Rudy Reyes of "Generation Kill"

The first of a two-part series.

Rudy Reyes is a real-life action star. The former Marine sergeant served three tours of duty in Iraq and was also deployed to Pakistan and Afghanistan. His bravado and bravery was captured first in the best-selling book Generation Kill and, this past summer, in the HBO series by the same name for which he was both an adviser and one of the lead actors. The TV version was produced David Simon of "The Wire."

We asked Rudy how a shy kid from San Diego ended up in the middle of a bloody war and how he's repping for his Marines brothers.

You've said Bruce Lee movies inspired you. How?

Well, you know, it was the '70s and my father, Rudy Sr., he had been out of the Marine Corps. for a just a little bit. He took me to the drive-in and I got to see a double feature, Enter the Dragon and Return of the Dragon with Chuck Norris.

And it's very interesting that you mention it. I was at the gym ... one of the guys who works at the desk, he's a big fan of mine. He put on screen saver, a photograph of me with my hands up in a fighting posture and a then next to it, a photograph of Bruce Lee. He has his shirt torn and his hands up, it was like a "compare and contrast," and it was really cool.

That's what inspired you to get into martial arts?

Something like that, yeah, I wanted to fight for people that were weaker and couldn't fight for themselves. I wanted to protect people against bullies. I wanted to stand for something and I wanted to be very strong. To me, that's what I thought being a man was about. I was very young, and you see things in ideals when you're young, so I thought that was the ultimate expression of being a warrior and being a protector. And that's what I wanted to do.

Did you know how tough the road was going to be?

I did. I did, even then. I was about five years old. In my mind I had an imagination about what Zen Buddhism would be and what enlightenment looked like. In my mind, enlightenment looked like a form of yourself in energy rising up to the skies. To me, at four or five years old, I imagined that's what nirvana was, that's what enlightenment was. Because you know, they express and talk about those terms in Chinese martial arts films. And, that's what I imagined as a small boy and I decided to pursue it.

What challenges did you overcome growing up?

The hardest was that you learn very quickly when you grow up in poor neighborhoods and rough neighborhoods, that being a good guy is not exalted by any means. Actually, you're encouraged not to be a good guy. You're encouraged to be loyal, you're encouraged to keep quiet when you're supposed to keep quiet. Being a good guy? No, that's not encouraged. Stand up for what's right? Not encouraged.

When you grow up in the inner city, what's encouraged is being stronger than the other guy so you can prey on the weak and protect yourself from those who are stronger than you. You search for the easiest way out and get as much as you can when you can get it, and that's a little bit different than the warrior ethos. The warrior ethos is about discipline, it's about sacrifice, it's about a lot hard work that you may never get credit for. It's about those kind of ideals.

So there was a discrepancy. I didn't want to be a cholo, I didn't want to be in gangs. My dad was gone by the time I was about five years old. I was the oldest kid [in our family] and I realized real quick – because there's nobody protecting me – that I didn't want to be like the kids who were kicking my ass and stomping me down and taking my lunch money. I remember what that was like, and I had two little brothers to raise. I didn't want that happening to them, so I had to prepare them and strengthen them and strengthen myself. I didn't want to be exactly what was going on in my environment. It just didn't sit right with me.

What kept you on that path?

Well, you know, my little brothers Michael and Cesar. Also, I was a voracious reader and I still am. I studied history and was voracious with it.

Well, I guess maybe because in real life there is no fairness. There is no such thing as fair play or fairness. I was seeking to create it in my life. By creating it in my life through competition and training, by pursuing the ideal of the warrior spirit, it gave me a purpose and it gave me hope. I wasn't gonna go to college because I could barely make it through school. I was working all of the time, trying to survive. I was always tired [from work]. When I was younger, I was in a boys home and it was really hard place. Before that, I was on the street; my brothers and I were on the street. Often times, we had no electricity or running water in our home because it was turned off. My father wouldn't come home for months at a time.

I was trying to create something, and it started with myself, so that's why I [started] martial arts, bodybuilding, competition, that's why it meant something to me.

End of part one. Tomorrow: Reyes on joining the Marines and the Iraq war.