War

by Sebastian Junger

I have been waiting to read this for a long time. I finally got it from my sister and finished it in 2 days. Great book.

It's written in a pretty professional, journalistic sort of way, with references and fact checks etc. It is a sort of journal by Sebastian Junger during his attachment in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan with Battle Company during their deployment there.

He talks of the psychology and life of what the men go through, what life means and how they cope with all the crazy shit that goes on up there.

It is such an insightful look into all the things that happen there and what things are of value and realize what things are not important.

Also, you better understand the mechanics and motivations of the men going to war, be it agreeable or not to your beliefs, it is certainly not what I actually expected. But after reading it it made perfect sense. For instance, Junger said men on the ground did no really care for the moral implications and ideological beliefs as much as they just wanted to stay alive and do their jobs the best they can, and not let the their brothers. Everyone's lives is dependent on each other and if you screw up it really is due to the weakest link. A split second decision could be the difference between a total loss to a resounding win. And luck plays a huge part even in this day where technology is so far advanced.

As a whole, this is a great book of insight to humanize the battle and the very real, practical issued of war in Afghanistan with not much discussion behind motivation and the ideological (spread of democracy) battles. It is very humanizing look at the people on both sides and the very practical problems that they face.