Hello again,

I've now been away from America for a full month, and I'm definitely starting to miss it a little. Just simple things, like cloth napkins and good service in restaurants. Otherwise the experience continues to amaze. We've shot most of episode 1 and bits of 2 and 3. For those who without prior knowledge of what exactly I'm doing, here ya go- it's a 7 episode HBO miniseries about the 2003 Iraq invasion called 'Generation Kill.' It will start airing in September '08. It focuses on a platoon of Recon Marines who are at the 'tip of the spear' of the entire invasion force. I am playing the platoon commander.

Until this week, we were shooting out in the desert, where the morning wind made for some tough shooting conditions. This past week we shot in Walvis Bay, Namibia, which will represent areas of Nasiriyah, Iraq. The sets were amazing-- we walked from our trailers around a fence and into a war zone. Blown up cars, piles of rubble, scarred buildings, and us rolling through in our humvees. I've added a pic of me, fully geared up, weapons and all.

The platoon has 22 Marines and one Navy corpsman in it, and we are incredibly lucky to have one of the actual Marines from the story playing himself. His name is Sgt Rudy Reyes, and he's an absolute one of a kind. He is obsessed with working out-- he probably trains at least 6 hours a day. In between takes, he'll dig a boulder out of the desert topsoil and do standing shoulder presses with it. He's been in 3 combat tours, and has been called upon to kill many times. But somehow he's also the kind of guy who puts on face cream at night and obsessively cleans his body with baby wipes. He's the most encouraging, positive person I've ever been around. He's always smiling, laughing, and teaching. I'll get a good pic with him and send it along in the next email. (my camera passed away in the fine desert sands of Dune Seven a few weeks ago)

More to come-
Stark