Generation Kill - Evan Wright > Reviews (2)

As many people will be aware, the invasion of Iraq will be seen as a defining event of this generation and was subsequently covered from every angle known to man to ensure that the 24 hour media were fed their pound of flesh so to speak.

As a brief outline, in the first Gulf War, the then Commander in Chief of US forces in theatre General H. Norman Schwarzkopf believed that to keep the media onside you had to embrace them and as such the concept of embedded reporters was born. This followed on from the first Gulf War and in the weeks leading up to the commencement of hostilities with Iraq as part of the war on terrorism, Evan Wright a contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine was embedded with a platoon of US Marine Reconnaissance soldiers and the book Generation Kill is his story of racing into hostile territory in the back of an unarmoured Humvee, deprived of sleep, eating restricted rations and in the unsanitary conditions of combat.

Generation Kill pulls no punches and commences with Evan Wright being placed with the First Recon, the Elite of the US Marine Corps at their forward position in Kuwait in the build up to battle. Wright goes into great detail to describing the man within the platoon, their equipment and what training they have along with their thoughts on what lies ahead on the road to Baghdad.

Without spoiling the actual story, the basics of First Recon's mission, unbeknown to the Battalion was to act as a decoy, moving without air support up through Iraq towards the Tigris river literally acting as bait to draw enemy fire, spring ambushes and test the strength of Iraqi forces in the region. The book follows the Battalion of 340 Marines on their journey through hostile towns, taking fire from civilian areas, storming an airfield and distributing aid to the Iraqi's they liberate.

The story takes you through the emotions felt by the soldiers of Bravo Company of First Recon as they accidentally engage civilians whom Iraqi forces have mingled with, how they feel when they realise they have killed innocent people and in general how they detach themselves from the battle. As this is seen through Wright's own eyes, on the ground under fire it is clear that he has not left any detail to chance and the language contained within the book is colourful to say the least. For me the most frightening section was during a battle when a commanding officer decided he would call in artillery support on his own men, nicknames Captain America the man seemed incapable of basic soldiering and lost the confidence of his men when he would randomly shoot at cattle by the side of the road, panic whenever he heard gunfire and insist on a grooming standard (hair must be regulation length and men must shave daily) whilst on combat missions!

This is a book that shows the frightening face of modern warfare from the view of the man on the ground. Not only is the book brutally honest in its description of engagement with hostile forces and civilians it outlines the incompetence of some commanding officers and genuinely makes you feel for the soldiers being asked to face a guerrilla war on stretched supplies and with questionable orders.

This is a book everyone must read, it will leave you shaking your head in disbelief, you will put it down thinking how the hell can things like this happen around the world and leave you with the utmost respect for the soldier in the field.

Broken into short punchy chapters the text flows easily and everything is explained in great detail to ensure that the reader is not confused by military jargon at any stage. Personally I couldn't put this book down, I found myself morbidly drawn in each time I had a moment to spare and I could easily visualise the battles First Recon were engaged in, which is a sign of the quality of the author.

At 445 pages long this book is one that I would highly recommend regardless of your feelings on the war in Iraq. Generation Kill has been likened to Michael Herr's Dispatches, all I can say is that it is actually far better written, contains more human emotion and leaves the reader with an extreme sense of empathy. The only thing missing from the book was a follow up on the soldiers of First Recon, after reading I felt as though a one sided bond had formed and really would like to have known what they are doing now, whether they have remained in the Marine Corps or whether they have integrated back into civilian life.

Generation Kill will shock you with its brutality but it will also grip you making it:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Published by Corgi Books
ISBN: 0-552-15189-0
RRP: £6.99

Thanks for taking the time to read and rate.Steve :o)