Generation Kill -- Evan Wright: A Book Review

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War
Evan Wright
Putnam Publishing Group, 2004

Generation Kill is a gritty, hard-hitting first-person account from a reporter who was embedded in the First Reconnaissance (First Recon) Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the initial military assault on Iraq, officially named Operation Iraqi Freedom, that became the beginning of the Iraq War. You ride with the "First Suicide Battalion" throughout their mad dash to Baghdad and beyond, the spearhead in a mechanized war of blitzkrieg-like maneuvering designed to keep the formal Iraqi military off guard.

From the moment he joins Bravo Second Platoon, Wright is off on a wild ride with an elite group of young Marines, trained by their government to be the best at all types of warfare -- to reach and acquire their objective at any cost. You meet the Platoon's leader, nicknamed "the Iceman" for his calm demeanor, and "Captain America", another platoon leader that is not as cool under fire. You meet twenty-three First Recon Marines and get to know them, probably a lot better -- and a little more personally -- than you would like.

Wright writes with authority, with objectivity. He doesn't bring his personal politics into the story. He lets the men of First Recon tell it, describes them and their activities, their actions and reactions to what they do. Some of Generation Kill is quite endearing, some of it hilarious, some of it scary as hell, and some of it revolting.

All in a day's war.

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War is an accomplishment. It succeeds in showing the filthiness of war itself, the difference in expectations and realizations when actually confronted by combat situations, and the interactions of invaders and those they are supposedly liberating.

Wright has written a great book, a must read for anyone who wants to know what the first days of the war in Iraq was actually like -- without all the rhetoric and media bias. Generation Kill is a book about coming to terms with war and its effect on even the most well-trained soldiers we have at our disposal.