GENERATION KILL

In a new HBO miniseries, the team behind The Wire deliver a harrowing account of the Iraq invasion. But they needed the help of an unusual soldier

"In the history of filmmaking, there is only one movie that Marines like, and that's the first 20 minutes of Full Metal Jacket," Sgt. Eric Kocher says, slicing into a medium-rare steak in a midtown New York restaurant. "After that, it all goes to shit."

A veteran of the Iraq invasion in 2003, Kocher is a muscular 28-year-old with an intense stare and the word psycho tattooed inside his lower lip. For the past year, he has served as the senior military adviser on Generation Kill, a seven-episode miniseries about the early days of the Iraq war that premieres on HBO July 13th at 9 p.m. Based on the book of the same name (which began as an award-winning series of articles by journalist Evan Wright in Rolling Stone), Kill follows the Marines of 1st Recon, who were at the vanguard of the American invasion in 2003, blitzing ahead of the U.S. forces in Humvees. A team leader on the real mission, Kocher was there to make sure the filmmakers stayed true to the story. "If Eric hadn't been there, it would have been Generation Lame," says Wright, who served as a co-writer and consulting producer on the show. "He forced an authentic point of view."

Kocher's own story sounds like something that could make a great sequel. Several months into his second Iraq tour, his Humvee suffered a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade in a massive ambush outside Fallujah. One of Kocher's best friends, who was sitting directly behind him, Cpl. Eddie Wright, lost both hands. Kocher's right arm was badly broken with much of its flesh burned off. One of his eardrums shattered, and his trigger finger dangled by a single strand of skin. Kocher's commanding officer was killed while fending off the attackers.

Though his injuries could have warranted a discharge, Kocher was desperate to return to battle. Recuperating back home in San Diego, he would sometimes go out on patrol as if he was in Iraq. Later, in an effort to speed up his rehab, he took pliers and removed the pins that doctors used to reattach his finger, allowing him to bend it so he could shoot again. A mere four months after the attack, he was back fighting in Fallujah, "hooking, jabbing and fucking dudes up."

"I had a mission," Kocher says at lunch. "All I wanted was to get back to Iraq and settle the score."

Photo: Paul Schiraldi/HBO