Энтони Своффорд: От морского пехотинца к писателю.

American writer and former U. S. Marine

Anthony Swofford (born August 12, 1970) is an American writer and former U. S. Marine, best known for his 2003 book Jarhead, based heavily on his accounts of various situations encountered in the Persian Gulf War. This memoir was the basis of the 2005 film of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes.

Swofford was born on August 12, 1970, in Fairfield, California, into a military family. He grew up living on a military base. Swofford wanted to join the Marines from an early age, as he saw it as "an entry into manhood". However, Swofford's father was against his joining, and the first of two recruiters to visit were escorted from the house. He was a lance corporal while serving as a Scout Sniper Trainee with the Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA) Platoon of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. Swofford was published in and was the editor in chief of the American River Review, an award winning literary magazine. Later, he received a Bachelor's degree in English from University of California, Davis, and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa. Swofford committed himself to writing in 1995, at the age of 24, In 2004, he received the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir for Jarhead. Following his time at the University of Iowa, Swofford served as an English professor at Lewis and Clark College, where he taught a class in the school's "Inventing America" program, until he sold the film rights to Jarhead. and currently teaches creative writing at West Virginia University. His first novel, Exit A, was published in January 2007. Exit A chronicles the life of a boy who grows up on an American Air Force Base in Japan and falls in love with the base general's daughter.

Swofford co produced and narrated the 2006 documentary Semper Fi, is featured in Richard E. Robbins’s documentary Operation Homecoming, and has made appearances on several talk shows and in documentaries.

He is married to Christa Parravani.

Swofford is portrayed by American actor Jake Gyllenhaal in the 2005 film Jarhead, based on his 2003 book of the same name. Jarhead helped popularize the phrase "the suck", (usually preceded by welcome to or embrace).