Generation Kill Pimp
I know, I know. The last two things I recced were soaps. This is so NOT a soap.
It's HBO's Generation Kill
I just can't believe more people aren't raving about it, so I need to do my part and pimp it out. Many thanks to the_grynne for getting me hooked on it and for the lovely screen caps you see below. hackthis has done a lovely pimp for it here.
Here's my take on it.
This is the story of US First Recon Marines Bravo Company and the invasion if Iraq. They've spent years training to scuba dive, parachute, snowshoe, mountain climb and rappel from helicopters and yet find themselves instead, driving Humvees in a desert (of which they've had all of 6 weeks of training). It's gritty, dirty, rude. Parts are difficult to watch but it's not as hard to watch as I thought it would be. It's war and there is brutality, but it's made up by the fact that it's actually a story about the soldiers dealing with the harsh reality in their own way. It also helps that the boys are very, very nice to look at. Even when they're being dirty and rude.
Note: Youtube Vid is NOT safe for work due to language.
So here, we go. The pretty boys:
It also helps that they frequently take their clothes off.
The hardest part about watching Generation Kill the first time through is that it's kinda hard to tell all the soldiers apart. So here we go:
Who's Who In the Zoo
Starting at the top of the food chain, this is Lt. Col Ferrando. Call sign Godfather because of his raspy voice. He's the commander of First Recon and frequently refers to himself in the 3rd person which doesn't help minimize the confusion at all. His boss is General Mattis which we only see once or twice but he's often referred to. (General Mattis' call sign is Chaos.)
This is the Major. He doesn't play a big roll I just included him so you know who he is. For all intents and purposes he's Godfather's helper.
This is Sgt Major Sixta. He answers to Godfather. He's an ass and easy to tell apart from the other marines because all he does is yell at the soldiers for not following the Grooming Standard.
Ok, so those are the higher ups. First Recon is basically divided up into several companies, but we only really ever see two. Alpha Company and Bravo Company.
The only person we really need to know from Alpha Company is the Company Commander:
The Company Commander of Alpha Company is Capt Patterson. He's a smart cookie--cares about his men and is a good, solid leader.
The Company Commander for Bravo Company is another issue.
The men call him Encino Man because he's such a numpty. He's a perfect example of why they shouldn't give officers maps. Err..if the battalion had maps that is. One thing I found majorly confusing is that Encino Man and Capt Patterson look exactly the same. However, as you can see above, Capt Patterson does us favour of always wearing the black and white scarf around his neck. Thanks Patterson. :)
There are 2 platoons in Bravo Company, Two and Three. (I don't know what happened to One). Three platoon is commanded by Captain America.
He's another numpty.
But now we come to the people that actually matter.
The platoon commander of Bravo Platoon 2 is Lt Nathaniel Fick (on the left). He's often followed around by Gunny Sgt Wynn (on the right). Fick is one of the few voices of sanity throughout all the fucked-up missions. Fick's platoon is divided into 5 vehicles and the lead vehicle is actually where we spend most of the mini-series.
Inside vehicle 1 (the vehicles are also referred to as victors). This is Sgt Brad Colbert (aka Iceman). He's the Team 1 leader. He's one of the most respected marines in First Recon. He's a "Marine Killer" and yet also a geek. He tried to have armor he had specially made, FedExed to Kuwait.
This is Cpl Ray Persons. He's Brad's driver and RTO (Radio Transceiver Operator - according to the definition provided by HBO: radioman,the most important guy on the team and usually the calmest and smartest next to the team leader.). He's also the main driver of the lead vehicle which means if he stops, all the other vehicles are stuck behind him. And he doesn't even have a military operator's license for a Humvee. He deals with the stress by taking a lot of uppers, singing a lot of songs and talking. He was on the debate team in high school.
This is Evan Wright or The Reporter. He's the one who wrote the articles in Rolling Stone Magazine and then the book Generation Kill. He sits behind Brad in the Humvee.
Next to the reporter (and sitting behind Person) is Trombley. The FNG (Fucking New Guy). He hasn't completed the Basic Reconnaissance course. If this weren't enough to make him an outsider, he's a bit of a psycho too.
Manning the big gun on top is Cpl Garza but for some reason Brad switches in another guy in the second or third episode. Not that I minded. Walt is a cutie as well.
Other people of interest in Bravo Company:
Also wearing a black and white scarf (but in no way can he be mistaken for Capt Patterson) is Rudy Reyes. Yes, he's the same guy shown above all naked-like. But even more interesting is that he's actually Rudy Reyes. He plays himself in the miniseries. The boys call him Fruity-Rudy because he's so pretty.
This is Doc Bryan. He's a Navy corpsman and the platoon medic. He has a low tolerance for stupidity and so is greatly popular amongst the men. He also tells Encino Man exactly what he thinks of him. It's awesome.
What the Show is About
In the beginning, the battalion finds itself in Kuwait, waiting for the war to start. First Recon, as the name implies, is usually tasked with doing...well...recon shit. Like sneaking in ahead of main army, getting intelligence on the targets and relaying that info back to the main fighting group. Things don't quite work out like that here.
They get stuck in a traffic jam with the rest of the army. Then they make a wrong turn or two. As Iceman says: "Our mission is now not to do our original mission."
Then more stupid things happen.
For instance, you may notice that they're in the desert. And that they're wearing woodland pattern MOPP suits. As Person says, there's various levels of retardation here.
They blow things up. They almost get blown up (and not necessarily by the enemy).
Lt Fick has to politely intervene a few times. And in keeping with the military way of doing things has to live with the possibility of a court marshal.
What I think the Show is About
But it's not all stupidity and shooting things. There's also love.
Brad and Fick share many, many special moments.
Behind a truck.
In a truck.
In the sand.
At night.
Fick is often disturbed by the fact that his boss is a numpty. It causes him a lot of grief that Encino Man keeps trying to get his men killed.
Brad is not happy that Fick is disturbed so often, partly because he doesn't want to die, but also because Encino Man keeps yelling at Fick because Fick is actually good at his job.
So with all this love, how could you not want to watch?
IATK (Important Acronyms to Know)
If you are going to watch (and you should!), here are some handy-dandy acronyms or terminology you should know. (Mostly taken from the HBO site).
Assassin: Call sign for Alpha company
Hitman: Call sign for Bravo company
Hitman-2: Call sign for Bravo company, Platoon 2
Hitman-2-1: Call sign for Bravo company, Platoon 2, Team 1 (Brad's Team)
Actual: as in "Hitman-2 Actual" means the actual person in charge of Hitman Two Platoon, in this case that's Lt Fick.
C.G. (Commanding General): always means General Mattis, Commanding General of the First Marine Division, when these Marines use the phrase.
H & S Company: the Headquarters and Supply company.
A-O: Area of Operations
Oscar Mike: On the Move
R.C.T. (Regimental Combat Team): a super-regiment of about 7,000 Marines; the First Division consisted of three RCTs - RCT 1, RCT 5 and RCT 7 - plus First Recon, which operated on its own.
R.O.E. (The Rules of Engagement): the all important, ever-changing and always ambiguous rules governing when a Marine may fire his weapon.
R.T.O. (Radio Transceiver Operator): radioman, the most important guy on the team and usually the calmest and smartest next to the team leader.
So that's it. That's my pimp. All you need now is 7 hours at least. It's seven episodes, but I'm counting on the fact that you'll probably want to watch them more than once. ;)
And in case you're interested, the stories behind Generation Kill published in Rolling Stones can be found here.
It's HBO's Generation Kill
I just can't believe more people aren't raving about it, so I need to do my part and pimp it out. Many thanks to the_grynne for getting me hooked on it and for the lovely screen caps you see below. hackthis has done a lovely pimp for it here.
Here's my take on it.
This is the story of US First Recon Marines Bravo Company and the invasion if Iraq. They've spent years training to scuba dive, parachute, snowshoe, mountain climb and rappel from helicopters and yet find themselves instead, driving Humvees in a desert (of which they've had all of 6 weeks of training). It's gritty, dirty, rude. Parts are difficult to watch but it's not as hard to watch as I thought it would be. It's war and there is brutality, but it's made up by the fact that it's actually a story about the soldiers dealing with the harsh reality in their own way. It also helps that the boys are very, very nice to look at. Even when they're being dirty and rude.
Note: Youtube Vid is NOT safe for work due to language.
Click to viewSo here, we go. The pretty boys:
It also helps that they frequently take their clothes off.
The hardest part about watching Generation Kill the first time through is that it's kinda hard to tell all the soldiers apart. So here we go:
Who's Who In the Zoo
Starting at the top of the food chain, this is Lt. Col Ferrando. Call sign Godfather because of his raspy voice. He's the commander of First Recon and frequently refers to himself in the 3rd person which doesn't help minimize the confusion at all. His boss is General Mattis which we only see once or twice but he's often referred to. (General Mattis' call sign is Chaos.)
This is the Major. He doesn't play a big roll I just included him so you know who he is. For all intents and purposes he's Godfather's helper.
This is Sgt Major Sixta. He answers to Godfather. He's an ass and easy to tell apart from the other marines because all he does is yell at the soldiers for not following the Grooming Standard.
Ok, so those are the higher ups. First Recon is basically divided up into several companies, but we only really ever see two. Alpha Company and Bravo Company.
The only person we really need to know from Alpha Company is the Company Commander:
The Company Commander of Alpha Company is Capt Patterson. He's a smart cookie--cares about his men and is a good, solid leader.
The Company Commander for Bravo Company is another issue.
The men call him Encino Man because he's such a numpty. He's a perfect example of why they shouldn't give officers maps. Err..if the battalion had maps that is. One thing I found majorly confusing is that Encino Man and Capt Patterson look exactly the same. However, as you can see above, Capt Patterson does us favour of always wearing the black and white scarf around his neck. Thanks Patterson. :)
There are 2 platoons in Bravo Company, Two and Three. (I don't know what happened to One). Three platoon is commanded by Captain America.
He's another numpty.
But now we come to the people that actually matter.
The platoon commander of Bravo Platoon 2 is Lt Nathaniel Fick (on the left). He's often followed around by Gunny Sgt Wynn (on the right). Fick is one of the few voices of sanity throughout all the fucked-up missions. Fick's platoon is divided into 5 vehicles and the lead vehicle is actually where we spend most of the mini-series.
Inside vehicle 1 (the vehicles are also referred to as victors). This is Sgt Brad Colbert (aka Iceman). He's the Team 1 leader. He's one of the most respected marines in First Recon. He's a "Marine Killer" and yet also a geek. He tried to have armor he had specially made, FedExed to Kuwait.
This is Cpl Ray Persons. He's Brad's driver and RTO (Radio Transceiver Operator - according to the definition provided by HBO: radioman,the most important guy on the team and usually the calmest and smartest next to the team leader.). He's also the main driver of the lead vehicle which means if he stops, all the other vehicles are stuck behind him. And he doesn't even have a military operator's license for a Humvee. He deals with the stress by taking a lot of uppers, singing a lot of songs and talking. He was on the debate team in high school.
This is Evan Wright or The Reporter. He's the one who wrote the articles in Rolling Stone Magazine and then the book Generation Kill. He sits behind Brad in the Humvee.
Next to the reporter (and sitting behind Person) is Trombley. The FNG (Fucking New Guy). He hasn't completed the Basic Reconnaissance course. If this weren't enough to make him an outsider, he's a bit of a psycho too.
Manning the big gun on top is Cpl Garza but for some reason Brad switches in another guy in the second or third episode. Not that I minded. Walt is a cutie as well.
Other people of interest in Bravo Company:
Also wearing a black and white scarf (but in no way can he be mistaken for Capt Patterson) is Rudy Reyes. Yes, he's the same guy shown above all naked-like. But even more interesting is that he's actually Rudy Reyes. He plays himself in the miniseries. The boys call him Fruity-Rudy because he's so pretty.
This is Doc Bryan. He's a Navy corpsman and the platoon medic. He has a low tolerance for stupidity and so is greatly popular amongst the men. He also tells Encino Man exactly what he thinks of him. It's awesome.
What the Show is About
In the beginning, the battalion finds itself in Kuwait, waiting for the war to start. First Recon, as the name implies, is usually tasked with doing...well...recon shit. Like sneaking in ahead of main army, getting intelligence on the targets and relaying that info back to the main fighting group. Things don't quite work out like that here.
They get stuck in a traffic jam with the rest of the army. Then they make a wrong turn or two. As Iceman says: "Our mission is now not to do our original mission."
Then more stupid things happen.
For instance, you may notice that they're in the desert. And that they're wearing woodland pattern MOPP suits. As Person says, there's various levels of retardation here.
They blow things up. They almost get blown up (and not necessarily by the enemy).
Lt Fick has to politely intervene a few times. And in keeping with the military way of doing things has to live with the possibility of a court marshal.
What I think the Show is About
But it's not all stupidity and shooting things. There's also love.
Brad and Fick share many, many special moments.
Behind a truck.
In a truck.
In the sand.
At night.
Fick is often disturbed by the fact that his boss is a numpty. It causes him a lot of grief that Encino Man keeps trying to get his men killed.
Brad is not happy that Fick is disturbed so often, partly because he doesn't want to die, but also because Encino Man keeps yelling at Fick because Fick is actually good at his job.
So with all this love, how could you not want to watch?
IATK (Important Acronyms to Know)
If you are going to watch (and you should!), here are some handy-dandy acronyms or terminology you should know. (Mostly taken from the HBO site).
Assassin: Call sign for Alpha company
Hitman: Call sign for Bravo company
Hitman-2: Call sign for Bravo company, Platoon 2
Hitman-2-1: Call sign for Bravo company, Platoon 2, Team 1 (Brad's Team)
Actual: as in "Hitman-2 Actual" means the actual person in charge of Hitman Two Platoon, in this case that's Lt Fick.
C.G. (Commanding General): always means General Mattis, Commanding General of the First Marine Division, when these Marines use the phrase.
H & S Company: the Headquarters and Supply company.
A-O: Area of Operations
Oscar Mike: On the Move
R.C.T. (Regimental Combat Team): a super-regiment of about 7,000 Marines; the First Division consisted of three RCTs - RCT 1, RCT 5 and RCT 7 - plus First Recon, which operated on its own.
R.O.E. (The Rules of Engagement): the all important, ever-changing and always ambiguous rules governing when a Marine may fire his weapon.
R.T.O. (Radio Transceiver Operator): radioman, the most important guy on the team and usually the calmest and smartest next to the team leader.
So that's it. That's my pimp. All you need now is 7 hours at least. It's seven episodes, but I'm counting on the fact that you'll probably want to watch them more than once. ;)
And in case you're interested, the stories behind Generation Kill published in Rolling Stones can be found here.