Generation Kill - Late to the Party

So damn funny. Very rewatchable as well.

Stay frosty

quote:

---

Even down to how they had dumb arse commanders

---

I can assure you that the Marine officers of 1st Recon Battalion were not the morons they were portrayed to be.

was Ziggy ever able to get his combat jack in?

quote:

---

That may be one of the most worn-out tropes in all of Hollywood: Officers are always clueless and the average enlisted man has the military genius

---

You would be surprised how many completely useless officers and staff NCOs that are clueless, especially magnified on the battlefield.

I was in the Marine RCT traveling with this recon unit and the commander was relived of his command in Nasariyah, which is a pretty big fricking deal.

My second tour, we had a CO sent back to the Air Force Base one month into deployment to push paper. Same with a section commander SSgt after the first day of the first op. It happens so much more than you think. And I can’t imagine how that looks in today’s military in some.

What that said Generation Kill is one of my favorite accounts of war, probably because I experienced it. The hurry up and wait and definitely the first sergeant making sure your facial hair and uniforms were within regs. At one point they started clamping down on length of mustache past the outside of the lips so I slowly started bringing mine in. Eventually I had a pretty incredible Hitler mustache that didn’t go over well when it was seen by higher ups.

quote:

---

Well considering things that happened were documented in several books…I’m going to say at least some of it definitely did.

---

Oh you mean the book by the rolling stone guy who rode around with a bunch of young enlisted guys for the invasion?

You think there's a Marine recon company commander who really doesn't know what "danger close" means?

What other events and books are you referring to specifically?

quote:

---

I can assure you that the Marine officers of 1st Recon Battalion were not the morons they were portrayed to be.

---

I’m no Marine, I’m guessing you are and were there. But there are frick ups everywhere, no matter the profession. It’d be naive of me to think our Armed Forces are led 100% by completely competent men. I was annoyed by the show when it came out, I still thought America was holier than thou at that point. But as I’ve aged I’ve come to absolutely love that series.

Maybe they exaggerated it moreso than reality, but a few officers being complete fricking idiots fits pretty in line with every military history book ive read in every war going back to the Revolution.

Not every officer is a moron, but when the expectation from us civilians is of competence, when you’re not it really stands out.

quote:

---

But there are frick ups everywhere, no matter the profession. It’d be naive of me to think our Armed Forces are led 100% by completely competent men.

---

I just want to be clear that I am NOT claiming that 100% of military officers are competent. I have known some pretty big morons in my day. What I and others are saying is that the Hollywood trope of virtually all of the young enlisted troops being the wise, experienced, all-knowing and virtuous ones while the officers are the dumb, inexperienced, career-driven morons making stupid and dangerous decisions at every turn while their troops shake their heads in the background.

yes, there are bad officers and smart enlisted troops. absolutely. but by and large, especially at the tactical level, the majority of officers are between competent and very good. the bad ones generally get weeded out.

quote:

---

Maybe they exaggerated it moreso than reality, but a few officers being complete fricking idiots fits pretty in line with every military history book ive read in every war going back to the Revolution.

---

most popular "history" books are written by journalists, and most journalists have the same or similar Marxist outlook on the military, where underlying themes are the struggling "working class" enlisted man getting screwed over by the aristocratic brass. these men have never been in the arena but still feel fit to criticize those who have.

quote:

---

Not every officer is a moron, but when the expectation from us civilians is of competence, when you’re not it really stands out.

---

that's fair, but i'll also counter with this - it also really stands out when that's all you hear about. denominators matter.

the military today is changing a lot, so am hesitant to get too into that. but during the Iraq / Afghan GWOT years, there were a lot more Winters, Nixons, Comptons, and Speirs than there were Sobels and Dikes. especially in the infantry. a LOT more.

one more piece of perspective - Generation Kill pulled largely from two sources: Evan Wright's book / input, and Nate Fick's book (One Bullet Away) / input. it's not a coincidence that the best looking, most well liked, and virtually only competent company grade officer in the show is...Nate Fick

here's his bio, which i will leave without comment:

LINK