Weekend Catchup #3: The Last (Whiskey) Tango In Baghdad

[valmontheights]

Those of you who've been on my f-list for some time will probably notice that I'm currently arse over teakettle for Generation Kill. This is in no small part thanks to the character of Cpl. Joshua Ray Person, the driver of Two-One Alpha, the lead victor in Bravo Two, played by the one and only James “PJ” Ransone to a pitch perfection that is in no

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[valmontheights]

I think Generation Kill really suceeded in what the creators talked about accomplishing, which was to show these Marines as humans through and through, as varied a group of human beings as you'd ever find.

I read in the TWoP recaps that Jon Huertas read the script and thought Rudy's "character" was unrealistic and that nobody could be *that* badass and *that* new-agey and spiritual at the same time. And then he realized that Rudy was real, and one of the reasons he played himself was because Kocher and Wright both insisted that no actor would do him justice.

I'm thankful that people like Rudy exist, I'm thankful for how open and honest and engaging he is about what he saw and did in the Marines, all the horrors he experienced on his second tour, that he was able to speak frankly about the death of something inside him. And I'm thankful beyond all things that he survived all that to become what he is now.

And Generation Kill let us know that people like Rudy and Poke and RayRay exist, and that's really given a face to the modern American military I never cared to look into before.