Generation Kill, Evan Wright

The dis-oriented author has two boys serving on active duty in the US military. I am also a student of military history. I picked up Evan Wright's Generation Kill because while I have read a great deal about the American Revolution and the two World Wars, I have not really read anything about the modern military. Nothing about the types of experiences that my own sons could encounter.

This current generation of soldiers is not Brokaw's Greatest Generation — they are still a great generation.

Evan Wright is a journalist who was embedded with a Marine Recon unit in the Second Iraq War. In the beginning, Wright notes that in World War II it was often difficult to get new soldiers to actually open fire and kill the enemy. In Iraq, there seemed to be no difficulty at all. The modern American fighting man has grown up in an era of DVD's, cell phones, facebook and video games. The culture in which we live has an impact on the soldiers we send into battle.

The unit Wright is embedded with is mounted in HumVees. Even though they are a Marine Recon unit, in the Iraq conflict they are being used as a Calvary unit. Driving into towns ahead of the main invasion force and oding reconaissance by fire. This book paints a picture of US Marines in combat. It is crude and sometimes difficult, gritty but it feels real. This book is the basis for the HBO mini-series by the same name.

This book gives an intimate view of the modern US fighting man at war.

Generation Kill gets 5 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase Generation Kill  from Amazon.com.