Talking About 'War' With Sebastian Junger

Kosovo – Bosnia – Liberia – Sierre Leone - Kashmir…years before Sebastian Junger wrote "A Perfect Storm," he was reporting on human rights violations, war crimes, and the kidnapping of civilians as a terror tool. Junger's no stranger to Afghanistan; prior to 9/11 he profiled the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud as they fought against the Taliban for a National Geographic special, so his new best-seller "War" is written from a depth of knowledge and experience that few writers possess.

"War" is the story of 2nd Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade fighting at FOB Restrepo. Located in the Korengal Valley's isolated RC East, the 15-20 2nd Platoon soldiers fought in almost 500 firefights in their 15 month deployment – some 20% of all Afghan combat in that time period. Through five embeds, Junger followed this single platoon with the goal of conveying ‘combat' to the civilian audience.

Listen to Andrew Lubin interview Sebastian Junger about his new book "War"

Already # 3 on the New York Times bestseller list, Junger brings the reader directly into the fight at Restrepo. Isolated in a valley so remote that the locals speak a different language (Korengali) than the rest of Afghanistan; the reader is thrown into the firefights, ambushes, and boredom that make up a deployment.  It's in the blend of firefights and boredom where Junger excels; his descriptions of AK rounds snapping past his head to the primitive living conditions and funny, yet sophomoric humor, are amongst the most realistic portrayal of soldiers in combat published to date.

Being this close to the fight brings some disturbing observations about war, and comradeship. 2nd Platoon has fallen into the practice of giving each member a ‘beat-down', where the platoon pummels each member. "It's a form of initiation rite," Junger explained to Military.com in an exclusive interview, "It's a way of bonding, as well as reinforcing the concept that the group, in this case 2nd Platoon, takes precedence over the individual." An anthropologist by training, Junger further explained "it isn't about abuse, similar to ‘Lord of the Flies,' it's about demonstrating group inclusion; knowing that everyone is committed to the unit." He continued "you've got a small group of young men, heavily armed, in 4-5 TIC's (troops-in-combat) daily…no email, little comm with family…their world consists solely of their fellow soldiers. Is it a normal ritual? Probably not – but look at where and how they're spending 15 months."

Despite his previous months in combat zones, these embeds in Restrepo were Junger's first embed with the Army, and first extended time with the same unit. Impartiality and accuracy are of paramount importance to a journalist, and especially one of Junger's stature, yet in "War" he writes of the impossibility of remaining impartial. "I'm living in close quarters with the soldiers. I eat, sleep, and go on patrol with them, and too many AK rounds and RPG's have barely missed us all. But remember, I'm not writing an opinion piece; I'm sharing their experiences in order to bring their story to you." He does this very well as he describes life at Restrepo "It's a miraculous kind of antiparadise up here; heat and dust and tarantulas and flies. No women and no running water and no cooked food. Nothing to do but kill and wait."

But it's in the waiting that Junger finds himself drown closer to the soldiers of 2nd Platoon and loses any journalist sense of impartiality, yet he needs to find a balance between being a journalist and being a combatant. Press credential are worthless in a firefight, and despite the daily threat of being killed in a mortar or RPG attack, Junger draws his own line at potential levels of involvement "Oh, I'll carry ammo if asked, and they gave me a refresher in combat first aid. But I'm careful not to become like those journalists who confuse themselves with the story they're covering."

Responsible combat journalism is a difficult assignment, but Junger threads the partial-impartial question well. Embedded with a close-knit unit for some 35 % of their deployment while sharing the firefights, boredom, isolation, all thoughts of impartiality disappear once the first AK-47 round hits the Hesco over one's head and the soldier next to him returns-fire. Junger acknowledges this conundrum head-on, and in doing so, brings even greater poignancy to the story of 2nd Platoon, Battle Company.

Just last month, as "War" was being shipped to the bookstores, ISAF closed all the Army posts in the Korengal, with a statement that engagement in the Korengal no longer fit into its strategic vision. Junger wondered to Militry.com that it would be interesting to see what the surviving soldiers of 2nd Platoon thought of the decision that their 15 months and some 500 firefights had been deemed unnecessary.