Generation Kill

Premieres on HBO tonight. Unfortunately, I don't have access to HBO but I will be awaiting its release on DVD. If you do have access to HBO, I highly recommend you tune in. It looks like it's going to be an honest picture of the people America has fighting for her. Unfortunately, like any honest picture, people unfamiliar with the underlying culture will read into it what they want. The heads of those on the right explode because these Marines aren't baseball and apple pie heroes. They are "casually racist, homophobic and ignorant beyond reproach." What I read out of that is that they tell offensive racial and gay jokes frequently, rag on the ethnicities of their comrades, and are unrepentantly proud of their background, however lower class that might be. Sounds like most 18-25 military personnel I know. The left, on the other hand, mistakes the routine bitching of soldiers in combat with extreme disillusionment regarding their leaders and the mission. The only time I would worry about junior enlisted personnel is when they AREN'T bitching about their leadership, especially field grade officers and above.

It'd be better for all involved if you left your political preconceptions at the door and just watched:







h/t: Charlie