About 2 years ago I picked up a hard copy of Evan Wright’s Generation Kill while passing through the Atlanta airport. I’ve always had the utmost respect for our US military personnel so whenever I occasionally stumble over a decent non-fictional or biographical account of our military in action, I pick up a copy.

At the time, the author was embedded with the Marine Corp 1st Reconnaissance Battalion‎ during the first two months of the 2003 Iraq Invasion. His original work started off as a 3 part [Rolling Stone series titled The Killer Elite] which eventually won a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting in 2004. It gives a raw, candid look at what modern combat for our current generation of 18-24 year old men is really like and you get the full in-your-face reality of life as a 1st Recon Marine. It’s received mixed reviews from other US Marines and critics but apparently Marine commanders now require junior 1st Recon Officers to read it as a primer on combat. I highly recommend it.

Side note:
This summer, [HBO Films released their 7 part Generation Kill mini-series] based on the book (the web site has a slick flash interface). I was a huge fan of [HBO Films Band of Brothers series] so I had high hopes HBO would put the same amount of effort into developing this series. Having watched episode 4 this weekend, I’ve been impressed. Apparently HBO employed 2 of the actual Marines depicted in Evan’s original work to act as consultants. A 3rd Marine named Sgt. Rudy Reyes has a cameo on-screen role as himself.

Check it out now or wait for the DVD release – it’s worth it.