The New Yorker: "A Brief Encounter with the Enemy" by Said Sayrafiezadeh

January 16, 2012: "ABrief Encounter with the Enemy" by Said Sayrafiezadeh
I found this story depressing as hell. It is apparently partof a collection coming out this year from this author, and I'll guess that thelast couple of stories he's had in the New Yorker will be in the book. Noteparticularly the story "Paranoia"which ran last year and also mentions this distant war on the peninsula againstan unnamed enemy.
In this story, Luke, who is apparently in a National Guardunit, is called up to serve in this war. It's supposed to be over soon, exceptthat it isn't. Luke, 27, with an Associate's Degree, doesn't mind leaving hismeaningless job for this adventure, which is how he and the girl he thinks he'sinterested in, Becky, view it. But his role in the war is also boring. He'sbuilding a bridge to nowhere, or maybe it's to a spot where there are said tobe 880 of the enemy. In any case, he spends his time watching movies, eating,and it's not very stressful except for the sergeant who occasionally gives themgrief. Until, one day just before their year is up and they are about to gohome, Luke encounters the enemy.
And that's all I'm going to say, as the encounter is the story, and makes the story, for me.
I read the piece as an indictment of war. A very effectiveindictment, it seems to me.