October 9th, 2026
The Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket, Jarhead will completely bitch slap the shit out of your undisciplined and ungrateful ass. But the scariest thing of all was the psychological angst of war.
Paths of Glory was about World War I corruption from higher up officials. Make sure to stick to your morals and values kid!
Full Metal Jacket was about the Vietnam War, the unpopular war. Stanley Kubrick, the mastermind of telling us how to discipline ourselves, discipline others, and the consequences of extreme discipline in the face of war.
And then there was Jarhead.
Jarhead was about the Persian Gulf War, the war where you wait a lot in the desert. And you had the typical tough military sergeants, soldiers following commands, and the guilt of the undisciplined. But aside from the diminishing effect of guilt, it’s the psychological angst that hits you the hardest.
Because even worse than immense physical suffering is immense physical suffering without reward. These soldiers train, eat, drink, jerk off, sleep repeat 1000 times just to watch their wives get fucked by other men back at home and didn’t get to kill a single guy. Like so much build up just to go home to mediocrity, and that’s terrifying!
Luckily I don’t kill people for a living, but it leaves me in awe how I’d develop the same psychological angst if I never got to experience my true potential.
I’ve been a great man and a mediocre man. And I choose greatness every fucking time. Not because I want to be great but because if I am mediocre, if I regress, I will literally die, the psychological angst will kill me. On one hand it’s a curse because I must keep flying higher and higher, but on the other hand, it is the insatiable fire that allows me to reach unprecedented highs. Psychological angst is both the deepest tragedy and most powerful fuel source… Knowing that you will die if you stop moving forward.
But in situations like these, perspective matters most because if you consider it tragic, then you’ll stop and die. Consider it the most powerful fuel source on the planet, and you have the opportunity to achieve anything and everything. I must keep moving. Grow or die.
~ ethangwang