HBO may not have any series on its schedule for the Summer, but it does have Generation Kill, a seven-part miniseries about the new face of the American military.

The miniseries, written by The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns, is based on a book of the same name by Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright. In 2003, Wright was embedded with a Marine Corps special operations unit with the motto "Swift, Silent, Deadly." The book painted a portrait of the soldiers in his unit as they lived on the front lines of a war that was then just beginning.

Though Simon and Burns don't know the military nearly as well as they knew Baltimore, Generation Kill seems like a logical step after The Wire nonetheless. The stories of rank-and-file soldiers confronting a military bureaucracy probably have something in common with those of rank-and-file police officers, dock workers, and teachers confronting a machine much larger than themselves. Plus, Simon and Burns have experience bringing a certain dark humor to even the most grim and gritty situation.

Generation Kill will run for seven Sundays beginning July 13. Want to get a taste of what it's about? You can check out the trailer and a clip from the scene where Wright meets the troops for the first time if you read more.