Proud of the new breed.

This is one of the best books about operation Iraqi Freedom I have read so far. As a Vietnam Marine Grunt, C/Co, 1/3, 0331, Marines haven't changed much at all since 1968. You have to have sick humor in combat to get through it, you don't have time to analyze everything. First and foremost on an individual Marine level, you fight for your Brothers to keep them alive, Apple pie and mom waving the American flag doesn't enter your mind. Fighting for freedom for the people of the country you are in doesn't enter the picture either. All your experiences in combat are put on the back burner, keeping yourself and your buddies alive and completing the mission are the first priorities. You don't want to let your your comrades down, you don't want to let the Corp down. The expression, fuck it, it don't mean nuthin gets you through tough times. As my uncle who fought on Saipan as,a Marine told me after I returned home medically evacuated from Vietnam. " You will never forget what you did, you will have to learn to live with it and carry on, live for your fallen friends, that's what they would tell you if they could speak. Welcome home Marines, I highly recommend this book. Semper Fi.

15 people found this helpful

Interesting and well paced, though poorly narrated

This is the first account I've read that was written by a reporter and I have to say it's a strikingly different experience than those written by troops. Most of it is devoted to the life and death decisions guys have to make out there and he's very good about laying out the facts and letting you consider it rather than injecting his own opinions into peoples' actions. There are a lot of characters and he does a good job of making sure that they are all fleshed out. The point of this book seemed to be as much about getting you acquainted with the Marines' tasks and hardships in overthrowing Saddam as it was getting you acquainted with exactly who we sent over there to do it. Once you get past the narration it's really a good book.

My only complaint was the narration which ranged from poor to absurd. The first half of it is SO over-articulated that it can be tortuous at times. For whatever reason he feels the need to make sure you don't miss a transition from one syllable to the next by punctuating the move from one to the next with drastic tone shifts and at times it's like he's just crisply sounding out every word. It's hard to describe but it's very unnatural and it ruins the flow of the book almost as much his complete lack of ability to decipher sarcasm and dry humor. Fortunately as the book progresses it becomes a bit more tolerable as he tones it down a little. The narrator also does a lot of accents but they all come out decidedly Mexican sounding, especially the two Filipinos. I'll be watching out for this narrator in the future.

15 people found this helpful

Should be required reading/listening for all

My husband is a Marine Corps veteran deployed in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He won't read most military books, but this is one of his favorite books because of its realism, both in the multidimensionality of Marines and realities of the Iraq war. It's true that many people of all ages have trouble understanding and connecting to this generation of veterans, and I think this book is a good way to help people (including myself) begin understand what they've gone through. It's also just a great listen, with the humor and pain of the human experience shining throughout.

3 people found this helpful

Excellent Book on the Invasion

I really enjoyed this audiobook. A very interesting perspective on the invasion, the Marines, and war in general. Must read for Infantrymen.

2 people found this helpful

Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Kill

This book follows a platoon through the invasion of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a lead element of the Marines main thrust, this unit was heavily engaged for the duration of this short conflict.

While similar to many books on warfare in terms of describing the action, the hardships, and the horrors of war, where this story differs is in the mental state of the warriors. It is this revelation that is truly frightening and makes me wonder where the next generation of the USA is headed.

Soldiers of the 1st world war and earlier signed up for the romanticism associated war, and were quickly disillusioned. Soldiers in the 2nd world war signed up reluctantly but with a sense of duty, and soldiers of the Vietnam era went only when forced to. Todays society has Generation Kill, which is an apt name given the obvious relish with which these troops executed their mission and, more disturbingly, with the joy they took in wrecking havoc amongst the civilian population and infrastructure.

Don't get me wrong, I've been in the armed forces for almost 30 years, so I fully understand collateral damage, ROE, and the other myriad of issues that are associated with warfare in areas of civilian populations. What I couldn't understand about these troops was the uninhibited joy in causing destruction. In one example, they go into a school in a city that has been taken and destroy all the computers and infrastructure. Why would anyone do that?

What is also apparent from this story is that the Marines had some serious junior officer leadership challenges. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised, given that this story was written 12 years ago, that the US Armed Forces are now struggling with some fairly serious internal breaches of conduct and behaviour amongst senior officers, as the junior officers and their peers in this book would be the senior officers of today.

This book is a must read for every American, as it provides great insight into the conduct of warfare in our age. Read it, and reflect upon it. It should give you cause for concern.

3 people found this helpful

Thrill ride from Kuwait to Baghdad

I loved the series and I love the book. GK as it can be confirmed by any service member, is raw and guts true to the service. It is a difficult, demanding, and nasty life. You live in the suck with no showers, low supplies, and only have the mission and dark humor to keep you going.

A no holds barred telling of "actual" warfare

I loved this story as it was true and HBO did it even better with thier one season on Gen Kill. Only thing I wish is Evan would have followed up on the lack of WMDs. the war was an invasion and as a veteran Im ashamed.

Great read

I watched the HBO series “Generation Kill” and was intrigued how different the book would be. The series was actually very accurate. In fact, I would suggest watching the series first. Being a veteran I was able to relate to the questionable and sometimes incompetent leadership, the military is full of it. Although the author makes his liberal views obvious, I think he does a great job of giving straight and non political accounts of this story.

Great insight

Finally a narrator that fits the story being told. And if you are a vet of any kind you will understand every detail of this story. If not a vet will open your mind to what really goes on behind the scenes and news reels! Highly recommend

Great companion to HBO Miniseries

It doesn’t matter if you read first or watch the miniseries first, they are obvious and excellent companion pieces. The author does a fantastic job of telling the story of the men as he experienced it firsthand. The narrator does a good job with appropriate pacing for the type of story and character voices as well.