RIP Snoop

Generation Kill sounds more and more like some of the best TV we may get this year.

The fact that The Wire had real Gangbangers and Cops from Baltimore not just advising but IN the show as well as some of the leading and most moral characters being Black and some of the biggest dirtbags being white would tend to make me think Reed simply has a personal fued Simon.

Though I'm curious how he reconciles his self-proclaimed greater knowledge of the Black underclass in Baltimore and how they speak than those who actually have to live there and had nothing but praise for Simons work.

Marines = Real fighting men.

Army Soldiers = Guys who order pizza with their SAT phones, while real men do the fighting.

Navy = Squids (no other explanation necessary)

AirForce = Effete, joy-stick playing frat boys.

Army soldiers (especially MP's)are assholes.

Yeah, I'm a Marine.

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I am really keen to see this however. The Wire is fucking awesome and it was nice to see a real anthropological study of the corruption of power for a change, finally as an anarchist I can watch tv and not be bludgeoned with simplistic authoritarian crap!

I always find it interesting listening to military people discuss their views because killing another human being is so outside my personal experience as to be unimaginable, worse, to kill somebody you don't even know because some dude in a suit says you should, that takes some kind of insanity. I may not like the military, but I admire that sort of dedication.

I'm fighting for the worker, by killing for his masters! Believe in me comrade!

However, you have to realize that most of the smack talk is just that, good natured rivalry between the services. There are legitimate, and hard fought battles between the services, but that is almost exclusively about turf, and money, and mission. And that is always at the Flag rank.

Grunts like myself, who had the misfortune to part of a special permanent detachment of Marines on an Army base (artillery) got to see the Army up close. I prefer the Marines.

But I made several good friends with Army guys, and I have zero hatred - just good natured kidding.

Xiphos was actually former Army before he got religion and joined the Marines. So he has no animosity either - except towards the Navy. Just do not go there with him on that.

An excellent question. As former military myself, I realize that there are lots of sides to the war. But for the Soldier, or Marine on the ground, there is only one side. Only one objective. To live through it. War, as has long been known by those who have fought in one, is not glamorous. It is not in itself heroic to be a Soldier or Marine, or to be involved in a war. Most servicemen and women, simply want to do their jobs, finish their tour(s), and get the hell out of dodge. When you are fighting, the most important thing in your life, is not the flag. It is not the cause, it is the person or persons standing next to you, because they are the ones who will get you home safely, and they feel the same about you. Heroism, comes in many forms in battle, some large, most small. Not all of it has to do with taking live fire, but it is always in a situation that brings about extraordinary results. An example. Soldiers or Marines risking their lives to save Iraqi children pinned down by sniper fire, or caught in a crossfire. That is undeniably heroic, and at the same time, it is what we are taught and trained to do. If you came across a child in the u.S. that was similarly threatened, wouldn't you help? Extraordinary things, made ordinary because of the war. These are the heroic stories that should be told, but they do not have the cache because this is a very unpopular war.

Now, to your half-a-brain, and romanticism comments.

I have not seen this movie yet, so I can not comment on how the characters are portrayed, so I will not. But I can talk about the Marines I knew. You like to paint people (tar them) with one brush. Just because we choose the service, that does not make us any less intelligent (on average) than civillians. And in some cases, a helluva lot smarter. I will stipulate that the services have started lowering entry requirements, but you still need a High School diploma - or equivalent to get in, not to mention passing a battery of exams. Even with the pressing needs for men and women, quite a few are weeded out even before setting foot on Parris Island or whereever they may go to boot.

That being said, I encountered more than my fair share of knuckleheads in the Marines, but have done the same in civilian life as well. Mostly, I came across young men, and women, who were looking for direction and focus. Intelligent, people, who without a doubt had a higher than normal (as I have encountered 'normal' in civilian life) desire for adventure, and pushing themselves to excel. Some entered because they wanted money for College. Some because their families had always been military, some because they wanted to see the world, some for all of the above. But I also do not doubt that there were some who entered because they wanted a chance to fight. There will always be men and some women who just want to fight -and they are drawn to careers, that may allow that. But it is not the majority -and even then, just because you want to fight, it does not make you a bloodthirsty monster. The true psychotics who have no desire but to kill, are weeded out. That type is dangerous to everyone. And it is a stereotype that no one wants.

Before you tar people with one brush of half-a-brain, get to know them first. Do not make assumptions about peoples reasoning, or motivations.

I love this country, and was proud and honored to wear the uniform. But that does not mean that I love everything we do, and I certainly think this war was a mistake.

Just understand this last point if you never understand anything about war. It is pure hell. Seeing friends being maimed or killed. Being constantly aware that you are a target and could be next. Having to fight and yes kill - to reach an objective. Doing all of this at a very young age. It can desensitize even the best person. Letting 18,19,20 year olds loose, with firepower and all of the above mentioned hardships in a country that does not want you, turning them loose, can and should result in horrors. And in small, but well publicized cases, it does. But for the overwhelming majority of the time, it does not. Why? Because we have discipline.

And we are not half-a-brain monsters who can not tell the difference between right and wrong.

And unless you are a Marine, I humbly ask that you never fucking ever again use Semper Fi.

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There is nothing wrong with being opposed to the war. But I have a problem with people like Tophat who spout off about things they know nothing about.

We are not mindless, killing robots (although the Army thinks we are).

I am looking forward to seeing this mini, but I truly hope they also show the good that has been done.

I know my way around 198's.

It is someone who does not understand, but is trying to sum up what a young man in a dangerous situation might be feeling. No doubt he was inundated with young men who showed no outward signs of anything but a 'lean mean killing machine', but that is not the entire truth. But it makes for a fancy headline.

It's certainly not Political in the simplistic Pro-Anti Iraq War sense. So if you are looking for a mindless bludgeon to use on either side of that argument then look elsewhere. That's not what it's about. It's complex.

What it does do is focus on the varied personalities of First Recon that Wright lives with and encounters in a truly extraordinary and intense situation.

Again with the proviso this is from early chapters, but even from that, the idea of a warforce of nothing but mindless grunts is shot down in flames very quickly as the shock is these are such wildly disperate people yet they are undeniably bonded.

What politics there is can be said to be those common to any group of people knitted together by a hierarchical system. Beefs with the higher ups, counterproductive procedures, interpersonal conflicts etc. Which is probably why Simon was perfect for this as he understands systems and how people function in them.

This TV will be visceral and intense and I wil be jumping into the book again soon as already the desire to see what happens next is strong. (and already there are harbingers that as well as acts of selfless courage it's also going to get pretty dark in places too with some unvarnished truth that may upset some who would prefer a far simpler portrayal of America at War)

The book certainly seems intent on capturing the "feel" of this Generation of Marines and what befell them on the Road to Baghdad. When a country sends troops into a War situation, to show the reality of that, and not just the abstract theory of it, would seem to me to be a worthy goal.

The problem with this stuff is that it so often tries to be profound or melodramatic, and it's all been done before.

I am against the war, but I have no problem with those fighting the war, only those who authorized it.

Ishmael may well be right in some (definitely not all) of his critiques about a very subtle form of racism perpetuated (perhaps consciously, perhaps not)by people we would not naturally associate such things with BUT it's really stretching it to equate it with the blatantly obvious propaganda of the Pamphlets and Newspapers of the Nazi era.

I also agree that Crumb is far too complex to shove blithely into the racist box though his treatment of Women is if anything even more problematic and riddled with his own neurosis. He did at least find a deserved artistic & cultural acceptance in France though.

I have to say there seems to be a little bit of confusion over the Marines in Generation Kill being portrayed as killers.

They ARE killers. They were trained, (and since First Recon is considered to an elite branch of the Marines) trained extremely hard for many months if not years in the most calculated, effective, unflinching, manner to be killers. You don't send in diplomats to invade a country and fight their way to Baghdad.

But they also have Rules of Engagement and these are stressed by superiors and others a great many times. Some of the Marines are extremely careful, conscientious and moral. Others are not. And a great many have elements of both. They also vary from person to person in intelligence, temperament and motivation. It's not a simple portrait but it is an entirely believable one.