Generation Kill

Negativ fällt bei der Taschenbuchausgabe die mangelnde Qualität des Papiers auf, das in seiner Beschaffenheit vielmehr an billige Groschenromane erinnert und das Lesevergnügen leider ein wenig beeinträchtigt.


War from the Soldier's Eyes Perspective   Juli 19, 2004
Felipe Simmel
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War like love is one of human endeavors that never ceased to exist. Nonetheless, despite the long history of warfare, misunderstandings about the nature of war still persist: Often it is characterized as heroic enterprise, which forms the best of a generation. Other accounts assume the opposite: Human beings are turned into beasts of war that lost their humanity over the atrocities they witness. Evan Wright shows in "Generation Kill" (as many war reporters before him) that the reality of war is much more nuanced and complicated.

Wright accompanied the Marines of the First Reconnaissance Battalion as embedded reporter during the invasion of Iraq. His first-person account provides a minute-by-minute report of success, mishaps, and personal stories that surround the members of First Recon. He demonstrates that soldiers are not killing machines - though killing is their profession -, but still human beings that show different reaction to the stress of battle: Some behave heroic without intending it; some want to be heroes, but act savagely and irresponsible; others are just enjoying the thrill of combat or deal with their moral qualms over invading Iraq.

Despite his focus on personal observation on the characters and psychologies, Wrights second topic is on the reality of modern, asymmetric warfare and the inability of the West to adequately meet its challenges. Rules once learned by soldiers like the distinction between combatants and civilians or the immunity of civilians do not apply anymore - and the respect for them disintegrates increasingly. But it is not only the normative rules of warfare that seem to have changed: The modern battlefield is in a permanent flux, and military leaders have increasingly difficulties to understand the dynamics and adjust their strategies accordingly. Following Wrights descriptions, it seems that war returned (despite the use of modern technology) to the savage practices that had been commonplace before modernity.

I would highly recommend "Generation Kill" to everybody - and not just students of international relations. Like Mark Bowden in "Black Hawk Down" before, Wright let us experience war from the soldier's eyes perspective and thus gives a gruesome picture of what war is like; by just reading theories and philosophies of war and peace, we do not get such impressions and tend, thus, to easily misjudge the costs and benefits of war. Wright's account reminds us that sending soldiers to a foreign country should always be the last resort and that military power neither truly liberates people nor can be the only base for nation building.