Generation Kill is one of those shows you watch and it all just clicks into place. Watching it makes you understand something that you never really understood from the start. That something? The Iraq War.
I never really understood why we went to war with Iraq other than it was posturing and a relentless pursuit and being in control of Oil. I mean the actual ‘War’ was over within a couple of months. What we have now is a battle against extremist terrorists who are using Iraq as their base to fight the Western World. This is a direct result of our actions in Iraq. That’s what I thought anyway.
Generation Kill explained everything to me in perfect clarity within the first hour. This war meant nothing. There was no war and the soldiers on the ground knew about as much as the people they were shooting. While the BBC was reporting on our ‘Shock and Awe’ tactics in Baghdad. A group of around 360 Recon Marine were driving Hum Vees across the border from Kuwait to clear a path for all the ground forces to move into Baghdad. Along the way they blew up villages, killed kids, shot Syrian extremists and shot a few goats. This was their war. Granted they did fight the Iraqi army, but essentially this was never a War it was a hostile takeover and it worked, but like all takeovers not everyone is going to be happy. That is why there is now major security issues in Iraq.
A lost generation?
Generation Kill is based on the book by Evan Wright. He spend time embedded in with the Marines as they moved into Iraq and wrote a a number of articles for Rolling Stone Magazine.
Once more into the great good night. Cry ‘havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.
Sgt. Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert
These marines have grown up on a diet of video games and porn mags. They are amazingly fit, trained to the point of exhaustion and look at each other as brothers. Some come from broken homes, some come from University, some are mad, some are funny and some are wondering why the hell they are in Iraq in the first place. One thing they are all is 100% dedicated to the task. No matter what. When the orders come in from ‘Godfather’ they follow them without even a hint of an argument. They are their to kill and that’s what they do best.
Gentlemen, we just seized an airfield. That was pretty fucking ninja.
Sgt. Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert
The platoon that Wright follows is led by Brad Colbert nicknamed The Iceman for his unnerving ability to handle a crisis. He has a group of four other men in his Hum-Vee. Ray Person the driver who never sleeps and is on a cocktail of caffeine, energy drinks and ‘dip’ tobacco. There is Harold Trombley a young marine who is also the best machine gunner in the platoon as shown with his ability to kill anything put in front of him. There is Walt Hasser who mans the Hum-Vees turret and is the ’spotter’ of the group. Finally Evan Wright joins them and they always lead the platoon into any mission as ‘Iceman’ is looked upon as the best in the business.
Its a fantastic seven part series and probably the best depiction of modern warfare I have ever seen.
Tags: Brad Colbert, David Simon, Ed Burns, Generation Kill, Harold Trombley, HBO, Modern Warfare, Ray Person, Recon Marines, The Wire, Walt Hasser
