Generation kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the new face of American war by Evan Wright

Author:Evan Wright [Wright, Evan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, History, American History, Sociology
ISBN: 9780399151934
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published: 2004-06-20T05:00:00+00:00

Colbert then strips down to his T-shirt—the first time he’s removed his MOPP in more than a week. He crawls under the Humvee and spends several hours chipping away at the three-inch layer of tar and sand clinging to it from the sabka field.

Late in the afternoon, Fick comes by, gathers the team for a morale talk and tells them, “We made a mistake today, collectively and individually. We must get past this. We can’t sit around and call it quits now.”

Gunny Wynn is harsher. “We’re Americans,” he lectures the men. “We must be sure when we take a shot that we are threatened. You have got to see that these people are just like you. You’ve got to see past the huts, the camels, the different clothes they wear. They’re just people. This family here might lose a son. We shot their camels, too. If you kill one camel, that could be a year’s income. We’re not here to destroy their way of life.”

But then Gunny Wynn seems to almost reverse himself. “I’m not saying don’t protect yourselves. If it’s a case of losing one Marine versus one hundred civilians, I will save the Marine. You’ve just got to be goddamn careful.”

However admirable the military’s attempts are to create ROE, they basically create an illusion of moral order where there is none. The Marines operate in chaos. It doesn’t matter if a Marine is following orders and ROE, or disregarding them. The fact is, as soon as a Marine pulls the trigger on his rifle, he’s on his own. He’s entered a game of moral chance. When it’s over, he’s as likely to go down as a hero or as a baby killer. The only difference between Trombley and any number of other Marines who’ve shot or killed people they shouldn’t have is that he got caught. And this only happened because the battalion stopped moving long enough for the innocent victims to catch up with it.

Before leaving, Fick and Gunny Wynn raise the possibility of there being a formal inquiry into the shooting. After they walk off, Trombley turns to Colbert and asks, “Is this going to be okay, I mean with the investigation?”

“You’ll be fine, Trombley.”

“No. I mean for you, Sergeant.” Trombley grins. “I don’t care what happens, really. I’m out in a couple of years. I mean for you. This is your career.”

“I’ll be fine.” Colbert stares at him. “No worries.”

Something’s been bothering me about Trombley for a day or two, and I can’t help thinking about it now. I was never quite sure if I should believe his claim that he cut up those Iraqis in Al Gharraf. But he hit those two shepherds, one of whom was extremely small, at more than 200 meters, from a Humvee bouncing down a rough road at forty miles per hour. However horrible the results, his work was textbook machine-gun shooting, and the fact is, from now on, every time I ride with Colbert’s team, I feel a lot better when Trombley is by my side with the SAW.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.