Valet Reader

For whatever reason (most likely somewhat decent marketing) I’ve fallen into reading books that have either been turned into movies or will be in the near future. To review, I recently read Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero which of course was turned into a phenomenal film in 1987 starring Robert Downey Jr. among others, I have read Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World series which will be released into theaters in mid August and I have clearly just finished reading Sebastian Junger’s War, which in a way, conincided with the movie Restrepo that was co-directed by the author, Junger.

I don’t quite recall when I first saw the trailer for Restrepo but after I saw it I immediately felt the need to read Junger’s War prior to seeing the movie. I don’t know whether or not the following trailers will have the same affect on you, but for good measure I’ve decided to include them and let you judge for yourself.

And this one… It’s a bit more graphic.

Whether or not you agree with the politics of the ongoing war/s the United States are engaged in, what you take away after reading War is not the right or wrong of the US’s actions. Instead, what you come away with is a better understanding of the American soldier. Or, at least, for me that’s what it was.

The men who were stationed in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan, a region which is around 25 miles from the border of Pakistan, were placed in this isolated location to intercept Taliban soldiers that would use this locale to enter further into Afghanistan. Junger and a photographer by the name of Tim Hetherington (co-director of Restrepo) spent months, sometimes together but mostly apart, embedded with the soldiers of the second platoon of Battle Company (173rd Airborne Brigade) to experience, as well as they could, what life was like for these men as they spent their tour in the Korengal.

While it’s no lie that I enjoy books about war (to date I’ve reviewed roughly 7) there is one inherent problem with them. They are nearly impossible to understand. Obviously that’s a bit vague but what I mean to say is that no matter how many maps are provided, no matter how much detail there is, I consistently have trouble following the action from one location to another. I mean I love maps, I love looking at them and understanding them but in war stories the various fire bases, operation centers, ridge lines and other features are so difficult to actually place in my mental map that I have a hard time following the action.

Luckily, as I said, this book was less about the “action” and more about the men engaged in that “action.” Junger goes into a great deal of detail describing many of the emotions, the psychology and the attitude of soldiers that are stationed in what was one of the most deadly places for soldiers in the world.

The book itself is broken into three distinct sections titled “Fear,” “Killing, and “Love.” Each of which aptly describe the stories and images portrayed in the pages. The writing, despite my inability to actually place things on a map, was vivid and allows the reader to truly get inside these noble fighters heads. You can feel there boredom during times of lull, their anticipation when they know an attack is coming and their undying camaraderie. Of all these things it was the camaraderie of these men that struck me the hardest. For most of them, like many of us, they are unaware of the politics unfolding around them. All they know is that they are in a place filled with danger around every corner and that there only salvation is the men standing next to them.

In April of this year the US military operations in the Korengal Valley ceased, giving the Taliban free reign to run amok and enter Afghanistan through this region. Yet, that does not in anyway take away from what these men fought and died for in this remote part of the world. It’s hard to not come away from War with that feeling.