HBO series Generation Kill

[Kevin]

I’m watching the HBO series Generation Kill. It’s about the initial invasion of Iraq by the Marines.

I’m not a vet, but is this series pretty real to the way it actually happened? It shows the way the Marines operated from March to April of 2003.

There is one thing I wonder about. During the day, they have the optics on their rifles and binoculars almost covered with black tape, except for a rectangular opening. I guess this helps reduce glare, is this correct? Do people do this in real life?

And another thing, did they use any sort of hearing protection? They don’t show it in the series,

The series is actually pretty good, it’s got some good actors and has good reviews online.

 

[WendyZXZ]

We watched it years ago quite a good mini series!

 

[Don Lovel]

The scene of General Mattis telling them that they are standing on their junk, no make that standing on my junk, funny portrayal of Mattis

 

[323ssplt]

It's quite funny that you bring up "Generation Kill" It's actually based on a book written about 1st Recon BN out of Camp Pendleton.

I only watched a couple of episodes, but read the book. It's actually very true, and from what I watched and was told, the series is almost spot on. There was some combining of events to either condense the time, or make the plot line more interesting.

I actually knew quite a few of the guys in that book/series as I worked with Recon BN several times before and during that time ( I was an Intel guy that eventually turned to the dark side and became a Scout Sniper)

To the OPs question about optics and hearing pro., a lot of optics are obscured with duct tape to reduce the glare. You can actually put a piece of tape over the center of the optic and will still see fine, as the optic is a light GATHERING device, and transmits all the light it gathers to a single focal point.
As to hearing protection, HAH....... no one in 2003 wore hearing protection, and we are all paying the price for it now! Later they tried to incorporate some hearing protection in with our squad radios and early ear buds (circa 2005-2007) but most, if not all found them very uncomfortable and they amplified the wrong noises (swarming bugs, etc)

 

[Kevin]

Interesting and thanks. I didn’t know the background on this series. I see it’s from 2011. I had not heard anything about it until a few weeks ago and started watching. I’m glad to see it’s not dramatized and more true to life.