Marines are not all about fighting. In the movie “Jarhead,” these “trained to kill with their bare-hands” men partied, talked about missing their girls (and things that go with that) and got into trouble.Directed by Sam Mendes, “Jarhead” is the adaptation of third-generation marine Anthony Swofford’s account of his journey from boot camp to active duty in the Middle East as a sniper.

The movie starred Jake Gyllenhaal from “Day After Tomorrow,” Jamie Foxx from “Ray” and Peter Sarsgaard from “Boys Don’t Cry.”

“Jarhead” showed the marines as they got their hearts broken by letters from their girl back home saying she moved on, or, in one case, a video of her “moving on,” keeping themselves busy by playing football and celebrating Christmas by sneaking in alcohol and getting drunk.

It also showed them as they saw death in civilians who were trying to escape and were attacked, seeing fire, bombs and planes shooting at them. You could see the fear in their eyes and their yearning to go home.

The marines in the movie never got to fight. The snipers never fired their riffles. They did, however, shoot into the sky, just to shoot, to celebrate the war’s end and their ability to go home.

Being in a family with my only brother and all of my brother-in-laws in the military, I recognized that look in their eyes. Those men wanted to fight for their country and were willing to die trying.