As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
HBO's Generation Kill: Whopper Jr.
LightRider
__BANNED USERS regular
__BANNED USERS regular
hbo.com/generationkill
Generation Kill, from the makers of The Wire, which I understand is a good show, and based on the same-titled book. A seven part miniseries on HBO on Sunday nights.
First episode "Get Some" aired last night, and I watched it three times. I don't know what to think about it yet. I've never served in the armed forces, don't think I'd make it, but its hard to watch without being conflicted. How do you react to the marine who goes on at length about how they're a merciless killer praying for war? As an American, you want to feel good that your guys are badass motherfuckers, but as a human being, you feel bad that we feel a need to make these men the way they turn out, and have to unleash them on the world, sometimes for little, bad, or no reasons. If you want to say that their "defending our freedoms," then I would have to say, they're in the wrong country, as the 4th amendment just got killed last week by our own government...but I digress.
Hopefully it helps those people in this country who don't really think about the armed forces abroad focus on their situation a bit more. As someone who has family out there, I'm also glad that they're focusing on telling people what the guys need from us in terms of everyday needs. I hope the show does well.
Generation Kill, from the makers of The Wire, which I understand is a good show, and based on the same-titled book. A seven part miniseries on HBO on Sunday nights.
First episode "Get Some" aired last night, and I watched it three times. I don't know what to think about it yet. I've never served in the armed forces, don't think I'd make it, but its hard to watch without being conflicted. How do you react to the marine who goes on at length about how they're a merciless killer praying for war? As an American, you want to feel good that your guys are badass motherfuckers, but as a human being, you feel bad that we feel a need to make these men the way they turn out, and have to unleash them on the world, sometimes for little, bad, or no reasons. If you want to say that their "defending our freedoms," then I would have to say, they're in the wrong country, as the 4th amendment just got killed last week by our own government...but I digress.
Hopefully it helps those people in this country who don't really think about the armed forces abroad focus on their situation a bit more. As someone who has family out there, I'm also glad that they're focusing on telling people what the guys need from us in terms of everyday needs. I hope the show does well.
LightRider on
0
Posts
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
The guy playing himself is fruity rudy, the buff weird guy talking about moving to san francisco so he doesn't have to deal with fat people.
This miniseries is off to a promising start. So many random funny moments that really makes you empathize with the characters. Loved the little hitler walk in the background and the jlo bit in the beginning. Though two of the guys looked way too similar (iceman in the humvee and the officer guy).
So far it seems pretty accurate to me. In the scene where they're berating the FNG because he's not wearing his watch cap, that's exactly the type of dumb shit guys in the military think up when they're bored. In fact, the same exact thing happened in my unit--one day every enlisted guy's wearing a black watch cap and everyone's like, "Wiskey tango foxtrot?!?"
Well, it's kind of the goal to turn Marines into cocky assholes. Mild-mannered introspects don't really make the best fighters.
To be completely honest, they probably toned it down. Watching this just gave me alot of flashbacks to when I was in.
Hey! I bet the denizens of Penny Arcade would have at least and 50/50 shot at besting France in war.
The guy who wrote the book was embedded with a group of marines. My guess is, this is probably the most accurate portrayal of a combat brigade ever.
I bet conservatives shit bunnies over this.
Look up Audie Murphy sometime. The old enlisted days had a lot of badass mild-mannered introverts.
50/50? What is your name, son? Renee?
By the by, don't think Iv ever hung out with a Marine you would call an 'introspect'.
Azulan Saul Tigh
Speaking as ex-army (UK), you want to know that your guys are professional, competent and tough (physically and emotionally).
You do not want them to be violent psycopaths.
Ever.
You're right to a point, but UK soldier training is a bit different than US training. Your boys were always pretty damn buttoned up in comparison to us. I think you all still let loose, just off duty. Nevertheless, no... you don't want to have crazy people with guns running around... that's a myth, whether you're dealing with grunts or special forces. Despite all the "you're a weapon" type of thing drilled into us, they never engendered chaos.
Azulan Saul Tigh
Hey, it's kinda like the real military. Seriously, I couldn't tell like 50% of my battalion apart, even after a year.
I'll definitely have to check this out, though.
Addressing what the first poster said, this book is set during the intial invasion of Iraq in 2003. At that point every Marine I knew wanted to go out and "get some". Not everyone had been sent to Afghanistan and many of us wanted our taste of battle and warfare...not because we were blood thirsty tyrants and killers *though unfortunatley there are a fair sure of bastards and sick fucks in the US military* but because we wanted to prove to ourselves and the generations of warriors adn Marines before us that we were just as good. You'll see later on that at the Battle of Nasiriya when we took our first bloody nose, many marines were brought back to reality. The US military isn't invincable, it can be hurt, it does bleed, it does die.
Another thing to keep in mind while watching this show...is that this is a recon unit. "First Suicide Battalion". These fuckers were ordered to trip ambushes so that they could be taken out by heavier units moving up behind. Recon guys are wierd, bat shit crazy, and full of themselves even more then regular Marines.
There's that, and I know for a lot of us Army guys it was just about wanting to actually put some of the (often years) of training we had endured to use. Going to the field and "playing Army" is all well and good, but it was amazing at the time to think that we might get to actually do it "for real."
Made it all seem a lot less pointless.
Of course, most of us that deployed in later rotations had already lost that attitude before we even hit the ground...and had it's corpse pissed on while there. Except for some of your crazier bastards, like snipers and what not.
Truth. Crazy fuckers, nearly all of them.
I also really like the way this has been filmed so far. The build-up to when they finally saw some action last night has been fantastic...there were so many tension moments where you felt like something was going to happen, then it didn't, just to the point where it was starting to get frustrating. It was actually to the point where I was expecting them to roll right through town w/ nothing happening, again, then shit/fan/etc... And hell if they didn't whup some ass there too...damn. Eagerly awaiting next week...
Edit: oh yeah, remembered another thing I wanted to bring up. I love how they're showing the way modern warfare has changed these days with regards to communication...the ability to, during the actual fighting, request up to your superiors that you get the OK to change the engagement rules or whatever...I mean that's incredible.
twit feed
I was in the Coast Guard and Army during the peaceful 90s and saw more action in the USCG. Anyways, I know all about the 'get some' that I never saw. All I know is I'd love to be in Iraq if I could. Ideally I'd like to put my life here at home on hold and be in Iraq for a max of two years!
Guys like Encino Man and the Sergeant Major are why I could never cut it in the military, there's no way I'd be able to keep my mouth in check when confronted with their idiocy.
I like the show so far. It's definitely different enough from Band of Brothers.
From what I understand, war is shitty thing where people are killed for no reason with shocking regularity. To say that the series is trying to make a point other than that seems pretty silly to me. Obviously the characters (at least most of them) have remorse for killing the innocents and strive to not do so. I don't think anyone in the millitary actually wants to kill people without reason...
Well, I hope not anyway.
Azulan Saul Tigh
It's been awhile since I read the book, but I believe the book ends right before Fallujah, it just briefly mentions that a few of them went to that battle.
Nah, you're right. A lot of the older soldiers here sometimes go back in stories and how they just saw a silhouette of someone pumping rounds out and they took em down. Only to find out it was an 8 year old kid or something.
Or an insurgent using a house for cover, so they take down the house with a .50 cal turret to get the dude. Only to find it was populated with a family.
It's ugly shit, bro.
I've never heard someone with combat experience disagree with this sentiment.
For the record, I agree also. The thing I like most about the show (and to a lesser extent Jarhead) is that it's about a group of guys in a shitty situation. They have their bad days and see the horrible parts of war, but they make their own fun. And they are definetly not the same people from the band of brothers generation, the cruel jokes, the mistreatment of Iraqis and a fucked up chain of command is all pretty much spot on.