Ears, Open. Eye Balls, Click.

Its December of 2007 at about 2:30 am. I have my television watching public access on channel 25. I really never really regarded public access television as, well, good; but tonight happened to be a particularly interesting night. They had just showed a documentary on Hip Hop in the later 1980s in Harlem and that had me hooked. After that had ended, there was an ad for the next documentary being shown. I concluded that it was documentary day on public access and thought "Fuck it, I got nothing else to do." Ears, Open. Eye Balls, Click is a documentary that follows the Platoon 1141, Company C, 1st Recruit Training Battalion from their initial deployment to boot camp and eventual graduation. They display of emotion is comparative to many of the elements in Jarhead. The initial treatment of the recruits is absolutely true to what is described in the book. I believe it is an excellent contrast to Vietnam era "Drill Sergeant," considering two different wars have been thought. The treatment of the recruits is a little less harsh as displayed in the Vietnam War era.
The first thing I noticed was direct correlation to the Ezra Pound quote. The men or teenagers that are on they're way to becoming Marines are in all honesty a bunch of half-wits. They come in admitting that they were fuck ups back in their former lives. The conditions of the barracks are upheld and if not they are not up to standards, they have to scrub down the barracks with just toothbrushes, they have to use the restroom in pairs and carry a 200 lb. weight. The training and daily exercises that are shown in the film are much more intense than whats described in Jarhead. Swofford didn't spend his time really getting into the grit of the exercises and training. The training is extremely intense and involve multiple double digit hikes mile hikes with all their equipment. The men who don't make it all the way through are discharged, same as the men who are unable to finish the obstacle course. Much of the conditioning and training is part of the reason the men act they way they do, some disrespectful to one another, while appreciating their position in the military. The mindset of the men in the documentary is ever changing with each task and exercise. They eventually reach a point where they have fully submitted to the will of their sergeants.

Now excuse me while I go having my hearing destroyed by My Bloody Valentine. Do not be alarmed if I am unable to hear a word anyone says in class.