Generation Kill

I love a good HBO war miniseries, and David Simon and Ed Burns were responsible for creating my favorite show of all time, The Wire, so there was never a doubt in my mind that I'd really enjoy the seven-part miniseries Generation Kill. Like Band of Brothers before it and The Pacific shortly afterward, Generation Kill is based on a nonfiction book, and its characters and events, though slightly dramatized, are meant to be taken as faithful and realistic depictions of the actual people and actual history. The similarities between those two World War II shows and this one, however, end there. In the former pair, the U.S. soldiers are wholesome all-Americans fighting for a morally justifiable cause against a dangerous enemy. They believe in God and country, and although their losses are often staggering, they fight the good fight. They are, it's been said many times, the "Greatest Generation." And the contrast between those kids from the 1940s and the morally suspect characters that fill Generation Kill is where the very title comes from.

These are volunteer careerist soldiers with state-of-the-art advanced killing machinery. They swear violently and use all kinds of racial slurs toward both their enemies and one another. Some take pleasure in killing. A few don't even care if their targets are armed civilians or not. Granted, most do; if I'm giving off the message that these are heartless bastards, I'm giving it too strongly. Anyway, this perceived moral bankruptcy was at the center of the initial reaction to this series. One scene in the first episode, where the Marines read and openly mock a bunch of letters from elementary school kids, gained notoriety for understandable reasons. For many - if I may stereotype here - older viewers, the vulgarity and disrespect of the marines was shocking, with some particularly stubborn people even deciding that the series must have been some kind of slam piece, as no honorable U.S. patriots could possibly be so profane while defending the country abroad, right? I digress, but the point I wanted to establish here is that, for most people, that's all Generation Kill was. Whether or not you agreed with it or believed it, it was a look at what a bunch of badasses, or, alternatively, heathens, the Marines in the Iraq War were.

But the miniseries managed to be so much more than that if you cared enough to look deeper. There are Wire similarities aplenty here, and while that's no surprise, it's interesting because so many of the elements were allegedly in the book before they were in the show, and thus had nothing to do with David Simon and Ed Burns. In a nutshell, here's the gist. A team of elite reconnaissance Marines spends the duration of the Iraq Invasion heading from one place to another with unclear and often conflicting orders. They are under-equipped and without many essential supplies, and they aren't doing what they've been trained for at all. The rules of engagement are constantly changing; at first they'll be told to treat everyone as a hostile, and then they'll come up against blatant Jihadists and be told not to engage. Their overambitious commander, seeking fame and glory and credit, often sends them headlong into dangerous areas much more suited for initial engagement by tanks and aircraft. When they stop to provide medical assistance to wounded prisoners or accept Republican Guard surrenders, they're told to move on to their next mission. It's all chaotic and frustrating, as one could imagine, and the grunts on the ground often know far more about what's going on and how best to handle it than the higher-ups back at headquarters. But, chain of command is chain of command, and the biggest critics of the decisions being made are silenced with threats of insubordination while some of the most clueless and violent soldiers get medals and special recognition.

Like I said, it's very Wire-esque in its take on the inherent flaws in established institutions. While the Baltimore-based drama spanned five seasons and looked in depth at politics, inner city education, blue collar workers, the drug trade, the media, and the legal system, the scope here is much narrower, limited only to the invading U.S. forces. I would have loved to see more aspects of the war get fleshed out a little more, particularly the Iraqi civilians and armed forces. The Wire just wouldn't have been the same if you never got to know the likes of Omar, Avon, Marlo, Stringer, and Bodie, and likewise, additional perspective could have made this miniseries even better. But a miniseries is a miniseries, and even seeing just one side of things still allowed for plenty of depth and a diverse array of characters. The series also did its best to remain apolitical, never hammering anything home to hard about whether the Marines should or shouldn't have been there, or whether or not certain actions against potential threats were warranted. Much like Bunny Colvin's Hamsterdam project from The Wire's third season, the invasion of Iraq itself is depicted as a plan that was conceived and executed fairly well, but with little regard for the eventual ramifications of such an undertaking. It's almost hard to recall now, but the invasion of Iraq - the invasion itself, from the outset of the war to the moment Saddam's regime was toppled - lasted for just six weeks. yet the war itself lasted for eight years, and even though the U.S. military is gone the violence hasn't ended at all. Remember, there was a commonly held opinion at the time that the U.S. would be greeted by the Iraqi people as liberators - and to a certain extent, Generation Kill shows that happening. But by tearing through the nation city by city en route to Baghdad without really worrying about offering humanitarian aid to the people or accepting surrenders, it seems we burned through a lot of that initial good will rather quickly. At least, that's how things are depicted in the show.

I sound like an asshole at this point, waxing political in very broad terms with regard to a subject on which I have a very limited understanding. Let me just end this post here with a hearty thumbs up and a nod of approval. Check this out sometime.