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I watched all of it (it's only 7 1-hour episodes). It was rather good, even if the hindsight of 8 years on makes the various assumptions of the military painful. It's essentially narrative non-fiction (with dramatic license, of course), based on a book by an embedded reporter.
The reporter serves two functions in the story. Primarily, he's the guy writing the book and tagging along with the 1st Recon Battalion's Bravo Company to take notes on what he sees. Secondarily, he's there to ask the stupid questions the non-military viewer is asking. Like "What does November Juliet mean?" (in reference to coffee, which doesn't have a particularly polite derivation, and they leave it to the black Marine to say it.) Or "What do you need to buy adult diapers for?" (Duh, if they have to piss and can't leave their positions...)
You really get to see that Rumsfeld sent them to war with the army they had, not the army they wanted. They're driving around in open Humvees, without adequate oil for the guns, so they keep jamming up, without enough batteries for their night vision goggles, etc etc etc. It was stupid and wasteful of human resources.
It's really bizarre, and a major source of cognitive dissonance, to be an essentially pacifist leftist and also fascinated by military (non)fiction. Also a source of frustration when looking for books to read, because the majority of military SF writers espouse their very hard-right views in their texts. So I won't read John Ringo, Michael Williamson, or, really, half of Baen's catalog. I don't particularly enjoy smacking into their basic assumptions while I'm trying to read a book.
If I get something more profound to say about it, maybe I'll write a post for my real blog.
The reporter serves two functions in the story. Primarily, he's the guy writing the book and tagging along with the 1st Recon Battalion's Bravo Company to take notes on what he sees. Secondarily, he's there to ask the stupid questions the non-military viewer is asking. Like "What does November Juliet mean?" (in reference to coffee, which doesn't have a particularly polite derivation, and they leave it to the black Marine to say it.) Or "What do you need to buy adult diapers for?" (Duh, if they have to piss and can't leave their positions...)
You really get to see that Rumsfeld sent them to war with the army they had, not the army they wanted. They're driving around in open Humvees, without adequate oil for the guns, so they keep jamming up, without enough batteries for their night vision goggles, etc etc etc. It was stupid and wasteful of human resources.
It's really bizarre, and a major source of cognitive dissonance, to be an essentially pacifist leftist and also fascinated by military (non)fiction. Also a source of frustration when looking for books to read, because the majority of military SF writers espouse their very hard-right views in their texts. So I won't read John Ringo, Michael Williamson, or, really, half of Baen's catalog. I don't particularly enjoy smacking into their basic assumptions while I'm trying to read a book.
If I get something more profound to say about it, maybe I'll write a post for my real blog.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-23 06:05 am (UTC)From:Ahahaha, I know exactly what you mean. Bujold once referred to herself as "Baen's token liberal"; after reading Williamson, Ringo, and the rest, I can see that she wasn't joking.
Although now I have this bizarre urge to reread the two Williamson novels I own in order to better critique them. I want to know what other people found objectionable and compare it to my own objections. Which, obviously, involves rereading the books, despite the fact that I'm not even certain I own one of them anymore: I may have discarded it in disgust.
WHY, BRAIN, WHY?!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-23 04:20 pm (UTC)From:I've never actually read any Ringo or Williamson. The blog posts I've read by Williamson are enough to make me put him on my OH FUUUUCK NO list. I should probably try out some Weber at some point, even if his weapons porn sounds particularly off-putting.
Funny story: a friend of mine is an assistant editor at Baen, and she had a solstice party last night, so we went. I'd just perused your tags to see if it was you who had a GK fic to rec (it wasn't), so your posts about John Ringo were in my head. So I told her that one of my friends read a John Ringo book and felt it morally imperative to slash it. She laughed really hard. (We got on the subject because JR's writing a steampunk book, and that means my con's chair may want to get him as a guest. Which means I'd have to deal with him. I'd rather kick him in the nuts.)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-24 05:52 am (UTC)From:So I told her that one of my friends read a John Ringo book and felt it morally imperative to slash it. She laughed really hard.
Heh. *blushing* I'm glad someone else found my mental workings entertaining. :D (Also glad I didn't include the specifics of the dream that inspired that post...) Ringo is just... there are only two ways my brain can cope, and one of them involves illegal firearms purchases and a midnight visit to his house, to see how he feels having a firecannon aimed at him -- will it be just as funny as in his book? -- and the other involves making pr0n with his characters that I suspect would induce the that's-icky! look on his face. I went with the latter because I'm cheap.
It's sort of awesome that you actually know somebody at Baen, though!
Ask her if she'll get me Bujold's signature!Given the decline of the publishing industry, I like any reassurance that book publishers are still out there making books (and having parties).GK fic? What is GK? I can't think of a fandom with those initials. (Yuletide has killed all my brain cells.)
If they do get him, kick him once for me. :D
no subject
Date: 2011-12-28 06:38 pm (UTC)From:Generation Kill ;)
(PS: I found your fic on the archive. Good work!)