The Opposition…

War

Sebastian Junger

Discussion: 2010-Apr-May-Jun

Why we're reading this: May 11, 2010
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2010-Apr-May-Jun

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* June 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 7 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 05:33PM

* May 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 04:29PM

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Jun 03, 2011 Carolyn rated it it was amazing

For five years, American soldiers manned several posts in a hostile section of northwestern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border called Korengal Valley, not-so-affectionately known as “The Valley of Death”. Stationed inside a tiny mountain outpost, often cornered by barely visible shooters from above, their job was to intercept Taliban fighters who were passing through to organize and fight in other parts of the country. The plan backfired and the valley ended up being more of a magnet for terro For five years, American soldiers manned several posts in a hostile section of northwestern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border called Korengal Valley, not-so-affectionately known as “The Valley of Death”. Stationed inside a tiny mountain outpost, often cornered by barely visible shooters from above, their job was to intercept Taliban fighters who were passing through to organize and fight in other parts of the country. The plan backfired and the valley ended up being more of a magnet for terrorists and the American soldiers were engaged in daily firefights. There is literally no safe place in Korengal Valley and several soldiers have been shot and killed while going to the bathroom or while sleeping in their tents in the barracks. At the same time, the soldiers were told to try and develop a good relationship with the civilian residents of the Valley who loathed the soldiers they regarded as invaders. It was a hopeless task. By the time the United States withdrew from the 6 mile long valley, 42 U.S. soldiers were killed.
Journalist Sebastian Junger lived intermittently over 14 months with the soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Valley in the base named Restrepo. Junger does not contextualize their experiences within the broader War on Terror; nor does he waste time discussing the politics of Afghanistan or U.S War Strategy. Instead, he focuses only on the soldiers that are stationed in the Valley. They too waste little breath discussing the politics of war or the bigger picture. No man there is fighting for freedom or democracy or some other intangible ideal. He is fighting in order to protect his brothers next to him. Trust is absolutely essential in the Valley and there is not one soldier who wouldn’t rather die than let his brother down. They demonstrate this through a ritual called “blood in blood out.” When a member of the unit is going on or coming back from leave, the other soldiers surround him and basically beat the crap out of him. The only way someone could leave Restrepo without a beating is with a bullet in him. As gruesome and sadistic as the practice sounds, it was a (rather bizarre) way of showing respect. If a soldier was willing to undergo a beating by the others, he was essentially affirming that the group mattered more to him than his individual self. The group is the most important thing, and his personal comfort was secondary.
Junger manages to demystify war and its “romantic” aspects that people safe in their home often imagine. It is unrelentingly hot, with no internet or phones or running water or cooked food. The soldiers are far away from their loved ones in a hostile area where they could be shot without any warning. If they are shot, the medics do all they can to keep them alive until a helicopter can transfer him to a hospital. Although the soldiers often complain about the firefights, they hate boredom more. All they do there is “kill and wait.” After several weeks without a firefighter, Junger walks by a soldier muttering “Oh God please let someone shoot at us today.” The soldiers have superstitions that they may joke about, but truly believe in. When Junger notes that it seems that it will be a quiet day, everybody yells at him to shut up because they think that is just inviting an attack. They also say that eating these Gummy Bear-like treats also cause a firefight. After several weeks of quiet and boredom, a soldier deliberately ate an entire packet. When they weren’t fighting, they sat around talking, joking, playing around on the guitar and reading (one guy curled up in the corner to read Harry Potter.) As the months go on and more of their brothers get killed, the soldiers care less and less about Army Protocol. Junger writes about how they stopped wearing all of their uniforms and eventually they’d go through firefights wearing nothing but gym shorts and unlaced boots while smoking a cigarette.
So much of the book is about these soldiers’s integrity and strength and all that they sacrificed to be in the Valley of Death. Regardless of what your opinion of the war is, these men are patriots. After 15 months, and after so many deaths and a few heartbreaking nervous breakdowns, the soldiers trek home. But the most heartbreaking thing is this: after they went home, the U.S Army withdrew from the region, essentially nullifying what these soldiers lived and died for. “War” is an amazing, engrossing read but after reading it all I could wonder is “What was it all for?” ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Pang rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, nonfiction

This book was a slow-going at first, since I could only read about 10 pages or so at a time. Plus Junger's writing style was driving me insane. But then I sat down with the intention to finish the second half of the book. I was just hooked to the story. I could feel the adrenaline rush as Junger retold the story.

The story focused just on one platoon over a course of one year in Afghanistan. It told a story of how men cope in the face of war. How each one of the men had to adapt and go into this This book was a slow-going at first, since I could only read about 10 pages or so at a time. Plus Junger's writing style was driving me insane. But then I sat down with the intention to finish the second half of the book. I was just hooked to the story. I could feel the adrenaline rush as Junger retold the story.

The story focused just on one platoon over a course of one year in Afghanistan. It told a story of how men cope in the face of war. How each one of the men had to adapt and go into this primal survival mode. They learned to suppress fear and control their heartbeat. They did whatever necessary to keep them going on their mission. The most important thing was the bond they formed with the other men in the unit. The brotherhood - unbreakable bond. This is the bond that would send the men back to the frontline over and over again so that they could make sure nothing happen to their "brothers." They knew that they were fighting in the name of their country, but that wasn't what on their mind. They were fighting for each other and to keep each other alive. Most men who had seen and experience such intense combat couldn't deal with coming back home. Not that they were addicted to the adrenaline, but they were addicted to the relationship that they had formed. I thought that Junger did such an excellent job of retelling the story and getting into the psyche of the soldiers.

Combat fog obscures your fate--obscures when and where you might die--and from that unknown is born a desperate bond between the men. That bond is the core experience of combat and the only thing you can absolutely count on. The Army might screw you and your girlfriend might dump you and the enemy might kill you, but the shared commitment to safeguard one another's lives is unnegotiable and only deepens with time. The willingness to die for another person is a form of love that even religions fail to inspire, and the experience of it changes a person profoundly.

(p. 239)

The cause doesn't have to be righteous and battle doesn't have to be winnable; but over and over again throughout history, men have chosen to die in battle with their friends rather than to flee on their own and survive.

(p. 242)
...more

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