Look at chapter 2“War is a big and sprawling word that brings a lot of human suffering into the conversation, but combat is a different matter. Combat is the smaller game that young men fall in love with, and any solution to the human problem of war will have to take into account the psyches of these young men” (Junger 2011, p. 234). Sebastian Junger, the author of War (2011), was born in Belmont, Massachusetts and grew up to become an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times Bestselling author. His other novels include The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont, and Tribe. Junger is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, a correspondent at ABC News, and has covered international stories around the world. In 1980, Junger graduated from
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He witnessed the effect war has on soldiers, the importance of brotherhood, and what it means to fight and serve. Junger spoke in Massachusetts at a WGBH Forum after his book was released and explains that, “I wanted to know what it was like to be a soldier in combat. It doesn’t change much from war to war, from century to century, and I wanted to understand it” (WGBHForum). He describes how civilians think of war in a political aspect in comparison to the soldiers, who are the only individuals that do not think of war in political terms; they are focused on surviving and making it through each day. Throughout the novel, Junger separates his experience into three topics: Fear, Killing, and Love, however, connects them with the bonds that are formed between soldiers during …show more content…
Modern war is not about honor, “it’s about winning, which means killing the enemy on the most unequal terms possible. Anything less simply results in the loss of more of your own men” (p. 140). Junger almost lost his life that day. An IED detonated under the engine block than directly beneath his Humvee. Instead of feeling fear, he thought he was hit or injured; that night however, he had nightmares. Junger explains how that “psychological experiences of war are so primal and unadulterated, however, that they eclipse subtler feelings, like sorrow or remorse, that can gut you quietly for years” (p. 145). He describes a time when he was in the civilian world, where he had a panic attack because something in the civilian world, although nothing of the same stature, reminded him of a time in war. Although, from this life threatening experience, he gains an understanding how war is insanely exciting. Combat can give you more life in twenty minutes than doing something else can give you in a lifetime and ultimately combat is finding out whether you get to keep on living, not where you might die (p.
He witnessed the effect war has on soldiers, the importance of brotherhood, and what it means to fight and serve. Junger spoke in Massachusetts at a WGBH Forum after his book was released and explains that, “I wanted to know what it was like to be a soldier in combat. It doesn’t change much from war to war, from century to century, and I wanted to understand it” (WGBHForum). He describes how civilians think of war in a political aspect in comparison to the soldiers, who are the only individuals that do not think of war in political terms; they are focused on surviving and making it through each day. Throughout the novel, Junger separates his experience into three topics: Fear, Killing, and Love, however, connects them with the bonds that are formed between soldiers during …show more content…
Modern war is not about honor, “it’s about winning, which means killing the enemy on the most unequal terms possible. Anything less simply results in the loss of more of your own men” (p. 140). Junger almost lost his life that day. An IED detonated under the engine block than directly beneath his Humvee. Instead of feeling fear, he thought he was hit or injured; that night however, he had nightmares. Junger explains how that “psychological experiences of war are so primal and unadulterated, however, that they eclipse subtler feelings, like sorrow or remorse, that can gut you quietly for years” (p. 145). He describes a time when he was in the civilian world, where he had a panic attack because something in the civilian world, although nothing of the same stature, reminded him of a time in war. Although, from this life threatening experience, he gains an understanding how war is insanely exciting. Combat can give you more life in twenty minutes than doing something else can give you in a lifetime and ultimately combat is finding out whether you get to keep on living, not where you might die (p.