War [Paperback]

When you pick up a book called "War" it's pretty obvious from the outset what you're going to get: a diary style account of the Afghanistan War as seen through the eyes of Sebastian Junger, a journalist who spent 15 months with a platoon in the bloody Korengal Valley whilst on an assignment for Vanity Fair magazine. As you would expect, Junger depicts the brutality of war, filled with gunfights, explosions and ultimately death, but "War" is so much more than a book about the violence humans can inflict upon one another in what can from the outside appear to be a pointless battle. It is also a book about the nature of humans and the relationships that men form in such extreme circumstances.

The men of 173rd Airborne are clearly distinguished by Junger with their individual personalities and varyingly dishevelled appearances, but what really stood out for me was the complete honour and trust they all placed in one another. If one man makes a mistake, he doesn't just put his own life at risk, but the lives of the entire platoon, and it is this bond and reliance on each other that makes the book so interesting. On top of this, Junger also delves into the lives of the men when they go home on leave, and how their mental state is affected by everything they've been through. It's not an easy thing to read about, but it's important that people are made aware of how these men can never truly leave the war behind.

"War" is an amazing read - exciting, terrifying, humbling, devastating. There are many words that could be used to describe this book but I'll summarise in just two: "read it".

WAR
by Sebastian Junger

Book Review by Jay Gilbertson

For over fifteen months author Junger (a Vanity Fair contributing editor) shadowed a single American army platoon in and around the Korengal Valley located deep in a remote part of Afghanistan. This is NOT an easy read, but one of the most compelling accounts of something most of us know very little about. This is not the kind of information you will ever see or hear in the media--this is what it's really like out there--and it's not what you think.

It's worse.

"The core psychological experiences of war are so primal and unadulterated, however, that they eclipse subtler feelings, like sorrow or remorse, that can gut you quietly for years."

Junger lives the life of combat in an area so humanly unfriendly it's often hard to read; let alone imagine. For the entire duration of their tour there is no running water, no cooked food, no women or booze or internet. Their time is filled with constant stress so palpable it will change them forever. How could it not?

This is not a diary, nor is it a case-study of how a soldier lives, nor is it in any way political; it's a collection of brutal experiences. From intense gun-fire and grenade tossing and road bombs that tear up young men beyond recognition to a myriad of horrible injuries and death all tied to the fact that this particular platoon fights as one unit.

That theme is what powers this entire piece. This group of incredibly well-trained men would rather die themselves than be the cause of any other soldier's demise. There's a little known practice called blood-in and blood out to cement this into each and every soldiers psyche and to break the boredom.

"...you got beat on your birthday, you got beat before you left the platoon--on leave, say--and you got beat when you came back. The only way to leave Second Platoon without a beating was to get shot."

One of the more interesting (as well as frustrating) techniques that Junger weaves into his narrative is the reference to many old studies on the behavior of men in combat, as well as current-day neurological research and psychological studies. These commercial-like inserts are on subjects as varied as the biological effects of an adrenaline rush to the weight each individual can carry and though they perhaps serve some fact-checking purpose, they drove me a little crazy. You can appreciate the validity of peppering a difficult subject as war with facts that explain human reactions but I couldn't help but wonder if Junger was in need of `fill.'

The sad truth that Junger drives home is that no matter what side you're on, no matter what you're fighting for; oil, land, honor, revenge, religion--fill in the blank--no one seems to win.

After reading WAR it's clear to me that once a soldier returns home, there is a part of that soldier--that never returns home.

Sebastian Junger was embedded with a US Army unit in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan for over a year. This book is the result of that experience.

It is an interesting mixture of styles: there is the "Despatches" School of blood, profanity and squaddie philosophy; then there is a technical discussion of how the US Army wages war on the Taliban; finally, an attempt to place the experience of the men in some kind of psychological and social context. Junger resists the temptation to go too far in any direction and the result is a good book.

The soldiers are not seen as quaint or odd but as functioning as well as they may with their lives to date and their present position. Junger gives a view as to why so many die so bravely (he discusses what bravery means) and so many of the survivors suffer yet re-enlist; reminding us that unlike Vietnam these are not conscripts. There is even time to consider the motivation of the Taliban as they sit out in the hills trying to ambush the Americans.

The men in the Korengal chronicled by Junger compare well to the GIs in Vietnam chronicled by other more excitable accounts; this group come over as being much more fluent in counter-insurgency and much less "deranged"; but that maybe a function of Junger's ability to not get in the way of their story. As an account of men under fire it is in the tradition of the Great War rather than Apocalypse Now.