I think the power of this book is that it felt kind of uneven at times with some unused potential, but in the end it still deserves 4 stars.

Sebastian Junger was embedded with an infantry unit in the heaviest area of fighting in Afghanistan for 15 months, and the story resulting from that time offers just as many insights as unanswered questions. To his credit, he stays as far away as possible from the politics of the war to show what these brave young men experience on the front lines of combat. (One officer described the company Junger followed as being the tip of the offensive spear used against the insurgents.) Lots of personal stories and a few really gripping combat scenes that had my heart pumping in my chest.

The story does a great job of showing what soldiers experience in Afghanistan and how war and individual battles are both exhilarating and debilitating for everyone involved.