Friday 24 February 2012

Cavalier 2012 Show and Generation Kill Book.

The Rejects will be at Cavalier 2012 this Sunday and hope to see some fellow gamers and bloggers there, it's the first show we attend every year and it's a small but good show and we will do a few pictures and words next week!


Just finished this book (it only came out in 2004!) and it's a fantastic read of the authors time (rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright) with the US marines First Recon Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the insight into this elite unit within the marines (the details of their training is amazing), although the marine commander Major General James Mattis called them "cocky, obnoxious bastards".

What you get is a tale from Evan who was mistrusted at the beginning to say the least but gained their respect by riding in the lead humvee and sometimes reluctantly carrying a weapon, it's a tale of aggression, misuse of this unit, poorly supplied, sometimes poorly led but always ready for whatever came their way and looking out for each other but it's also a tale of sadness, no real overall plan, comradeship, lucky escapes, the death of civilians.......

The marines themselves are brutally honest in their opinions (some of them got into trouble later) and as aggressive as their Devil Dogs nickname (supposedly earned in 1918 from the Germans they fought at Bellau Wood during WW1 were they were called hounds from hell in German dispatches), they used to ambush each other at night whilst waiting to be deployed and nick each other with their combat knives on each others ribs.....

A great read and now to find the TV series.....


55 comments:

  1. FIRST COMMENT! YAY! lol
    Sorry if I'm off track, but is the Rejects the name of your wargaming group?

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  2. Wow, I didn't realise this show was on this sunday. Lots going on with the Brighton show too. That's the link just for info:
    http://www.brightonmodelworld.com/

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  3. Should see you at Cavalier. All three BROADSIDE organisers should be there so feel free to have a chat.

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  4. Oo-rah! have a grand-de-o-so time... i am expecting photos up by early next week... good times.

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  5. Have a good time you guys. The weather here is pretty good and I'm going to be outside mucking about in my garden.

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    1. Enjoy your mucking about in your garden. It's odd here. A little snow fell but it still feels of spring.

      And to Lurker and the guys. Have a most wonderful time and snap us lots and lots of photos.

      Maybe even more shots of Ray's knee.

      Cheers and boogie boogie.

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  6. Oh no! A show in Tun Wells this weekend!

    I'm going to have to have THAT conversation with the wife when I get home. With a bit of luck I'll get a day pass and myself and Fugs can take a road trip to back my spiritual home.

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  7. I enjoyed the Generation Kill mini-series on HBO. It portrays the Marines in the unit as very sympathetic despite their flaws, though most of their officers aren't portrayed in such a positive light.

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  8. Hope the show goes well and people do turn up to meet you guys. The book sounds good too.

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  9. Good book AND a good series. Definitely check out the show if you get a chance.

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  10. Try to place nice with the other rejects on the day out to Tonbridge. Looking forward to seeing lots of photos of all the things that you couldn't resist!

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  11. I never got to read the book, but the miniseries was excellent. Might have to check out the book as well.

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  12. Never saw the series! What those guys had to do was tough beyond most people's imagination.

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  13. Never heard of this one but I am off to find it...

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  14. i'd love to drive a humvee. cant be that different compared to my jeep

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  15. I prefer to call it a brutal conquest on Iraq.

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  16. Have a great time at the show. Looking forward to pics.

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  17. If you enjoyed GENERATION KILL, you should definitely read ONE BULLET AWAY by Nathaniel Fick. Fick was the LT in command of the platoon in which Wright was embedded. Wright encouraged him to right his own memoir of events in 2003 and the resulting work is a great companion piece to GENERATION KILL. Fick's account is one seen from above the "grunt's eye view" that Wright presents, but not too far above. He doesn't describe the farting, cursing, and ephedrine fueled rough-housing, for instance, but he does give more insight into the command issues Wright references and spends more time on the tactical and leadership challenges of using his unit like a hammer when it was designed to be used more like a precision screwdriver or scalpel.

    I highly recommend the book - I think both books should be on any student of the Iraq war (along with Bing West's THE MARCH UP, NO TRUE GLORY, and THE STRONGEST TRIBE).

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    1. Thanks for those, will check them out on Amazon.....

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  18. On the student's shelf, mind you, not on the student himself. ;)

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  19. Should be a good day!!!! I'll try and remember to take a pic of Fran in my car. Car=small+Fran=big....you get the idea!!!

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  20. Sounds like a good read. You would probably like Fiasco although it is way up the chain of command. Gen Mattis is referenced several times. In addition to your quote the one I like is "Be courtious, be everybodies friend, but have a plan for killing them." (Paraphrased but you get the point). The other quote that stuck with me was about the heavy handedness of some divisions, the 4th ID primarily I think. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

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  21. Never even heard of the series, the book I have though. Will have to go searching.

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  22. A really nice TV series; now I´m going to read the book.

    Best regards.

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  23. Got the book myself and read it a while ago before watching the series; both of which are excellent - well worth your time.

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  24. I'll see if I catch it, I'm gonna need books soon.

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  25. Enjoy your show there Lurker and I hope you all have a good one.

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  26. Sounds like a very realistic look at war! The way you describe it makes it seem very gripping and compelling! I hope it lives up to that! (I know it will!)

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  27. Ach, will have to try getnto that show. Had plans on Sunday, too.

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  28. Sounds like a good book. I've read one before written by an American Soldier. Its in the loft and the name escapes. It was quite brutal and included a lot of the things you wouldn't really have thought about.

    Will keep my eye out for it ta.

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  29. Have fun at the show. A friend recommended the book to my when it was first published, thanks for the reminder.

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  30. The iraq war i oldstuff by now

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  31. The motivational poster reminds this old jarhead of what it meant to be in uniform....how I miss it.

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  32. Thanks for those other book references, Shawn.

    Have a good time at Cavalier. I envy you folks over there, all those shows to go to.

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  33. funny story...Evan Wright's sister was my English professor in 2005. I read the book after she told the class her bro was a journalist/author and loved it. She introduced me to him a couple years later, he's cool as hell and even slipped a little shout out to me in the Generation Kill series (blushes) =p

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    1. sorry for responding so late. Trombley has a mexican wife/GF or something and he's talking about possible baby names and throws out the first quote on this link (which is my name...and not the same one mention in the book)

      http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0099391/quotes

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  34. Complete material is attractive and cheerful to read, it quite maintains you addicted.

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  35. Have a great time...looking forward to a full report next week!

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  36. Have fun tomorrow!

    Going to have a look for that book. Looks interesting.

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

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  37. Heard great things about the series, didn't know it was based on a book though. Maybe I'll check that out first.

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  38. I've yet to read this as well. Seems like it would be a fast read with all of the action.

    Have fun at your show!

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  39. ah that picture is too true

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  40. Sounds like interesting read. I watched Killing Fields recently. Loved it but hated so much for having watched it and couldnt forget that this happened for real not happened still happening.

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  41. too good...
    Would totally watch again.

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  42. That sounds like a great read. I'm going to pick this up from the library as soon as I can.

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  43. It sounds even better when you consider what Shawn said too, but it could take all year to read all of those. My vending machine lady said "Hua?" the other day, so these veterans are reappearing in society here and there.

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