FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2011
Reyes to speak on `Generation Kill’ at MUW Gordy Honors College Forum Series
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- The Ina E. Gordy Honors College Forum Series will host Rudy Reyes on Thursday, March 31 at 6 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium, Parkinson Hall, on the campus of Mississippi University for Women.
Reyes will speak on the topic “Generation Kill.” The presentation is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5.45 p.m.
As a Marine, Reyes has seen combat action in three campaigns: Afghanistan ("Enduring Freedom" 2001 - 2002) and twice in Iraq ("Iraqi Freedom" 2003 and "Iraqi Freedom II" 2004). He has been team leader of more than 50 patrols behind enemy lines in the Persian Gulf as a USMC Recon.
In March 2003, Reyes’ special-forces unit led the charge toward Baghdad in central Iraq. Their mission was to go in ahead of the main Marine invasion force and seek out enemy ambushes–by driving right into them.
Chronicled by embedded reporter Evan Wright, this mission led Reyes and his platoon to become the subject of a three-part series that ran in Rolling Stone magazine (fall 2003) and became the basis for the best-selling book “Generation Kill,” Wright’s almost photographic account of Reyes’ Marine platoon in combat on the front lines of the war in Iraq. He appeared as himself in the seven-part, critically acclaimed HBO miniseries adaptation of “Generation Kill,” which was released in July 2008.
Reyes is a trainer, military/combat technical consultant, illustrator and speaker. He has appeared with author Evan Wright on The Dennis Miller Show, joined Wright and Chalmers Johnson, author of “Blowback: The Cost and Consequences of American Empire” and “The Sorrows of Empire” on a panel discussion at the Palm Springs Book Festival 2005 in April 2005. Now retired from the Marines, Reyes is a mixed martial arts trainer, military/combat technical consultant, illustrator and professional speaker.
He is author of the book “Hero Living; Seven Strides to Awaken Your Infinite Power” published by Penguin in 2009.
