Jarhead is a great read.

Anthony Swofford served in the first Gulf war as a young marine.  This is his story of being a marine, being young, and fighting in a war.  It's never heroic.  It's always honest.  Through flashbacks, Swofford describes his life and what lead him to be a marine.  He describes what it was like to be part of Dessert Shield and Dessert Storm.  Boredom, machismo, and fear all play a part of his daily life and the choices he makes. 

Like the actual war, much of the book is the build up to the battle.  There is very little fighting involved, although much blood, death, and destruction is described.  Swofford descriptions are alternately funny and heartbreaking, or both at the same time.  The writing is descriptive and straightforward.  Swofford doesn't gloss over anything, including the kind of language soldiers speak.  He keeps you interested in his story from the first page through the last.  At the end, you are glad he survived and sad for those who didn't, no matter what side on which they fought.

Swofford, Anthony, Jarhead : A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles