WAR: Junger’s year of living dangerously

It can also be ridiculously boring. Left alone with little to occupy them but an overarching stress-storm and grief over lost comrades, the soldiers around him physically ache for a firefight to relieve the tension. From this perspective, Junger’s “WAR” speaks of battle as a bizarre fantasy. Beyond the intense commitment to their brothers in arms, these men experience an unabashed, pseudo-sexual thrill ride from the stimulation of a firefight.

This latter experience marks a response that Junger failed to fully comprehend on the ground, so you and I certainly won’t. This only makes the narrative more intriguing.

Interestingly enough, the powers that be recently decided to pull back our troops from the area where Junger embedded with 2^nd Platoon, Battle Company. The valley was deemed too isolated and American firepower was thought to be pushing locals to align with the Taliban. In hindsight, “WAR” raises a several unspoken questions about this decision. First and foremost, was this remote valley ever worth the blood that’s been spilled? If it was, then why did we abandon it? If it wasn’t, then why were we ever there?

Suffice to say, this isn’t the story Hollywood—or even Washington—will tell. It’s something out of a Wilfred Owens poem. It’s shocking and realistic and it’s delivered without spin.

Sparing the reader the intensely bright reds, whites and blues often painted by good intentions and political urgency, “WAR” gets to the heart of the relationships that develop when young men are faced with their own mortality. The love that exists between these men is deeper and more and intense than anything most of us will ever experience. As a reader, I was left grateful, awed and slightly envious.

It’s worth mentioning that while embedded, Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington brought home some incredible footage of their time in the Korengal. Much of this film became part of a feature length documentary called “Restrepo,” which took home the Grand Jury Prize this year at Sundance. In fairness, this 90-second trailer will do a better job articulating “WAR” than I will in 870 words.

There’s a lesson to be learned, and Junger has written a thrilling, socially committed book that knows how to engage an audience and communicate a narrative without degenerating into a political harangue. By all accounts, he’s made a film that accomplishes the same purpose.

American soldiers serving in combat deserve nothing less.

Reid Smith has worked as a research associate specializing on U.S. policy in the Middle East and as a political speechwriter. He will join the University of Delaware’s Department of Political Science and International Relations as a graduate associate and doctoral candidate in fall 2010.