GRUNTS & GENERALS (Review of books on the Iraq War and US Marines)

In "Generation Kill" (an over-the-top title) we meet the middle-class professionals who make up much of the non-commissioned officer corps and the assortment of Latino gang-bangers, disenfranchised lower-middle class whites (the NASCAR army as some have taken to calling it) and general thrill-seekers who duck in and out of the combat branches of the military for a two- to three-year adventure.

Wright takes us into combat with them and shows America what an interesting lot is out there fighting for the country. Smart, tough, profane, funny, loyal and utterly cynical — this generation of enlisted combat warriors has its first — if brief and incomplete — chronicle.

Some veterans will be surprised by the new complexion of the combat force — but others will note that the small handful of men who fight in close combat are always the same — generation after generation — from the Spartans at Thermopylae to the English yeoman at Agincourt to the battle for Al Kut 2003.

All readers will recognize the timeless themes of war: The scorn for rear-echelon non-combat troops, incompetent leaders who get worked around, the "hurry up and wait" rhythm of combat, general confusion and the unbreakable camaraderie of brothers in arms.

Wright unfortunately gives the impression that everything in the war was confused and muddled, except down at the squad level. In that sense, he came to think like a true Marine — and while his broader observations touch on important points, in general his talents for reflection on the broader picture don't go much further than looking down a rifle sight.

In fact, Wright presents such a picture of battlefield chaos and confusion in his campaign with the recon Marines, that we need to circle back to Keegan to appreciate the true genius of the campaign to capture Baghdad. The brilliance of this operation was in harnessing the individual efforts of those units such as Wright's to a strategic end that few thought was possible at such a low cost.

Note: Some of this was in the original post.

I don't even want to tell you how many times I have got the person wrong. I've also heard the same tale that you wrote about .... "Nuts" is just hard for me to believe with WWII paratroopers, "Balls" or "F U" was much more likely. No matter what was actually said, Bastogne was one hell of a battle.

One of the good things about Hudson High is that if you want (I did use it also ... most cadets did not), it has the best military history undergraduate program in the world. I actually got to talk with the lead company commander of Abrams TF that broke through to Bastogne (no I don't remember his name). Talk about a stud with BIG BALLS! He actually had TWO different Shermans shot out from him (I think he had two DSCs)and I remember just being in awe in his presence.

In my experience West Pointers have either been very good or very bad -- no mediocrities make it out of there, if they make it in. Fortunately the good outnumber the bad enough that some guys go through a whole career without meeting one of the turkeys. The bad are not usually incompetent, they are usually just self-serving, ticket punchers, but at least they pull their weight (even a spotlight ranger is a good thing if you can keep the spotlight on him).

I ran into one guy who was a WP grad with all the righteous scare badges... but was a coward. Never saw that before, and don't expect I will again. I mean, being afraid is normal. Being so afraid you can't function and all your men AND your foreign allies know you're a ****y is a different matter. Of course, one can't fault the school for a weakness in one man's character. I bet he didn't know himself before he deployed.

But it was bad. Every decision was about exposing himself, personally, to the least risk. At one point when his element got into it, he hid -- and a part of the element hid with him. One third of his crowd carried all of its load. He should have been relieved. The task force commander he was working for declined to do the deed and hurt the man's career (he's in the Guard for Christ's sake. What career?)

Had the situation gone to a higher intensity I suspect he might have been killed despite his efforts to stay safe. His folks were very, very unhappy with him -- at least the subset of 'em that came to fight.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

As both an enlisted soldier (11B1V with the 2nd Rgr Bn) and as an officer (also infantry), I never saw combat, but I definitely have a unique view about West Point. I decided to go to West Point while I was at Ranger School (Class 4-80), most of the people that I went to HOOAH school with were from West Point (Class of 1979 ...LCWB). While pulling security, they would tell me all about West Point. I got lucky enough to get into West Point and found out it really is just a 4 year college with uniforms that focuses in on math and engineering (I majored in military history). There I saw the extremes you talk about. Here is an example that I saw as an enlisted Ranger:

My first and last Ranger School buddies were West Pointers. The first (and I don't remember his name) quit right after the first run, at the chin-up bars .... refusing to go into the "Worm Pit" (I don't remember his name and yes ice was covering it....). My last Ranger buddy (he did go SF and yes I remember his name), was a recycle in FLA and down a patrol going into day 12. After spending most of the night digging in (yes the RIs made us dig in to stay warm), he broke down and cried like a baby. He did not think he could make it through FLA a third time. The next day Santa Claus came and he made it. I thought he was a pretty good "O", but it was different seeing "O"s as human.

I guess the bottom line is like you said, either very good or very bad. I just got to "Be All I Could Be....".

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