War . . . in a book

[Jerry Peterson]

Sebastian Junger, best known for his book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, has a new book out – War. In it he follows a platoon of the Army’s 173rd Airborne brigade in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, a killing zone for the Taliban and Afghan war lords who control the valley and the units of American soldiers sent in hold them off.

Junger spent the better part of 14 months in 2007–2008 intermittently embedded with the platoon. He lived with them under fire and in fire fights, and in the long stretches of boredom between.

The soldiers were a scruffy lot who frequently went to battle in shorts and flip-flops. It was just easier than carrying a hundred pounds of body armor and battle gear . . . and they were far enough away from brigade headquarters that they could get away with it.

All the reviewers agree that War is a superlative book because it’s the story of the soldiers, not the commanders and not the general staff back at the Pentagon.

After The Perfect Storm came out 13 years ago, critics said of Junger that he was the new Ernest Hemingway in that he had helped create a new interest among readers in adventure non-fiction.

Junger’s storytelling skill and that reader interest continue in War.

A side note: At one point, a soldier tells Junger that his base in the Korengal Valley is a big middle finger pointed at the Taliban fighters, to remind them that shooting Americans only makes the Americans fight harder.

In April, after four years in the valley, the 173rd abandoned it – pulled out – but only after the Army bribed the valley chiefs with 6,000 gallons of gasoline to not fire on the retreating convoys.

Tomorrow: Memories of Art Linkletter