annundriel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
annundriel) wrote2011-01-08 11:57 pm
annundriel) wrote2011-01-08 11:57 pm
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Generation Kill
Finally finished reading Generation Kill. It only took me so long because I kept getting distracted by other books.
It was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely interesting to see what they didn't include in the mini-series.
The epilogue and afterword made me a bit depressed, though. Not only what happens to the real men and women involved in this war, or any war, but also the idea that we keep repeating the same things over and over. As Wright says:
He makes the point again when he realizes one of the Marines he knows would essentially like the opportunity to relive the day that went wrong and he got his hands blown off, see if he can't get it right this time.
It's always just the same things in different trappings.
I also thought what Oliver Stone had to say in Wright's interview with him:
The point essentially being that Americans aren't particularly good at the long haul in this day and age. We want everything now.
Along with that, reading about Fick lose it a little as they watch Bush drive by during his second inauguration was tough. I'm a a big admirer of Fick and the fact that he was able to hold on to so much of himself as he became more and more disillusioned. I do now have my own copy of One Bullet Away, which I plan on reading after I get some other books out of the way.
And then there's Brad, who I feel like I should say a word about just because I admire him, too. On the outside, he really does look like a fairly straightforward individual. A warrior. They all do. But then you start to see the whys and hows and whats. The reasons they fight. The reasons they go back. I'm finding it really interesting that Brad's known as the Iceman, isolated and apart when it seems to me that he cares deeply. I think he's just very good at...compartmentalizing maybe?
I don't know. I love everyone in the book (except for the morons, and, god, they are morons). And I definitely need to finish re-watching the series.
And now I'm giving Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games a go.
It was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely interesting to see what they didn't include in the mini-series.
The epilogue and afterword made me a bit depressed, though. Not only what happens to the real men and women involved in this war, or any war, but also the idea that we keep repeating the same things over and over. As Wright says:
Notwithstanding shifting public sentiment about the war, the troops are still at it. The generals change. The policies change. But the troops are out there getting bombed, shot at, ambushed, maimed, and killed like it's still 2003. While the public perceives important differences between Iraq and Afghanistan, for the troops, there's not a huge difference between getting blown up in Afghanistan or Iraq. On a transactional level, war is war. Someone asked me recently if there was a war film that shed light on the experiences of soldiers fighting today. I suggested Groundhog Day, the film in which Bill Murray is trapped in the same day of his life again and again.
He makes the point again when he realizes one of the Marines he knows would essentially like the opportunity to relive the day that went wrong and he got his hands blown off, see if he can't get it right this time.
It's always just the same things in different trappings.
I also thought what Oliver Stone had to say in Wright's interview with him:
"War is the equivalent of sleeplessness to a degree...Can we do it? Are we a crybaby nation? Has Oprah so Oprahfied us that we suffer a little bit and everyone needs to call an anxiety disorder clinic and talk to a psychologist? You wonder if we have the guts to fight a war."
The point essentially being that Americans aren't particularly good at the long haul in this day and age. We want everything now.
Along with that, reading about Fick lose it a little as they watch Bush drive by during his second inauguration was tough. I'm a a big admirer of Fick and the fact that he was able to hold on to so much of himself as he became more and more disillusioned. I do now have my own copy of One Bullet Away, which I plan on reading after I get some other books out of the way.
And then there's Brad, who I feel like I should say a word about just because I admire him, too. On the outside, he really does look like a fairly straightforward individual. A warrior. They all do. But then you start to see the whys and hows and whats. The reasons they fight. The reasons they go back. I'm finding it really interesting that Brad's known as the Iceman, isolated and apart when it seems to me that he cares deeply. I think he's just very good at...compartmentalizing maybe?
I don't know. I love everyone in the book (except for the morons, and, god, they are morons). And I definitely need to finish re-watching the series.
And now I'm giving Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games a go.