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A review by mburnamfink
War by Sebastian Junger
5.0
War is as good as combat reporting gets. This is the account of 15 months with Battle Company in the Korengal Valley between 2007 and 2008,a supremely tough 10x10 km patch of mountains, and the love and courage of a few hundred men. This book is the Dispatches of the Global War on Terror, a moving and lyrical account of the terror and excitement of combat that transcends little things like politics and morality and objectivity to get at some sort of Truth.
Part of this book is about strategy and tactics: Leaving an isolated outpost in the unimportant and distant Korengal to protect the important and populated Pech valley; human terrain and Taliban fighters and villagers caught in between, desperate firefights to survive long enough for the Apaches and A-10s to arrive, Prophet-the American intel unit listening to enemy radios. But mostly this book is about courage; about acting under fire so that the unit will survive, even if it means you might die. About brotherhood and love, and the fact that in 20 minutes in a firefight a man can live a lifetime. In a combat platoon, friendship and who you were before doesn't matter. All that matters is your dedicated to the unit and your ability to fight.
Junger's thesis, which is an important corrective in our post-modern age of detachment, is that defense of the group is a profoundly basic and moving action. It's like a powerful drug (although he writes directly against this metaphor towards the end of the book, I think it's an important one. Drugs obliterate reality and sensation, they can be used for good or abused.) Soldiers fight for each other, their entire universe closes down to the platoon, and all the advanced technology or clever counter-insurgency theory in the world, cannot replace this primal bond. Invoke it only with great seriousness.
For media types, it's also interesting to compare this book to Restrepo, a documentary filmed and directed by Junger and Tim Hetherington, covering the exact same events. It's been a while since I've seen Restrepo, but I remember it being far more bleak and nihilistic than the book. What's true? The beautiful words, or the ugly images? Can the same people interpret the same sources differently in different mediums?
Part of this book is about strategy and tactics: Leaving an isolated outpost in the unimportant and distant Korengal to protect the important and populated Pech valley; human terrain and Taliban fighters and villagers caught in between, desperate firefights to survive long enough for the Apaches and A-10s to arrive, Prophet-the American intel unit listening to enemy radios. But mostly this book is about courage; about acting under fire so that the unit will survive, even if it means you might die. About brotherhood and love, and the fact that in 20 minutes in a firefight a man can live a lifetime. In a combat platoon, friendship and who you were before doesn't matter. All that matters is your dedicated to the unit and your ability to fight.
Junger's thesis, which is an important corrective in our post-modern age of detachment, is that defense of the group is a profoundly basic and moving action. It's like a powerful drug (although he writes directly against this metaphor towards the end of the book, I think it's an important one. Drugs obliterate reality and sensation, they can be used for good or abused.) Soldiers fight for each other, their entire universe closes down to the platoon, and all the advanced technology or clever counter-insurgency theory in the world, cannot replace this primal bond. Invoke it only with great seriousness.
For media types, it's also interesting to compare this book to Restrepo, a documentary filmed and directed by Junger and Tim Hetherington, covering the exact same events. It's been a while since I've seen Restrepo, but I remember it being far more bleak and nihilistic than the book. What's true? The beautiful words, or the ugly images? Can the same people interpret the same sources differently in different mediums?