But will there be a drunken duck?

The HBO miniseries Generation Kill debuted last night with the first of seven parts. Coming from the same David Simon/Ed Burns tag-team that brought us The Wire, I am obviously watching with great interest.

It's based the eponymous book by Evan Wright, a journalist with Rolling Stone (also: Hustler) who was embedded with the First Recon Battalion during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It's basically a road trip story, with Marines riding in Humvees through Iraq, alternating between the humor and seriousness of life "at the point of the spear."

Wire fans will recognize a few familiar faces, notably James Ransone (aka Ziggy Sobotka) as the talkative rip-fueled up driver of Humvee 1, and McNulty's FBI agent friend as a lieutenant. Top gun fans will probably like that another of the main characters is nicknamed "Iceman." It should be noted that all the characters are based on real life, actual Marines.

The best thing about Burns/Simon productions is they are made for the people depicted therein. Dramatized I'm sure, but the most important critics are still those who know. Whereas the wire was written for cops and gangsters, here they are writing for the Marines. That's why a screening at Camp Pendleton was so important to them. And for an outsider like myself who has never even done community service, let alone killed people for my country, it offers a rare look at "how it actually is" for those in a war zone.