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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Junger does a brilliant job of describing military life in a highly volatile and dangerous situation in Afghanistan. At the same time he includes a lot of very interesting and well researched factual information about military life, what it does to us and why we do it.
Absolutely worth a read if you are interested in military stuff, but also brilliant on the battlefield / army psychology side of things.
Absolutely worth a read if you are interested in military stuff, but also brilliant on the battlefield / army psychology side of things.
"The Outpost: the Book" ?
"Thank You For Your Service: the Prequel ?"
What's it like to serve at a small US mountain base in Afghanistan, on the very edge of the 'War on Terrorism' ? 18 months of live-in journalism paint a frank picture.
Nothing compares to the intensity of combat. Nothing is more important than to not let the team down. Those mantras sum up the mentality of Battle Brigade. These truths are the greatest barrier to re-entering civilian life or even a highly regimented garrison environment.
Dark humor. Weapon fetishism. Gay vibes that are not. The longing for a Custer stand in spite of everything. A frame of psychology (drawn from the US Army's own research) and a surprising sprinkling of anthropology guide the outsider through less exported aspects of frontier life.
What about the Afghans ? The overwhelming firepower of the US Army is countered by the need for a 'hearts and minds' towards the civilians in the mountain villages, whose elders were young when the Soviets sparked a popular uprising with their Montfortesque strategy of indiscriminate shooting. This time, an elder will occasionally tell the local Taliban to pack his bags for Pakistan, since they get amenities such as new roads, food, a well, a school etc... IF things remain quiet. Humanitarian philosophy and politics aside, each ally is one less enemy.
"Thank You For Your Service: the Prequel ?"
What's it like to serve at a small US mountain base in Afghanistan, on the very edge of the 'War on Terrorism' ? 18 months of live-in journalism paint a frank picture.
Nothing compares to the intensity of combat. Nothing is more important than to not let the team down. Those mantras sum up the mentality of Battle Brigade. These truths are the greatest barrier to re-entering civilian life or even a highly regimented garrison environment.
Dark humor. Weapon fetishism. Gay vibes that are not. The longing for a Custer stand in spite of everything. A frame of psychology (drawn from the US Army's own research) and a surprising sprinkling of anthropology guide the outsider through less exported aspects of frontier life.
What about the Afghans ? The overwhelming firepower of the US Army is countered by the need for a 'hearts and minds' towards the civilians in the mountain villages, whose elders were young when the Soviets sparked a popular uprising with their Montfortesque strategy of indiscriminate shooting. This time, an elder will occasionally tell the local Taliban to pack his bags for Pakistan, since they get amenities such as new roads, food, a well, a school etc... IF things remain quiet. Humanitarian philosophy and politics aside, each ally is one less enemy.
Definitely a high-water mark for modern war-reporting: sensitively reported, precisely and evocatively written, with no glorification of war and frank depiction of the individuals involved, their emotions, their needs, and their experiences. Junger writes also about his own complicity in the war as an "embedded" reporter, and his mixed feelings about that, but also about the lunacy of hoping for truly "objective" journalism in any situation where protection from harm is necessary. Watched "Restrepo" as a companion to this: alone, it would have been heartbreaking, but together they were crushing. This is some of the finest long-form journalism I've read in a while.
В някаква долина в Афганистан се случват 80% от сблъсъците по време на един период на нахлуването на САЩ и авторът на книгата прекарва няколко месеца с войниците от батальона, който се сражава там.
Описанията на военния живот, ежедневието и отношенията на войниците и сраженията са интересни и неподправени, но нищо особено интересно или информативно.
Описанията на военния живот, ежедневието и отношенията на войниците и сраженията са интересни и неподправени, но нищо особено интересно или информативно.
Read by the author, who is a very drab reader. Has some perceptive things to say about the soldiers in the war, but a much duller book that I would have hoped.
SUMMARY: From the author of The Perfect Storm, a gripping book about Sebastian Junger's almost-fatal year with the 2nd battalion of the American Army.They were known as "The Rock." For one year, in 2007-2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the storied 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army, as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he can count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. His relationship with these soldiers grew so close that they considered him part of the platoon, and he enjoyed an access and a candidness that few, if any, journalists ever attain.War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down.Gripping, honest, intense, War explores the neurological, psychological and social elements of combat, and the incredible bonds that form between these small groups of men. This is not a book about Afghanistan or the 'War on Terror'; it is a book about the universal truth of all men, in all wars. Junger set out to answer what he thought of as the 'hand grenade question': why would a man throw himself on a hand grenade to save other men he has probably known for only a few months? The answer elusive but profound, and goes to the heart of what it means not just to be a soldier, but to be human.
SUMMARY:
From the author of The Perfect Storm, a gripping book about Sebastian Junger's almost-fatal year with the 2nd battalion of the American Army.They were known as "The Rock." For one year, in 2007-2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the storied 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army, as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he can count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. His relationship with these soldiers grew so close that they considered him part of the platoon, and he enjoyed an access and a candidness that few, if any, journalists ever attain.War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down.Gripping, honest, intense, War explores the neurological, psychological and social elements of combat, and the incredible bonds that form between these small groups of men. This is not a book about Afghanistan or the 'War on Terror'; it is a book about the universal truth of all men, in all wars. Junger set out to answer what he thought of as the 'hand grenade question': why would a man throw himself on a hand grenade to save other men he has probably known for only a few months? The answer elusive but profound, and goes to the heart of what it means not just to be a soldier, but to be human.
SUMMARY:
From the author of The Perfect Storm, a gripping book about Sebastian Junger's almost-fatal year with the 2nd battalion of the American Army.They were known as "The Rock." For one year, in 2007-2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the storied 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army, as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he can count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. His relationship with these soldiers grew so close that they considered him part of the platoon, and he enjoyed an access and a candidness that few, if any, journalists ever attain.War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down.Gripping, honest, intense, War explores the neurological, psychological and social elements of combat, and the incredible bonds that form between these small groups of men. This is not a book about Afghanistan or the 'War on Terror'; it is a book about the universal truth of all men, in all wars. Junger set out to answer what he thought of as the 'hand grenade question': why would a man throw himself on a hand grenade to save other men he has probably known for only a few months? The answer elusive but profound, and goes to the heart of what it means not just to be a soldier, but to be human.
Fascinating. I never knew a book about what happens in war could be so interesting. Many philosophical truths to discuss.
"War is a lot of things and it's useless to pretend exciting isn't one of them. It's insanely exciting. The machinery of war and the sound it makes and the urgency of its use and the consequences of almost everything about it are the most exciting things anyone engaged in war will ever know. Soldiers discuss that fact with each other and eventually their chaplains and their shrinks and maybe even their spouses, but the public will never hear about it. It's just not something that many people want acknowledged. War is supposed to feel bad because undeniably bad things happen in it, but for a 19 year old on the working end of .50 cal during a firefight that everyone comes out of okay, war is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of. In some ways, 20 minutes of combat is more life than you could scrape together in a lifetime of doing something else. Combat isn't where you might die--though that does happen--its where you find out whether you get to keep on living. Don't underestimate the power of that revelation. Don't underestimate the things young men will wager in order to play that game one more time." p. 144