Generation Kill

[Dugan]

Is anyone watching the TV series Generation Kill? It's based on a platoon of US Marines during the Iraq war. It's only on episode 2 in the UK but its probably ran a season already in the US. So far its really good and the tension is building up nicely.

[Quinn]

If I can find a way to watch it over the internetz, I'll definitely do so.

[Raider65]

It was just released in a DVD set last month in the US. I haven't gotten it yet though. But I want to. The Sgt in it is the actual Sgt from there. The series is based on a book wrote by an embedded reporter. I don't know how they could embed a reporter with a Recon Unit/Squad though without that reporter compromising their operations. Maybe it was a Recon Unit only in name? So the reporter would feel important and like he was on the front. When I was in the Corps (87 -95) everyone in the Corps was SOC (Special Operations Capable). They've made alot of changes in the Corps since then though so I don't know anymore.

I was told it's better than "Over There" which I liked.

[Dugan]

You'd be surprised. Theres a series running in the UK where this so called TV hardman now turned serious reporter is embedded with the Irish Guards in Afghanistahn. He literally is walking aound with them and ANA soldiers while they patrol through compounds and stuff. In one episode they were pinned down by Taliban troops and him the rest of the patrol and the camera man were ducking down and you could see the bullets and rpg's going over their heads! In the end they ran towards the enemy to get to cover of a low wall then called in arty, pretty mad plan but it worked.


Watching it is a real eye open the ANA (Afghan National Army) troops are crazy and just stand up in the middle of firefights or there firing while sending a text message on their mobile phone. 


I suppose you must have seen stuff like that but its strange that this TV reporter is wondering around with them in the middle of all this.

[Nick]

crazy and just stand up in the middle of firefights or there firing while sending a text message on their mobile phone.

LOL  hardcore!

"Honey, I'll be late for supper"

//N

[Dugan]

I couldn't believe it the guy actually shows his mate the text message as they are receiving incoming fire. As if it was a perfectly normal occurance.

[Ranger2011]

Hey i've seen the show a couple of times. But we don't have a good TV hookup here in Fort Bragg...My dorm is like, in the shit end of reception since we're all hooked to satellite...Guy in the other dorm gets perfect reception and has all the channels, so I go over there every now and then for internet and to drink Dr. Pepper. (God's greatest invention)

[Raider65]

Ha Ha, sounds like a 5 star place to me. When I was in, one time I had to stay in a 1942 made barracks without even electricty inside the building for several months (it did have one light attached above the door on the outside but when you came in at night you had to use your flashlight (torch for you Euros, lol) to find your rack. And sometimes I called just a hole in the ground home for weeks on end. And another time the barracks that I was staying at was being used as an earthquake experiment. After an earthquake in SoCal they would come and look at the damage. Circle and date the cracks/damage and leave without ever fixing them/it. I always wondered when that building was going to fall down and kill some poor Marines.

[Nick]

One of the lead roles is played by a Swede...Skarsgård.

//N

[Obi]

Any one know when if will hit Aussie shores?  Haven't had much luck finding any info on it.

Cheers

Obi

[Raider65]

"The cable television channel HBO has produced a mini-series based on the book. The series aired in July 2008 and spans seven 68 minute episodes. It was produced by David Simon, Ed Burns, Nina K. Noble, George Faber and Charles Pattinson. It starred Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Jon Huertas, and Lee Tergesen. Rudy Reyes plays himself in the miniseries adaptation, driving the third Humvee."
"The Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion were initially hostile and suspicious, but soon warmed to him and treated him as one of their own. He gained their respect through his fearlessness in the face of combat. Often riding in the lead vehicle, a lightly armored Humvee, Wright was in real danger for much of the time, and at one point was ordered to openly brandish a weapon (though he did not fire it).
Wright encounters members of the battalion from all ranks, but the "main players" can be narrowed down to just six from Bravo Company: Sergeant Brad Colbert, Lance Corporal Harold James Trombley, Sergeant Rudy "Fruity" Reyes, First Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick, Sergeant Antonio Espera, and Corporal Josh Ray Person."
"Sergeant Espera was forced to leave the battalion, SSgt. Eric Kocher was disciplined for his actions in retrieving a fellow Marine who was wounded after stepping on a landmine, and one Marine's promotion from corporal to sergeant was canceled as a direct result of the publication of the original articles.
Despite initial doubts, Marine commanders later encouraged the officers of 1st Reconnaissance to read the book and the articles to get an insight into the reality of war. Nathaniel 'Nate' Fick went on to write his own book, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer (2006)." from wiki.

The movie was based on the Reporter's book only. A former Marine Capt (then a 1st Lt) who was the Unit's Leader wrote a book to dispute the Reporter's recollections. But the Sgt did play himself. And The Reporter and the Sgt are writing a book togther that is scheduled to come out this Oct? maybe. Also a Marine Major wrote on a web site disputing some of the Reporter's recollections by chapter. Some of the Marines were disiplined because of what the reporter wrote.

[Raider65]

Yea!! I got the series in the mail today. Now I can watch it.

[Chris Shepard]

Watched a bit of it. Didn't really get into it too much. Active Duty Recon Marines are just way too moto for me. Ha.

[Raider65]

Watched the whole thing in 2 days. I thought it was OK.

Like a friend of mine who was in Marine Force Recon in the middle eighties says "Sneak and Peek, Snoop and Poop" was their motto. He laughed at the way they conducted their operations in that movie series.

Jack Coughlin originated the concept of the Mobile Sniper Strike Team, which he employed in Iraq.
(Although I put this forward back in '89-'90, even before Gulf War 1 which could have been used to/as a proof of concept but I was only a Cpl so no one listened then. Well now, it seems someone did subsequently and barrowed from my idea or else he came up with a parallel idea by coincidence years later. Because they are using a tactic I came up with when I was in the Marine Corps, the fast moving sharpshooter vehicle unit which moves around the combat zone for targets of opportunity. Well, I guess maybe he did come up with that specific moniker/name/title/designation though. I had even wrote an SOP on/for it. I also wanted to create what I called  the "Shadow Stalkers", a squad sized unit of sharpshooters, kind of like the WW2 Marine Raiders, of course they were disbanded because the brass didn't want an elite unit inside an elite Corps, or that was the excuse. I was always told the Corps didn't need that. An elite Corps didn't need elite units in it as the whole Corps is elite. But now concepts like these are being used in Iraq and A-stan. Now they have MarSOC. An elite unit inside an elite Corps)

[Morse]

Didn't like Captain America in that show. Don't know the soldiers real name. The rest of it was ok though.