With all the interaction of the military overseas in the Middle East, this is an excellent read for military members and civilians alike who want to try to get a better understanding of some of the events that took place during the initial months of the war. It's an up close and personal look at a platoon from the eyes of an embedded reporter, Evan Wright. It can be a bit graffic at times, but hey, that's life isn't it? I feel he reveals the good and bad of how things run inside a platoon. Overall, it's nice to read something from a news reporter that isn't showing the military in a negative light like the news does on television from day to day. You can tell Wright had a true appreciation for those Marines he worked with, if only we can get everyone in that mindset!

Recommended by a fellow Nam Vet Marine. Real people experiencing the waiting, the worry, the adrenalin, the hardship, the heartache, and the brotherhood of war in an alien culture and a very inhospitable land.

This is a gripping account of the invasion of Iraq as seen by en embedded reporter. Wright goes along with a Marine unit that is almost at the tip of the invasion. He writes well and, more importantly, seems not to censor himself. As a result you get an unvarnished account of war, of profanity, civilian death and the stupidity of officers (not all, of course). It was a welcome antidote to the BS you get from the news, the distant, cleaned-up version of war the mainstream media wants you to get.

I'll cut right to the chase: I thought this book was rather dull. It's hard to make combat action boring, but the authors lackluster writing manages to do just that.

This engaging book takes you along for a front row seat to the invasion of Iraq though the eyes of a handful of U.S. Marines. The book is not, and never claims to be, a comprehensive description of the operation. Its value lies in the fact you get to see the war though the minds of junior Marines as they encounter it. The author has no military background, so he rightly lets the Marines just talk and well....be Marines. They are cocky, brash, scared, crude, opinionated, brave, and reckless. Above all, they are a "band of brothers" who faced and caused death and destruction on a daily basis. They author bonds with his "friends" in the unit and they do not hide who they value and who they believe is worthless.

The author rarely lets his personal thoughts get in the way. He does not analyze tactics or strategy, or the larger political ramifications of the war. Instead he just lets Marines be Marines. Some not familiar with this group of men will be offended or shocked by the Marines behavior, others who know the military will nod their heads and think......sounds like young Marines in combat shooting their mouths off to a naive reporter.

The title is misleading since the Marines do not come off as killers and the photo on the cover is not even of a Marine. If your only knowledge about the Iraq War comes from CNN, op-ed pieces, and the few academic works to come out so far, I recommend this book to get a ground eye view of what life is like in combat in Iraq for one small group of Marines

I picked this up to read on a month long travel trip. I ended up reading it in one sitting! Consequently, Im very glad I had also purchased a few other titles on the same topic. I really good read, disturbing and terrifying at times with a great deal of insight, but a great read.

Generation Kill is more than a book about what the Iraq war was like back in '03, this book is about how war is dealt with by this new generation of American soldier. I for one thought the book was very well written, gritty where it needed to be and poignant as well. There are many great characters in this book the begs the question if there is every going to be a movie based on theirs book. There are many things in this book that show the real side of a deployment and what is asked or our young men that are asked to do these type of missions.

The book is written from the perspective of a journalist that is embedded with the first recon Marine unit. As a military man myself, I can really see that many of the personalities in this story are the types of people that you run into in the military. This book should be read by anyone wanting to know a bit more about our military and how this generation feels about the conflict, military life, or country and life in general as a 20 something's. It's a quick and powerfully entertaining read that seems to have as much everyday situations about being in a war zone as it has the sensationalized ones you see on the news. I think people might be surprised that this generation of warrior is not as flaky or irresponsible as some might like to think. You might also see that no matter if these soldiers think this war is waged under the correct pretences, they are all willing to do their job for better or worse.

Reading this book was an intense experience. As an ex-military person (non-US, but spent a couple of years in the army of a now-extinct southern african country where I was out on the sharp end and then in the New Zealand Army), I could empathize strongly with the Marines Wright writes about. Nothing like having bullets flying around you to add a little adrenaline to your morning.

That said, I've been on exercise (years ago now, but nothing seems to have changed) where we acted as enemy for the Marines and I've got a lot of respect for the Marines, and Recon Marines in particular (I was a Recce myself). But they do have their flaws, common to all the US Military. An over-reliance on technology and firepower, a gung-ho attitude to expending their troopies lives, weak fire-discipline and officers who (generalization I admit, but this was my limited experience), at anything above the junior level, tend to be bureaucrats rather than true combat leaders.

This book illustrates all the above flaws, but over all of that the strength, resilience, skill and fighting spirit of the US Marines shine through. This is despite the total misuse of a Recon Unit (and what an indictment of Marine senior leadership that is...), generally poor leadership and a total failure to communicate the true nature of the mission to the guys doing the job - and a greater indictment of military leadership I cannot think of - the guys out on the sharp end shouold always know their mission and objective - always...).

I walked away from reading this book full of admiration for the individual Marines, and shaking my head in despair over the US Military's senior leadership. Great at conventional fighting, but still sadly inept in counter-insurgency, appropriate use of firepower on civilian targets (a crticism leveled at the US by the British military leadership incidentally, not just my opinion) and totally unprepared for the ramifications of victory.

Well worth the read.

A journalist embedded with a marine reconnaissance platoon during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 explains how this generation of soldiers differs from their predecessors. He describes cases of collateral damage and the deaths of comrades as American troops entered Baghdad. As others have pointed out he gets most of it right, but seems to want to spin that all officers are dumb and marines are angry. This spin he places on these two points are not the norm. This book contains violence and very strong language.

This book reads like an extended Rolling Stone article. No surprise there of course but basically it's just not that good. I don't think he is a particularly good writer either, on any level; the writing is okay. Most of the interesting observations in the book come from the Marines themselves and the whole thing is generally pretty salacious; concentrating on their language, grotty habits and other unsavoury stuff. He does give their professionalism and skill some credit but it comes off to me as a lot of backside sniffing, to put it crudely. It is about these individuals in this book, a character piece, not about the Marine corps in general as he doesn't seem to have spent enough time with enough different units, been curious enough or done enough research to write that book. For a much better-researched book try Robert Kaplan's. If I were one of the subjects in this book, I would feel a bit exploited too. It isn't boring or bad, it's just not that great.

The author was embedded with a marine unit and gives us the details of how they functioned in Iraq. This book isn't really left or right though this certainly isn't some Rambo propaganda. The soldiers are well-trained but have to deal with idiot commanders and murky mission goals.

A fascinating read.

Very good book. Great narration. No BS. No corny battle-talk, just the truth as witnessed by this closely knit group of recon marines, which by the way, you will feel like you know each one personally by the time you're finished with the book. I can't wait for the next book from this guy. Highly recommeneded.

I'm an embedded journalist, writing this review from Camp Fallujah where I just got done talking to Marines from 1st Recon, the unit profiled in this book. I'll admit, I found this book a gripping read at points but the thing I can't figure out is why every Marine I've spoken to at 1st Recon loathes this book and feels that it is a gross misrepresentation of their unit and everyone on the civilian side thinks this is the best book yet to emerge from the Iraq war. The question I keep coming back to with this book is, what loyalty do you have to your sources? Isn't the journalistic contract predicated on trying to be responsible to the story and your sources?

When I re-read this book I think there's some really great material in it--some classic American types, guys who love their guns more than their wives, some really exquisite profanity and moments of great humor--but I think Wright's grasp of the larger military/tactical piece of the story is really weak and his treatment of several characters in the book is very poor. Beyond the estimable platoon commander Lieutenant Fick, virtually every officer in the book is depicted as a buffoon or a self-deluded idiot. It doesn't appear as if Wright did even the most rudimentary follow-up with anyone from the unit to try to balance his story (A strange thing because I happen to know that Wright lives less than two hour's drive from 1st Recon's stateside base, Camp Pendleton). Unfortunately, I think Wright fell victim to the same rush-to-print impulse that has ruined most of the books written about the war so far.

In sum, I find Wright's book and the prospect of it being adapted into an HBO miniseries really suspicious. I think this book confirms what a lot of Americans want to believe about the military and Marines in particular--that they're neanderthals, high-school dropouts, depraved anger management cases sent to do the nation's dirty work. (One sergeant from 1st Recon told me, "The book is like 'Marines Gone Wild,'") Is GENERATION KILL a fair profile? Is it responsible reportage? No and no.

I raise the issue of journalistic responsibillty here because Wright's hatchet job on 1st Recon has had made it harder for reporters to embed with certain Marine units. He's doubled the suspicions of already skeptical soldiers and Marines and put another brick in the wall that separates the media from the military, a wall that prevents true and accurate reporting about this war.

One last thing: When I first checked in to 1st Recon, I introduced myself to Charlie Company's operations chief, a Master Sergeant with almost twenty years in the Corps. When I told him I was a writer he stiffened up and said, "A writer? Ugh...I hate you guys." Later, when I asked around the battalion to try to figure out what was wrong with the Master Sergeant, an officer in his company gave me just two words: "Generation Kill."

I'm an embedded journalist, writing this review from Camp Fallujah where I just got done talking to Marines from 1st Recon, the unit profiled in this book. I'll admit, I found this book a gripping read at times but the thing I can't figure out is why every Marine I've spoken to at 1st Recon hates this book with a passion and feels that it is a gross misrepresentation of the Corps and their unit. This should matter to potential readers of this book. The fact is this book is entertaining but does a good job of making the Marine Corps look like Jackass with guns, (one guy dubbed it, "Marines Gone Wild,") and a bunch of gun-crazy jerks lacking in adult supervision. I think it's sad that this is what American war journalism has sunk to, if this is considered the paragon of the genre. There are many other vivid, profane and questioning books about the military and Iraq that don't seem to go out of their way to disparage and slander the military at the same time. I feel I should add that the book presents such a distorted view of events and Wright's rapport with the Marines is so abysmal that 1st Recon has not allowed an embed since his book came out (I had to explain in detail to officers in the unit how my interests in covering their unit were legitimate and that I wasn't going to burn them like Wright did.) So not only has Wright done his subject a disservice with this warped tome but he's also betrayed his profession by ruining a source for his fellow journalists. The late David Halberstam once said that the worst thing a young journalist could do was to try to be the next Hunter S. Thompson. Wright has committed exactly this error and the reader is the worse for it.

Although never having experienced battle, is the best account I have read which puts the civilian in the field (or what I can only imagine is the most realistic). It will build appreciation for the day-to-day conditions our soldiers experience and for the chaos that ensues.

The book was a very good insight to what is expected of this generations warriors. It was a easy and fast read for me.

The author clearly became close to the Marines he rode up with. He fears for them and prays with them. He captures the true heart of being one of the guys. They clearly took him in, and cared as much for him. This is a gripping and honest portrayal, as real as one could get without having been there, also.

"Generation Kill" by Evan Wright.

A new plan was in place for the most recent invasion of Iraq in which a faster moving lighter force was to be sent through Iraq in order to keep the enemy off balance and to cover ground more quickly. First Recon was to spearhead this operation and Evan Wright was imbedded with them.

This book was very good, but also very frustrating at times. It will also dissolve any illusions you have about the military being a well oiled machine. It can be (and probably is in a lot of ways) but a few people here and there keep it from being. It seems like there are a lot of mistakes made and some people are in positions they shouldn't be in, and it cost the guys just below them. There were so many times where I was thinking "If they need (Insert whatever they were in desperate need of here) why don't they just radio in and have a helicopter drop it to them." But apparently the helicopters are too tied up with other things to be able to bring stuff to them or the stuff just wasn't available at the time.

The Good: Plenty of action. You get to see the day to day workings of war and you are glad you aren't in it. I have huge respect for the Soldiers over there and the stuff they had to put up with and this book brings the details of their day to day life to you and it is brought to you unedited. I couldn't imagine having to stay awake for 20+ hours then sleeping in a hole you dug or living off of limited rations (one MRE a day.) You also see the mistakes made and how it affects people involved. Lots of good in this book.

The Bad: Nothing memorable.

Overall: This book was very good and I highly recommend it. Pick it up and give it a try.

This is really a tremendous book. The author grabbed history, took a dangerous chance and ran with it, all the way to Bagdhad. Refreshingly (and unlike the book Jarhead) this group of soldiers saw plenty of action and Wright does a good job of showing the different personalities involved. His book shows how confusing battle can be and how poor the leadership is. Like any good story teller he personalizes the war and we come to see the boys of the unit he's attached to as three dimensional characters and not just name, rank and serial number. These guys are trained to be killing machines and so they kill everything in their path, including innocent civilians. The Marines are young, mere boys, indoctrinated to wage war and kill. But how do they handle the conflict within themselves over innocent lives lost? Wright digs deep and his expose is very moving. As a portent of things to come Wright describes the frustration the men feel in not being able to find and eliminate uniformed Iraqi's. Like now, they'd already melted into the cities to become more dangerous. This book is a must read.

As a former Marine I can say that this book reads like I was back in the Corps. A must read for anyone who wants to know what it is like to be a young man from America turned into a Marine warrior.

This book is NFBOWRO (Not for Buffs of War Writing Only). Neither is is FMO (For Men Only).

My female students love this book. So do the men. So do protesters and former and future soldiers in my classroom.

Has anyone who reviewed this book considered the national, critically significant prizes it has won? I strongly recommend it for college and graduate school students -- maybe even high schoolers who need to make informed decisions about their role in the world.

Teachers and professors of rhetoric and composition will find this account moving and useful to encourage debate and discussion. My college students, many of whom have lost friends and family in recent conflicts, really enjoyed this book that is graphic, honest, and does not take a side.

The language is graphic, but then so is Shakespeare! When my department grew concerned about the content, I reminded them that Wright's book won many prizes, including the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from The Columbia School of Journalism and Harvard University (I think), as well as a PEN prize, and the Marine Heritage Society Award.

No matter what "side" the reader takes, the fact is that this account represents reporting at its best and writing that is as great as any fiction writer taught in upper level and graduate school literature classes. Wright is and will be a writer to watch.

This book is NFBOWRO (Not for Buffs of War Writing Only). Neither is is FMO (For Men Only).

My female students love this book. So do the men. So do protesters and former and future soldiers in my classroom.

Has anyone who reviewed this book considered the national, critically significant prizes it has won? I strongly recommend it for college and graduate school students -- maybe even high schoolers who need to make informed decisions about their role in the world.

Teachers and professors of rhetoric and composition will find this account moving and useful to encourage debate and discussion. My college students, many of whom have lost friends and family in recent conflicts, really enjoyed this book that is graphic, honest, and does not take a side.

The language is graphic, but then so is Shakespeare! When my department grew concerned about the content, I reminded them that Wright's book won many prizes, including the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from The Columbia School of Journalism and Harvard University (I think), as well as a PEN prize, and the Marine Heritage Society Award.

No matter what "side" the reader takes, the fact is that this account represents reporting at its best and writing that is as great as any fiction writer taught in upper level and graduate school literature classes. Wright is and will be a writer to watch.

The cover flaps do a great job of touting this book, calling it "brilliant journalism -- honest, raw and surprisingly intimate." The books is "destined to become a classic and take its place in the canon of the most captivating and authentic works of war literature."

This is mendacious tripe.

The author, described as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, has a single literary technique, the simile, which he uses two or three times per page without necessarily supporting his theme. His first few pages gave glimpses of intelligent philosophy and structure, all of which is to be quickly doomed in chapter after chapter of nothing more than hour-by-hour reporting of the actions and banter of a few Marine platoons.

True, the book describes in faithful detail many of the hazards and traumas incident on battle, found in all other places -- jamming guns, facing greater numbers, plunging into the unknown, friendly fire engagements, regrets after civilian shooting, the personal needs and struggles of the soldiers, disorientation, and the burning curiosity whether superior orders are sensible or reckless.

Then again we face descriptions that rob the text of much of this hazard and trauma, revealing a 40-year-old author who is very much a teenager with a video game mentality. Shots rang out "like the cartoon bullets fired by Yosemite Sam." Tracer fire went back and forth "like a duel with glow-in-the-dark silly string." A posh Iraqi home with western fixtures is likened to the "manor of an east L.A. drug lord." Lastly, the rattle of metal in a particular engagement is "like [similes everywhere] someone in a laundromat put change in every dryer and turned them up high."

This is brilliant journalism? He writes in the unguarded and vulgar manner in which the men around him speak. Philosophy and battalion-regiment-division proceedings appear rarely, almost indifferently. There are far better books in the canon of war literature -- this should rightfully take its place at the bottom of the pile.

The cover flaps do a great job of touting this book, calling it "brilliant journalism -- honest, raw and surprisingly intimate." The books is "destined to become a classic and take its place in the canon of the most captivating and authentic works of war literature."

This is mendacious tripe.

The author, described as a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, has a single literary technique, the simile, which he uses two or three times per page without necessarily supporting his theme. His first few pages gave glimpses of intelligent philosophy and structure, all of which is to be quickly doomed in chapter after chapter of nothing more than hour-by-hour reporting of the actions and banter of a few Marine platoons.

True, the book describes in faithful detail many of the hazards and traumas incident on battle, found in all other places -- jamming guns, facing greater numbers, plunging into the unknown, friendly fire engagements, regrets after civilian shooting, the personal needs and struggles of the soldiers, disorientation, and the burning curiosity whether superior orders are sensible or reckless.

Then again we face descriptions that rob the text of much of this hazard and trauma, revealing a 40-year-old author who is very much a teenager with a video game mentality. Shots rang out "like the cartoon bullets fired by Yosemite Sam." Tracer fire went back and forth "like a duel with glow-in-the-dark silly string." A posh Iraqi home with western fixtures is likened to the "manor of an east L.A. drug lord." Lastly, the rattle of metal in a particular engagement is "like [similes everywhere] someone in a laundromat put change in every dryer and turned them up high."

This is brilliant journalism? He writes in the unguarded and vulgar manner in which the men around him speak. Philosophy and battalion-regiment-division proceedings appear rarely, almost indifferently. There are far better books in the canon of war literature -- this should rightfully take its place at the bottom of the pile.

This book was originally spoke of highly by a friend of mine, and after reading it, I understand why. Having served in the armed forces for 3 years now, and having been to Iraq on two seperate tours, I can finally get a view of what the original mission these Marines went through during the first part of the war. Gruesome and exhausting are probably the best words to describe it. Wright does a magnificant job (hats off) telling in full detail what life was like and the hell they endured. I really reccomend this book to anyone with a knack for American history, regarding war.

Reading about the Marines is always interesting, but who would think that reading about an embedded reporter at war could be as entertaining ?

Evan Wright tells a story of his time with a group of Recon Marines in an open, funny, and forthright manner - he portrays these young men at war as they really are - and he portrays his fears and concerns ( and theirs, when they give him an M-16 ! ) as he goes to war also.

If the liberal reader objects to either the book's language, it's friendly attitude towards the Marines, or any of it's other alledged biases, it's because they just learned the truth about how accurately the embeds portray these young men at war.

Full disclosure: I am a career Naval officer who has spent more than average amounts of time around Marines.

GENERATION KILL: DEVIL DOGS, ICEMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, & THE NEW FACE OF AMERICAN WAR by Evan Wright was first brought to my attention by Book TV on CSPAN. At the time, it was being portrayed as a very negative viewpoint of the United States Military in general and the Marine Corps in particular. One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer was supposedly written, at least in part, as a rebuttal for Generation Kill.

Many readers will simply look at the profanity and the violence in this book and be repelled. Those readers will be missing the larger point.

The Marines, especially the enlisted Marines, described in this book are the greatest men that walk the earth. At one point, they are enraged about taking fire from a village; they go into the village talking about killing every person, man, woman, and child, that they encounter. They end up handing out candy to children.

Each time a civilian is hurt, they grieve. In one story, I wonder if they are going to commit violence against their own chain-of-command because it is impossible to medivac a wounded child.

I have never served in land combat, but this story rings true of everything I have observed of Marines. I love Marines, I love them the most when they are far away and, preferably between me and those who wish to do me harm. Their vulgarity and obnoxiousness is that most decent people would rather not have anything to do with them. Yet, by their choice to be part of the thin red line that separates America from the part of the world that is violent, brutal, and inhuman; they demonstrate every minute of every day that they are the best of humanity.

This book captures all of that and is a rip-roaring story to boot. Highly recommended.

Journalist Evan Wright was embedded with the Marines of First Recon at the spearhead of the Iraqi invasion. First Recon was used in an unusual manner during the Second Gulf War, their unarmored Humvees racing into suspected ambush points and showing up in unexpected places in a strategy designed to keep the enemy off balance. Well that was the theory, the actual practice brings to mind all of the old acronyms like FUBAR and SNAFU. Wright's account is not the politically-correct military version, but a gritty, exhausted, immediate, and dangerous odyssey interspersed by humor, unpredictable violence, and the gruesome sights and smells of the battlefield. There are very few combat accounts as well written.

Wright empathizes with his Marines, and manages to represent their opinions, philosophy, and character, thus bringing the book to life. "Generation Kill" also takes an unbiased look at leadership under combat conditions, particularly "Captain America" who was later investigated for war crimes. Evan Wright has succeeded in writing a brilliant, funny, and evocative book that was optioned by HBO for a miniseries.

Wright should get some credit for taking the personal risks needed to write this book. My main criticism is that he writes just like an embedded journalist cliché.

He wrote favorable things about the marines closest to him and unfavorable things about those farthest away. The marines' opinions became Wright's opinions. It's as though the recon marines in the squads Wright rode with wrote this book through him vicariously. Maybe this is the mark of good journalism (to absorb your subject and write as one of them)?

Of course, Generation Kill retains some critical analysis of the marine commanders and, obliquely, the current war, the nature of warfare in general, and the mentality required to effectively wage war.

With regard to some of the less than favorable officer depictions, Wright seemed to have the closest rapport with the NCOs. Here's a hint - ask your average NCO in any branch and he or she will probably depict most junior grade officers as less than compassionate and less than competent human beings. That's the nature of military life.

This book is still good because it's a fast and exciting read.

One of the new aspects of the war in Iraq this time around was the army practice of "embedding" reporters with various units. These reporters followed the soldiers or marines as they fought, ate, slept, and travelled across Iraq, and then were at some point allowed to report on what they'd seen, who they'd met, and the personnel that they'd observed. Evan Wright was one of the reporters who was embedded during the war. Wright is a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine (of all things) and he was selected to march with the First Reconnaisance Battalion of the First Marine Division. This was a pretty choice assignment: Recon Marines are as elite as Marines get. Historically, the USMC doesn't have elite units as such (though they've recently agreed to begin training a unit to serve in the Special Forces Command) so Wright drew what, in reporting terms, is a prime assignment, and he took full advantage of the opportunity. Although there were originally two reporters assigned to the unit Wright was the only one to see combat with them.

Wright has a wonderful ability with words, and is a very good observer of things that happen around him. He's also careful in his judgements, and given the publication he writes for, nowhere near as negative about the war and its participants as I expected him to be. He seems willing to look at both sides of any issue, and look at situations from the point of view of the participants, something civilians sometimes have difficulty with. While his view of the Marine Corps isn't always positive, by any means, he does portray things honestly. Interestingly, he appears to have a good understanding of military terminology, and seems to have absorbed a great deal of knowledge. I have read a lot of books by reporters trying to explain what's happened in wars, and few have had fewer mistakes than Wright. One notable exception is when an exploding Iraqi tank sends shrapnel "hundreds of kilometers" away from itself, and some of it wounds other men in the units. I suspect Wright meant meters, not kilometers.

This is, however, a very very good book. The author pretty much completely avoids discussing the larger issue of whether we should have invaded in the first place, and skirts things such as whether the strategies used were correct or not. Mostly, he's interested in the marines he's with, their comrades in other units: what they do, think, say, and (as much as they tell Wright anyway) feel. The impression you get is of a bunch of American kids trying to do the best they can under difficult circumstances, with a lot of bad people shooting at them. I highly recommend this book.

"Generation Kill" is my favorite book on war in Iraq so far. It's a very real, warts and all, look at young men doing their best to get their job done under crazy conditions ranging from inane orders on their side to insane enemy combatants on the other. "Generation Kill" is a fun fast read that will make you think as well.

Two other good books on Iraq I recommend are "Shooter : The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper" and "Thunder Run". On the other hand avoid "Among Warriors in Iraq: True Grit, Special Ops, and Raiding in Mosul and Fallujah", it has writing so poor it'll give you a headache.

This account of 21st century warfare demonstrates that the more things change, the more they seem the same. Reading Wright's observations of Marines in Iraq reminds me of other books from other wars, such as "With The Old Guard at Pelelieu" in the Pacific or "One More Hill" from Korea. Obviously, the geography and the equipment are different, but the bonding among soldiers in combat has been a constant. We've seen many of Wright's characters before--the dedicated professional, the career opportunist, the young guys eager to show their stuff. The one aspect missing from many earlier accounts, especially in the Pacific of WW II, is interaction with civilians, many becoming tragic casualties in the confusion and fear of combat. It would have been interesting to learn whether superior officers corrected some of the more noteworthy problems (especially with poor unit-level leaders) but perhaps that's a story for another book.

The American face of war has changed since the United States' last multi-year military action. Technology has advanced at an astonishing pace and the armed forces have evolved from a conglomeration of conscripted young men, to a mixed-gender, all-volunteer army. Although many authors have explored this "new" military complex from a macro perspective, Evan Wright has journeyed to the trenches in an attempt to understand the generation of ground soldier, a generation Wright labels, "Generation Kill." Having spent a number of weeks sharing a heavily armed HUMVEE with Marines during the invasion run from Kuwait to Baghdad, Wright has gained a perspective of American ground-forces rarely seen by those limited to the more mainstream media.

Wright argues that the soldier of today varies from his predecessor. He argues that this is the first generation of soldier who readily admits to bearing the brunt of governmental lies, but still readily undertakes the orders of his commanders and country. Such a perspective lends enormous light on the present situation in Iraq, but perhaps even more so proves food for thought regarding the modern American military.

Frighteningly, Wright paints a picture of young soldiers who seem to have become nearly conditioned to violence, not only through military training, but through societal influence as well. Wright captures the horrors of war and the subsequent enlightening reactions of soldiers on the ground - feelings associated with destroying villages, accidental civilian killings, and the interaction with the Iraqi populous.

Bloody and disturbing, Wright's book opens the eyes of readers to the situation in Iraq, and the US military, in ways that CNN and Fox News prove incapable. Thankfully, writers like Evan Wright are making solid of accounts of the Iraq crisis and providing additional information for those concerned.

This book should be made into a movie. Portrays Marines with the ability to show human spirit in a time of war and under stress of combat. Evan is right up there with Mark Bowden. Very very good book.

This book does one of the best jobs of including the moral ambiguity of war of any book I have read - about any war. And part of what makes it handle that so well is it is not a treatise on that subject - it just addresses it as it arises for the troops and how they handle it.

This is possibly the best picture of the marines fighting their way up Iraq. You see the effects of the Bell curve in action - some soldiers that are outstanding, a lot that are good, and some that suck. And the author handles this in a very clever manner. The ones that suck are identified by their nickname while the rest are identified by both their real name and nicknames. So we get full information without individuals held up by name for ridicule to everyone who reads the book.

You also get to see how screwed up things get in combat. How simple little things go wrong that lead to major problems. And how the U.S. even with all of it's technical sophistication still knows so little about what is going on even 200 yards from the troops.

It will also leave you with a lot of respect for the marines. These guys are not perfect but they are incredibly competent at their job and most are trying to make sense in a place of total chaos and do a good job as best they can.

Lt. Nathaniel Fick's Platoon of twenty three Marines are in the unique position of having two books written about their experiences during the Iraq invasion. The first book was "Generation Kill" written by Evan Stone an embedded reporter from Rolling Stone Magazine. Wright's book was followed by Lt. Fick's own book "One Bullet Away." Three weeks of fast tempo warfare have never been better chronicled. When read together, the reader has the singular opportunity of seeing the same events as witnessed by two very different observors.

As the Platoon leader, Lt. Fick made many of the critical decisions that shaped his Marines experience of the war. "One Bullet Away" is at its best when Fick describes his thought process during stressful combat situations. These rapid decisions reflect his training and the special mindset that made him a leader of an elite Marine Corps Recon Platoon. Fick's book is especially valuable because we can enter a young officer's mind. However, where the book is at its weakest is in describing the details of combat. One gets the sense that out of loyalty to his men and the Marine Corps, Fick has toned the story and that we are getting the PG-13 view of what really happened.

Evan Wright was a 38 year old journalist with Rolling Stone Magazine when he became embedded with Lt. Fick's Recon Platoon. He entered the war not as a combatant but as a participant observor. Many times during the invasion, he rode in the lead Humvee of the Marine Corps thrust in Central Iraq. Or as Wright puts it, he as at the tippity tip of the spear. As a journalist, he was literally along for the ride. The beauty of "Generation Kill" is that Wright fills in the human details that Fick leaves out of his book. In his book, we learn alot about the young Marines he travels with and the incredible amount of destruction they leave all around them as they move north into Central Iraq. It is a compelling portrait.

This Platoon's experience has generated two very good books with the potential to become classics of their genre. One can only hope that other members of First Recon decide to write memoirs. I for one, would like to hear Encino Man or Captain America's take on the invasion. There is the potential for a real "Rashomon" effect in the telling of this story.

I found Wright's depiction of the Marines, their experiences, and the Iraq War as unbaised and uninhibited. He is not there to judge, nor does he have any political or personal goal; he is just there to write about what he sees, plain and simple.

And what Wright sees is the brutal, chaotic, and often fatal and life-altering wounds let open by the dogs of war. We do not know what goes on exactly through the mind of the corporal who is forced to kill the driver of a vehicle that would not stop as it drove toward a checkpoint, but we see his shock, his grief, and later his listlessness as the experience replays in his head, and as his fellow marines worry for his stability. We do not know if all the kills that the marines made were against combatants, but we see that some had to be done for safety and mission while others were the result of unfortunate cases of high tensions and nervousness. The marines of the First Recon Battalion fight bravely, under seemingly impossibly missions and orders, and persist. Yet the real stress of this war for the soldiers - as we see in the "helpless" look of Sergeant Colbert when Iraqis clamber to his humvee hoping for food, water, and medical aid - is not the physical battles, but the wear and tear it wrecks on their souls.

A great unbiased account of how the Marine Corps undertakes and accomplishes combat missions. An account of small units and their leadership. Surely will hold you interest, hard to put down.

Certainly one of the better books to come out of the Iraq War so far, this does nevertheless not mean much in and of itself, given that the current crop of books is so utterly thin. Complete war porn action trash rendered with mediocre English skills and little attention. Generation Kill is at least skillfully written and certainly NOT one of those, though it doesn't leave much of an impression. Comparisons to Michael Herr's Dispatches are dropped rather casually, but I've read Dispatches several years ago and can recall numerous of Herr's scenes vividly while I can barely remember anything from Generation Kill which I only read last month. The problem is at once obvious: though Micheal Herr never served in the military, he spent several YEARS in Vietnam living, sleeping, eating, fearing and experiencing it with the grunts for whom he developed an incredible affection. How can Evan Wright's cursory few months embedded with the marines even begin to stack up to that sort of depth of understanding of a subject? It can't, and doesn't.

The bottom line with the current crop of Iraq War books is the frightful binge of consumer-driven rush-to-publish efforts are utterly lacking in perspective. But this seems to be the direction the culture is wanting to go. No time for reflection or penetrating insight. Generation Kill is a decent effort, though I suspect the definitive work on the Iraq War will be written many many years from now. In this respect, Generation Kill is as much a reflection on a larger culture of thoughtless indulgence, as it is for the throughlessness with which we decided to launch a war. It can shed little perspective on the current occupation of Iraq, but is certainly a competent narrative of the invasion, though comparisons to such novels as Dispatches are vastly overblown.

Let me say first that this is a riveting book, and you just can't help wishing the best for the young Marines and some of the older sergeants of 1st Recon. However, it's also inescapable that many of those same Marines would - and do - open fire on any man, woman, or child when ordered to do so by their superiors. In this book you'll read of their bullets slicing off the top of a child's head - and not only once; of their artillery destroying entire villages - and all the men, women, and children in them - with barrages of high explosive and phosphorous shells, and by dropping lethal bomblets over people's heads; of their impassively viewing charred, legless, children's bodies lying on the road; of their gunning down cars full of unarmed civilians who don't understand the Marines' instuctions to stop their vehicles. Some of these men are so trigger happy they even shoot each other. Given orders, it seems these young men would kill or maim absolutely anyone in their path and regard it as just part of their job. (You may recall the Marine sniper here in the U.S. along the Mexican border who shot and killed a boy out tending sheep a couple of years ago. Who did he think that kid was - an Al Qaeda infiltrator (before there was an Al Qaeda)?)
These men love destroying things. This isn't heroism; it's infantilism.

War as depicted in this book is truly hell, but some of these young men seem to really enjoy that hell. For all their individuality of personality, these young men have been molded by the Marine Corps into a highly disciplined force of amoral, violent, brainwashed automatons. They've drunk the Marine Corps Kool-aid, and I expect that's why so many of their pictures are printd day after day in the obituary columns of our newspapers. Jim Jones in Guyana couldn't have done a more effective job. The Marine Corps - just like the Foreign Legion and Al Qaeda, itself - glories in the deaths of its own men. They are a corps of American shahids. Extreme violence, rather than Islam, is their religion, and they practice that religion rigorously. These are the kinds of kids you wanted to have fighting the Japanese from island to island in the Pacific, not the kind of people you would ever use to win over the hearts and minds of a civilian population. War is just a good cover for some of these men and their officers to commit legalized murder, and so far the only Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq have been found wearing the initials USMC on their uniforms.

So, when next you see those moronic smirks on the faces of our so-called "Commander-in-Chief" and his draft-dodging Vice, think of the smashed or missing faces on the charred bodies of those Iraqi women and children that the men of 1st Recon have killed. And they think they're doing good. Goodnight, Chesty. Semper Fi.

This book was written by a reporter embedded with U.S. Marines in the First Reconnaissance Battalion during the first days of the war in Iraq. The First Recon battalion operated from armored Humvees and small assault tanks. Evan Wright was lucky to have been assigned to a platoon of 23 Marines of this aggressive and highly mobile warrior unit that is the elite of the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corp is the elite of armed forces. Once you have earned the privilege of being called a Marine, that title is forever linked with your identity. For all the years that you live, your life experiences happen to you either as a Marine or as an ex-Marine. But to have been a Recon Marine is to have enjoyed a knighthood not seen in this world since Arthur called his knights to the round table. To have been privileged enough to go with the First Recon on their mission to Baghdad is to have tasted war and violence as performed by the very best professionals.

Evan Wright had choices to make prior to writing this book. He could focus on the command and control experiences of the senior officers directing the movements of the units in the field. Or he could chum up with the youngsters in their armored vests and helmets who could manufacture deathly violence with the squeeze of a trigger.

Wisely, he stays with the young men, occasionally sitting down with the officer corp to understand the purpose on the orders that directed, for example, the small column of Humvees to race down a river road so fast that when they reached their objective, they discovered themselves alone, surrounded by hostile Iraqi forces, and beyond any hope of supply and support. This is every commander's nightmare. Evan Wright captures the discomforting realization of the Marines in writing that is almost equal to Michael Herr's brilliant book on Vietnam, "Dispatches," especially his chapters on Marines at Khe Sahn.

At the end of the book, Wright has a conversation with the Lt. Colonel who says First Recon followed his orders superbly. The Iraqi command could not believe that this small force of Marines in Humvees would dare set up for the night without supplies and support from the U.S. main force approaching slowly on the main highway. The Iraqi forces already knew that to engage this particular unit of Marines was not good. The Marines, when they were fired on, attacked so violently and unleashed such incredible firepower and destruction, that they were not challenged. The enemy, thinking that the main force was actually approaching by the river road, moved out of position into the path of the main U.S. force approaching on the main highway.

"Generation Kill" by Evan Wright is a very good book from the enlisted point of view.. It should be read with Nathaniel Fick's book, "One Bullet Away," about the making of a Marine Corp officer. Interestingly, Lt.Fick appears in chapter two of "Generation Kill" and remains a strong presence through out Wright's book. Wright's book is about a platoon of First Recon Marines. When you realize that Fick is the lieutenant of that same platoon of First Recon Marines, and that Fick tells the same story from the officer's point of view, then you realise you hold magic in your hands. These two books should be sold together. Both are fast, excellent reads. Both books belong on the shelves of classic Marine Corp literature. Both books are required readings for the Iraq War.

There is an obvious synergy between Wright's book and Fick's "One Bullet Away" They should be both read with Fick being first as he introduces the "imbed" reporter to the reader. These really are easy reads as both authors seem approachable even to those who have had no military experience and yet care for those remarkable young people over there.

About six times the author recounts how his embed unit would roll into a town or drive by a hamlet and people would wave or shout, "Bush! Bush! Bush!"

How come that was never reported by the main stream media?

I really, really hate second-guessing and there's plenty in this book. Two examples: 1. Wright complains that the officers didn't know enough Arabic (A: Maybe they were busy learning all the other stuff they needed to know as in calling in air strikes; (2) He starts the media mantra that there was no planning for the peace although he acknowledges that Baghdad is a city of 6,000,000. (A: Even with 300,000 soldiers it would have been difficult to control a city of 6,000,000. A: The enemy thinks and reacts every day. A: We couldn't invade from the north and that left lots of the enemy loose. A: The enemy quit so fast that we didn't have time to kill more of them.)

Hey, Evan! Are you perfect? Is the media perfect? Check out all the HUGE errors the media makes every day and NEVER acknowledges how wrong it was. Read Bill Sammon's last two books in that regard.

Lt. Nate Fick's (now a retired Capt) book is better.

This book needed a better editor.

It was depressing to read how much of the popular culture junk has invaded all of society.

The Marines did a super great job. The results show how good the training is. The Iraquis couldn't even shoot straight (and thankfully so!).

No doubt about it: the US is the most deadly, best-equipped and trained military force in the history of the world.

Two points:

1. I agree 100% with one of the Marines' observation "Give these people American toliets and they'll forget about all this Suni-Shia crap."

2. Islam needs women's liberation. One Marine noted that if they had to fight the women it would have been different.

Here's a notable entry in the recent crop of books by "embedded" reporters on the war in Iraq.

Wright, traveling with a Marine Recon unit, tells us about the invasion of Iraq from the "grunts on the ground" point of view. It's not always a flattering story.

By turns funny, exhilarating and horrifying, Wright puts us right alongside a squad of Marines as they spearhead the US invasion of Iraq. We experience battles in racing Humvees, incompetent officers, civilian casualties, and the insanity of war in general.

You'll come away with a greater appreciation of the cost of war to both our own soldiers and the Iraqis who got in their way.

This book is everything I was hoping for, first hand accounts of the front lines as marines fight their way into central Iraq. The writer make you feel like you are riding along in the humvee with these marines, giving you an uncensored account of what is happening.

War is not a pretty thing and those guys had to perform aggressively to be able to stay alive, making quick life and death decisions that don't always turn into the results they were expecting, but that is the raw version of battle and in my eyes these guys are heroes.

'A must read' is an often overused term but it certainly applies to "Generation Kill". I could not put the book down once I started reading. Mr. Wright does an outstanding job of journalism and does himself and his profession proud with this work. Mr. Wright was an embedded reporter with 2nd Platoon, Bravo Co, 1st Marine Recon. He followed the unit from a few days before the war until a bit after major combat operations ceased.

"Generation Kill" presents a straightforward and honest look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of war and the U.S. Marines. It is a very human story that relates much not only about our Marines and their actions but the war and Iraq in general. Mr. Wright interviewed soldiers at all levels of command and thus is also able to set his experiences into some context. The book is not only extremely well written but 2nd Platoon saw a fair amount of combat and had other experiences that create a riveting tale. You will learn much about not only the direct actions but the war and Iraqis in general.

My only criticisms of the book are the complete lack of references and lack of maps. Obviously Mr. Wright is writing off his own observations and interviews but it is occasionally difficult to tell when information is from direct observation, first-hand sources or second- or third-hand. The included maps are ok but maps of the larger actions would have been nice as well. But these are minor points.

If you have any interest in the Second Iraq War, modern combat operations, or the Marine Corps in general this book is a must read. The book is easily the equal of "To Hell and Back", "Blackhawk Down", and "Thunder Run".

I had my doubts about _Generation Kill_ given the title, author and jacket description. As a former combat medic for the Marines who served in the first Gulf War, I was anticipating a romaticized, or worse, a politicized version of the invasion of Iraq. What I found was an honest account of a grunt's life and of combat in general.

Wright spent six weeks with the First Marine Division's First Reconaissance Battalion as they (literally) led the invasion into Iraq. His observations of daily life, of the stresses of combat, and of the actions (and reactions) of the Marines was brutally honest and well written with only the slightest sensastionalization. ("One thing the Marine Corps can bank on is the low tolerance for boredom among American youth. They need constant stimulation ... They need more war." p. 288)

What surprised me most was Wright's shock at the non-chalance of the Marines' violence and aggressiveness. That he did not expect this (or anticipate it) given who these young men are was almost unbelieveable. Similarly I was taken aback by his frequent observations at the skill with weapons and overall lethality of the Marines. This is, afterall, what they do for a living.

It is a must read book - Wright has left his political leanings entirely out of the book, and instead provides an almost voyeuristic glimpse into the daily goings on an elite group of Marines during one of recent history's most pivotal moments.

Generation Kill is exactly what a lot of people would expect it to be: a look at some of the most violent, arrogant and interesting people in the Marines. But it doesn't stop there. It also documents the real face of modern warfare; the long days of waiting and the brief moments of chaos followed by more waiting.
Wright doesn't paint these soldiers as monsters or heroes. He takes a view of them that is realistic and can frustrate you and then redeem the characters all in a very short time. Instead of stereotyping, Wright tells us exactly what the Marines are: a slice of American society itself, with all it's intelligence, stupidity, cruelty, kindness and diversity.
This book reads like a very confusing action novel, where even the main characters don't have a clue where they are or what's happening at times. In retrospect, it makes an even more interesting read. We all know how the war has devolved since those first anxious days of the invasion. Now we can see firsthand how and why the seeds of what the United States has gotten itself into have blossomed into something none of it's architects (being removed from the center of this, or any, battle) expected.