WAR

Sebastian Junger, probably best known as the author of A Perfect Storm, spent months embedded with soldiers of the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne, in the Korengal Valley, the most hostile area of Afghanistan. The result of this is War, an absorbing, if uneven account, of the men sent to intercept Taliban fighters as they move between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The mission is difficult and costly, fought in terrain that is unlike any other in Afghanistan, and is performed by young, highly trained men bonded by the ties of brotherhood, a word that is much more meaningful and important than you might imagine.War is not an examination of our involvement in Afghanistan, it is not a treatise on politics or strategy, nor is it a profile of the people of the Korengal Valley. There is no connection to anything else that may be occurring in Afghanistan or the world, the focus is solely on the front line soldiers of Second Platoon and the effects of combat on them. They are the heart and soul of the book. Through them, Junger examines the effects of intense firefights, living in very close quarters in extremely difficult conditions. As for the outpost that Second Platoon occupies, Junger writes, "It's a miraculous kind of anti­paradise up here: heat and dust and tarantulas and flies and no women and no running water and no cooked food and nothing to do but kill and wait." This is a view of the war in Afghanistan that you cannot find anywhere else, it is unique and interesting.Junger divides his book into three sections; "Fear," "Killing," and "Love." Each section shows the boredom and terror, monotony and excitement, and the madness that have been a part of combat since the first time groups of men took up arms against one another. Junger's narrative shows the strengths and weakness of the men of Second Platoon, but he also explains the reasons for their behavior. He relies on an incredible but fascinating amount of research; military history, Army and university psychology studies, biology, and his first hand experiences. War is an accessible, enjoyable, heartbreaking, and overwhelming account of men facing an often invisible and driven opponent.Where War falters, it is with the men of Second Platoon. Junger provides thumbnail sketches of the members of the platoon and spends the most time with Sgt. Brendan O'Byrne, a soldier that "seemed to have a knack for putting words to the things that no one else really wanted to talk about." Other than O'Byrne, none of the other men are discussed much beyond certain anecdotes. While there are several intense firefights, Junger explains what he was feeling and seeing, however he does not include the images and thoughts of those doing the actual fighting. War could have been much improved by including more from the perspective of the soldier and less from the reporter. Further, Junger could have connected the reader much more emotionally with soldiers of Second Platoon.War has always been a part of our lives. It is easy to sit thousands of miles from the frontlines and believe that you know the men that do violence against an enemy. Junger has not written a book filled with cliche or Hollywood glory; it is about comradeship and brotherhood. Even though it isn't perfect, War is a book that brings the realities of combat home, allowing the reader to better understand the men that fight and die, and to understand war. Highly recommended.,Disclosure:Obtained from: LibraryPayment: Borrowed

When I finished reading this book today, I lingered on the final words the author had to say to one of the soldiers he was embedded with in Aghanistan: "You got me there, O'Byrne; you got me there, brother. Maybe the ultimate wound is the one that makes you miss the war you got it in." That kind of deeper understanding could only have come from someone who spent some time with a group of soldiers experiencing the intensity of combat. To read that also made me sad however. It made me think that some of the war's worst casualties are not necessarily those who were killed but the survivors,who after coming back to the United States, find themselves stuck trying to fit in but feeling they cannot, and are ultimately drawn back to the war, where in the company of their brothers, they find their purpose. Those who do not return to the war oftentimes have their own difficulties i.e. finding a job in a poor economy, adjusting back to family life they left behind, trying to make up for lost time in a world that does not understand them. Sadly too many veterans end up taking their own lives.I think even the reviews written about this book reflect vast differences between the opinions of rank-and-file civilians who never spent a day of military service in their life, those who served in the military and went to combat and those from "Coward's Land" (as O'Byrne called it) "a place where guys who have never done anything but fill out paperwork can boss around guys who have fought for their country." Some past reviewers seem to be criticial of the book because they claim it is "disjointed", "tossed together", not flowing the way it should. To those individuals I would say that war itself is not some neatly organized sequence of events but chaotic, oftentimes ugly and unfair set of events to which applying everyday reason is simply not possible. I grew up the daughter of Lithuanian refugees who saw their share of what war could do to a country. I served in the United States Navy during peacetime but later as a Department of Army social worker have been in a position to try to assist returning veterans of the wars in both Iraq and Aghanistan. I honor and respect their special brotherhood and sisterhood and although sympathetic can never truly know what it would have felt to actually be there. I DO know however of what Sebastian Junger speaks when he describes that "Self sacrifice in defense of one's commmunity is virtually universal among humans, extolled in myths and legends all over the world, and undoubtedly ancient. No community can protect itself unless a certain portion of its youth decide they are willing to risk their lives in its defense". Junger adds: "Considering the extreme nationalism of the Nazi era, one might expect that territorial ambition and a sense of racial superiority motivated most of the men on the German line. In fact, those concepts only helped men who were already part of a cohensive unit; for everyone else, such grand principles provided no motivation at all. A soldier needs to have his basic physical needs met and needs to feel valued and loved by others. If those things are provided by the group, a soldier requires virtually no rationale other than the defense of the group to continue fighting." So we see repeated through history.This is a great book. It brings the insanity of experiencing a war and the strength it takes to survive it (both physically and psychologically) to light in a way that few books have been able to in the past. (other than perhaps the classic volume THE AMERICAN SOLDIER:COMBAT AND ITS AFTERMATH edited by sociologist Samuel Stouffer and referred to by Junger in this book). You do need to be prepared to think however. It leaves a lasting impression.

I had watched the documentary to this book - Restrepo.So, the book kind of goes along in expected lines.But, where this book wins over is the power of the written word. The savagery of war and its effect on the soldiers in the frontline- astounding is the description of the unimaginable valour of the soldiers.A must read for those want to understand the psyche of war and the human mind in modern times.

I have served in Afghanistan and felt that the author truly captured the nature of the conflict and the often absurd methods employed by the coalition to deal with an enemy that knows nothing but war.

Un livre remarquable expliquant parfaitement les ressorts et les dynamiques animant un groupe d'hommes au combat. Ici, il s'agit de parachutistes Américains dans la vallée la plus dangereuse d'Afghanistan; ce n'est pas du roman, des hommes meurent, sont blessés, tuent et se font tuer, sous le regard de Sebastian Junger qui a fait plusieurs séjours au sein de la même section sur plus d'un an. A lire pour comprendre pourquoi l'on s'engage aujourd'hui et pourquoi, après avoir connu la camaraderie au combat, plus rien d'autre ne semble avoir de sens ou d'intérêt.

I have just finished this and I read it in a couple of days without wanting to put it down. It is war seen through the close up but also distant lens of an embedded journalist, as the publisher points out it could be any war, not just Afghanistan,(which is what the title suggests), and has a lot of the classic elements of war literature, including loss of innocence, feelings of guilt and trauma arising from combat experiences, and the difficulty of returning to civilian life afterwards. The stories of these men on the front line in Afghanistan however serve as examples to back up what the author wants to describe in his work. The narration of the stories is often interrupted and supported by theories (referenced at the end) about the real meaning of heroism, courage and bravery ,and especially the addiction of combat and the camaraderie between soldiers, which is what makes them effective in battle. Sometimes the stories have no ending, but this is part and parcel of the narrative, which follows the elusive, incohesive forms of memory and traumatic experience of war and is often anecdotal in its narration. In conclusion, I enjoyed it and learned a lot about the men who make combat their profession!

Sebastian Junger's book "War" is a memoir of his experiences with the Second Platoon of Battle Company during their tour of duty in the very violent Korengal Valley in Afghanistan between June of 2007 and June of 2008. It's an interesting journalistic choice where he makes no attempt at objectivity. Mr. Junger develops a personal relationship with the men of the Second Platoon that he is not adverse to describe his affection. His war is one where young men discover profound meaning in their every action which is a stark contrast to their lives back home. War is filled with boredom and adrenalin rushes that have no comparison in civilian life. When one of the men on leave in Italy is asked if he would return to one of the most dangerous outposts in the war, he reponds, "I'd take a helicopter there tomorrow. Most of us would." The soldiers' commitment in battle is not to their country or a cause. It is to each other for whom they will sacrifice their own life to save. "War's" strengths are also its weaknesses. By speaking in the first person, we feel Mr. Junger's love and affection for these young men through their fears and exploits and most specifically, their comradery. Yet, I would have liked to learn more about the men. What made them tick? Why did they sign up? What's their back-story? Nevertheless, his approach is interesting and definitely worth the relatively short read. His story brings up the larger question of what society is going to do with a growing population of unemployed young men searching for meaning in their lives. Surely, there's a better alternative than war.