first novel. Did Hasford have a career? Is he still alive? Don't know. Have you seen the Kubrick movie, 'Full Metal Jacket'? Here it is, before it was a script. Kubrick hardly changed a line. This is almost the Catch 22 of Vietnam. Better in some ways, as the absurdity of war stays within realistic lines here, while Heller wanders into slapstick.

[Petergiaquinta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I still had this book...