Generation Kill
Feb 16th, 2008 by Dave
This is the eyewitness account of the invasion of Iraq by the First Recon Marines platoon by a Rolling Stones reporter embedded with Bravo company; sort of a Hunter S. Thompson account without the hallucinogens. Very well written - the author Evan Wright really captures the characters that made up the pointy tip of the spear of the invasion force. As it turns out, the lightly armored Bravo company was tasked with blasting into enemy territory and drawing out ambushes for the more heavily armored units and air power to counterpunch. He makes out some of the leaders of other companies to be lunatics; only refers to them by their nicknames - Captain America, Encino Man, Casey Kasem - and it is surely a tribute to the enlisted men of those units that they had the success they did despite their leadership.
A friend of mine in Special Ops (in the command First Recon has metamorphosed into) hadn’t heard of this book (I don’t think it is very popular due to the unflattering portrayals of some of the commanders); but recommended another to me - “Not A Good Day To Die”; that’s next on my reading list.
