A close-up description of life in a single platoon during the conflict in Afghanistan. The author was an embedded journalist and his approach is really interesting. He focuses less on the cause and effect of the war than he does on the psychological toll it takes - and the changes it makes - in the young soldiers around him. There's an impressive list of psychological studies in the back of the book, and he refers to these throughout in trying to explain the effects that war has on the individual soldier, and on small groups of such.

It's kind of a depressing read, in that I ended wondering just how any of these men could possibly integrate back into society once they left the military - but they're wondering too, and not at all confident of their ability to do so.

Read for Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge

This is one of those books that I enjoyed reading while I was reading it, but seemed tough to pick up after putting it down. The stories and personal interaction bits were fascinating, as well as the psychology of combat, etc.
The parts that lost me were the actual combat descriptions. Mainly because I know so little about weapons, military strategy and the lingo.
However, Junger does an admirable job explaining things. I will give some of his other books a try in the future. The fact that I'm considering watching Restrepo (his companion documentary to this book), is high praise and I am going to round up a star.

Obviously this story itself is incredible but the part I enjoyed the most was the break down of what war provides for men. I don't have any intentions of shaking my life up in my mid 30's and joining the military but it definitely made me think deeper about how to make my life more meaningful and fulfilling. Is there a way I can live my life here that makes me feel "utilized, necessary, clear, certain, and purposeful"?

Definitely not a book I would pick up other than for book group, but like many book group selections, I am so glad that I read it.

p. 120 - "The choreography always requires that each man make decisions based not on what's best for him, but on what's best for the group. If everyone does that, most of the group survives. If no one does, most of the group dies. That, in essence, is combat."

p. 214 - "It's a foolish and embarrassing thought but worth owning up to. Perfectly sane, good men have been drawn back to combat over and over again, and anyone interested in the idea of world peace would do well to know what they're looking for. Not killing, necessarily-that couldn't have been clearer in my mind - but the other side of the equation: protecting. The defense of the tribe is an insanely compelling idea, and once you've been exposed to it, there's almost nothing else you'd rather do."

p. 233 - "Civilians balk at recognizing that one of the most traumatic things about combat is having to give it up. War is so obviously evil and wrong that the idea there could be anything good to it almost feels like a profanity. And yet throughout history, men like Mac and Rice and O'Byrne have come home to find themselves desperately missing what should have been the worst experience of their lives"

p. 234 - "War is a big and sprawling word that brings a lot of human suffering into the conversation, but combat is a different matter. Combat is the smaller game that young men fall in love with, and any solution to the human problem of war will have to take into account the psyches of these young men."

I'm so happy to be done with this poorly organized book. The only interesting parts were the actual fighting scenes and when the men finally got out and to see how war affected them.

Much better than the accompanying documentary Restrepo

This story of a platoon embedded in the most dangerous valley in Afghanistan has the right amount of backstory, combat violence, army intel to keep someone with no interest in the military, war, and least of all weaponry interested. Well, more than interested, I was hooked. Something I really took from the book was the necessity of having an all-male platoon, or brigade, or whatever they call it.

Excellent!

Sebastian Junger imbedded himself for year in Afghanistan in one of the harshest and most violent provinces. His aim had nothing to do with politics, and in fact he states this wasn't some kind of partisan mission, but instead to give a real and accurate portrayal of what it's like for the men in combat. The results are simply horrifying, and I feel should be required reading for all Americans. I had no idea how truly awful it is over there. How most times the men-or boys, because frankly some are terribly young, don't bathe for 38 days at a time. How there's so much salt in the their clothes, they can stand up by themselves, or that their bodies no longer give off the familiar body odor smell, but instead reek of ammonia because none of them have any fat left on them from the heat, and their gear. He examines the effects of fear, and the constant surging of adrenaline, as well as the platoon mentality, and how these men as a unit would do anything for each other without a second thought. I was constantly struck by the violence , not just in the skirmishes themselves, but in the moments of near normalcy that are shattered by a stray grenade or bullet.And I finished it shaken at the psychological toll this war is taking on our fellow Americans. The nightmares, the inability to re assimilate into society, and absolute horror of watching your friends die in front of you. This quote from the book kind of sums up my feelings about the whole thing: "Soldiers themselves are reluctant to evaluate the costs of the war (for some reason, the closer you are to combat the less inclined you are to question it), but someone must. That evaluation, ongoing and unadulterated by politics, may be the only thing a country absolutely owes the soldiers who defend its borders."

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?