Generation Kill
Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War
Ratings11
Average rating4.3
They were called a generation without heroes. Then they were called upon to be heroes.
Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like the twenty-three Marines of the First recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam. They were a new pop-culture breed of American warrior unrecognizable to their forebears - soldiers raised on hip hop, video games and The Real World. Cock, brave, headstrong, wary and mostly unprepared for the physical, emotional and moral horrors ahead, the "First Suicide Battalion" would spearhead the blitzkreig on Iraq, and fight against the hardest resistance Saddam had to offer.
Now a major HBO event, Generation Kill is the nation bestselling book based on the National Magazine Award-winning story in Rolling Stone. It is the funny, frightening, and profane firsthand account of these remarkable men, of the personal toll of victory, and of the randomness, brutality and camaraderie of a new American War.
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I've read more than a couple negative reviews of Generation Kill, which recounts an embedded journalist's journey with Recon Marines through the first stage of ‘Iraqi Freedom.' These folks all seem dismayed that the young marines are portrayed as reckless, or crass, or lacking heroism. That there were no real obstacles, that their mission was mishandled, or futile.
I think that was the whole point. Like a slice of the war as a whole, their superiors made terrible judgment calls, they took an unacceptable amount of friendly fire, and killed a lot of civilians. It's not like this was a tale of fiction where soldiers have strong morals and the enemies are 100% evil. In a way, the marines of Generation Kill are much more human. They routinely show remorse, question their actions, and above all, question their superiors.
I watched Band of Brothers and it made me cry. Reading Generation Kill made me lament my misspent tax dollars. Nevertheless, it was a gripping read that I think accurately depicted this generation of enlisted and their officers. Like Band of Brothers, it's also been adapted as an HBO miniseries.
