NORTH COUNTY -- The fog of war for one Camp Pendleton unit comes to television screens Sunday when HBO airs the first of seven episodes of its blunt miniseries "Generation Kill."

The series is based on writer Evan Wright's account during the first days of the Iraq war for Bravo Company's 2nd platoon from the base's 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

The series profiles those Marines' actions and words as Wright saw and recorded them in dispatches for Rolling Stone magazine that were later compiled into the 2004 book "Generation Kill."

In addition to depicting the troops' raw experiences, the series highlights the moral dilemmas and confusing directives -- often referred to as the fog of war -- they often confront, Wright said Monday.

"If the show does one thing, it shows there is a lot more confusion and a lot of moral gray areas for the guys on the frontline," he said. "It dramatizes the perspectives and the struggles the trigger-pullers face."

Filmed in Africa under the guidance of Ed Burns and David Simon, who co-produced HBO's popular series "The Wire," "Generation Kill" carries no overt political or anti-war message, nor does it show the troops as victims, Wright said.

"I hope the grunts that see it walk away laughing and shaking their heads with amazement that we portrayed their world accurately," said Wright, who worked with the production throughout its filming.

Wright, Simon, several actors and several Marines featured in the series are scheduled to be at Camp Pendleton Wednesday evening for a screening of the series. Also scheduled to be there is Eric Kocher, a former sergeant with the platoon who served as a series' military adviser.

Kocher, who also has a small role in the film, said he believes the series accurately portrays the average day for the Marines in his unit during the first weeks of the war.

"Generation Kill" follows the platoon from its staging point in Kuwait to Baghdad and beyond. The unit was one of the first to cross into Iraq during the March 2003 invasion.

"Our whole deal was high-speed warfare," Kocher said. "We penetrated deep into enemy lines, and along the way did some serious damage."

A twice-wounded veteran of five combat deployments, four in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, Kocher left the Marine Corps in February 2007 and lives in Oceanside. HBO promotional material says the series deals with "fuzzy rules of engagement" and "incompetent" commanding officers, assessments Kocher said are accurate.

"Recon units are worse off than any other unit," the 28-year-old Kocher said. "The officers have less training than the guys they are leading, and the film shows that."

Not every officer is depicted as bumbling, he said. Marine Gen. James Mattis, who helped lead the invasion and is held in high regard throughout the Marine Corps, is portrayed in the series in a positive light, Kocher said.

When it came to the rules of engagement -- the rules that generally require "reasonable certainty of hostile intent" before a shot is taken -- Kocher said they were never absolutely clear during the invasion phase nor during his other combat assignments.

"The rules of engagement were and are always going to be gray," Kocher said. "But I do know this -- every time a guy pulls the trigger, he believes he is doing the right thing."

In addition to serving as a technical adviser, the native of North Hampton, Pa., has a small role in the series that airs on HBO at 9 p.m. every Sunday.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.