Gilbert had a more optimistic outlook on the future and volunteered to return to active duty in Iraq. He had flashbacks while driving through traffic and often canceled and rescheduled his psychiatric appointments. Townsville said he didn’t receive proper psychological services when he returned home. While many agree that Generation Kill accurately portrays the war, the series left something out: it doesn’t show its soldiers return to the United States. “I’m not the same person from when I went in to when I came out, and I’m not talking about maturity. Townsville said the adrenaline rush and war mentality made killing seem regular at the time, but the repercussions sneaked up on him later. In one scene, a few of the soldiers admit that they feel emotionless after killing several insurgents in a gunfight. The psychological toll of the war on the Marines is hinted at several times throughout the mini-series. Upon his return to the United States, Townsville gathered the addresses of soldiers who were serving in Iraq and gave them to students in his old middle school, so they would receive letters. Townsville said that while some of soldiers blew off cards from children in school, it was always a morale booster for him, especially during the holidays. The first episode of Generation Kill features a soldier who ridicules the cards that elementary school kids send them. “We’d protect them, supply them with food and water, and generate electricity to basically sustain the village so it could survive.” “There was a village just outside of the airport that came under attack from Saddam’s guards and we set up camp for them,” Gilbert said. The real-life veterans had similar stories. One episode shows them escorting more than 100 refugees through a dangerous area of the country. Generation Kill also portrays the Marines helping locals. His unit was so well stocked with supplies that they gave the extra ammunition to needier bases. He said he always had a translator with him during missions, even when he was in small groups. ![]() Jeremy Gilbert, a 21-year-old ROTC cadet at Temple, was stationed in Iraq as an Army sergeant in 2006. These themes all echo throughout Generation Kill, but some veterans had very different experiences. Townsville remembered making improvised armor for the trucks and being issued nuclear, biological and chemical suits that dissolved when they were tested with basic nerve gas compounds.Ĭommunication with the locals was difficult, he said, because there was only one translator for the 40 units in his base. “If someone’s equipment would malfunction, like an M-16, they’d spring it so that it would fire but it wouldn’t really work because they didn’t have the right supplies to fix it,” Tromboli said. The Allentown native, 26, served as an Army corporal in Iraq for three years. In another, a character loses his Marine Corps helmet and can’t get a replacement, so he dons a motorcycle helmet and eventually a “hajji helmet” worn by the Iraqi Republican Guard. In one episode, a missile obliterates a village filled with women and children before ground troops can assess its threat level. Generation Kill portrays the invasion of Iraq as a chaotic, mismanaged and poorly communicated endeavor, but it also shows the patience and professionalism of the troops. “It just seemed like they actually went down to the battleground in Iraq and saw what the platoon was doing.” “It’s not like HBO was trying to tell a story – at least it didn’t seem like it to me,” Townsville said. Generation Kill aired as a mini-series on HBO (Courtesy of HBO). He served in Iraq for eight months as a light-wheel vehicle mechanic and military police volunteer for the Army. Townsville, 25, is an undeclared freshman at Temple. “For the first time I actually lost myself in a TV show because it was so accurate,” Damien Townsville said. But what do war veterans from Philly think? It has been lauded as one of the most realistic portrayals of the Iraq War by New York Times critics. ![]() The mini-series, which aired from July to August on HBO, is based on the experiences of Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright, when he was embedded with the 1st infantry division of the Marines in 2003. Generation Kill has recieved rave reviews.
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