Sebastian Junger's New Book "War" is REALLY About War

Sebastian Junger’s new book is called War, and given what he went through to write it, there could be no more appropriate title. The veteran war reporter, who first covered the Bosnia conflict in 1993 and wrote the bestselling novel-turned-movie, The Perfect Storm, spent much of a year with a platoon of 30 men stationed at a remote outpost in Afghanistan called Restrepo.

“It was a two-hour walk from the main base, there was no running water, no internet, no phone, no electricity,” said Junger. “It really was a position on a hilltop. They got attacked something like 500 times during their deployment.”

His goal in this insane exercise was not to understand the war in Afghanistan, but to understand the combat experience. “That’s something that hasn’t changed in thousands of years, it doesn’t matter what army you’re in, what war you’re fighting,” Junger said.

Mostly, he was trying to make sense of courage. “Courage is a strange thing; it gets you killed,” he added. “Darwin would tell you that’s a behavior that shouldn’t exist. And yet, people act with courage. They save other people’s lives, and risk their own life all the time.”

During his time at Restrepo, not only did Junger witness this among the soldiers who would become his friends, but he explored his own courage, and also his fear. “Your relationship with your own fear is very complex, and it’s crucial to get a handle on it or you can’t work,” he explained.

It took a few month-long trips to the remote outpost for the soldiers to open up, but once an IED went off underneath the HUMVEE in which Junger was traveling, the barriers came tumbling down. Thankfully, no one was injured, and Junger learned a powerful lesson.

“There’s fear, and there’s cowardice,” said Junger. “Fear is what’s going on inside, and that’s a good thing. You don’t want to not have fear. Cowardice is how you act, and if you don’t act like a coward, you’re okay. Cowardice gets other people killed.”

Restrepo, which Junger likened to being on Mars, was built out of necessity because the main base in the Korangal Valley was surrounded by higher ground, and kept getting attacked. The platoon with which Junger was embedded journeyed out to the enemy’s higher ground to build up positions. But that doesn’t mean the attacks stopped.

“The enemy knew what they were doing, and attacked them,” said Junger. “As soon as the shooting started, they’d put down their pickaxes, they’d grab their guns, they’d fight till the shooting stopped. Then they’d go back to work.”

Junger noted the importance of having a job to do on the battlefield. Armed only with a video camera to record his surroundings, Junger’s scariest moment at Restrepo came when he was separated from his camera, and had nothing to do during a gunfight.

“It was the one time I really panicked, when I didn’t have a job,” he said. “My job was to shoot video…I was really scared, and I think that’s the secret to how the soldiers deal with combat. They all have weapons; your job is whatever it is. As long as you have a job, you don’t experience fear.”

Though War is written from Junger’s standpoint, he insisted it’s about the soldiers. “I really wanted to communicate what it’s like to be a soldier in combat, period, end of sentence,” he told Imus.

Asked whether he accomplished that goal, Junger said, “Yes, absolutely.” Told he looks like a soldier, Junger grinned and said, “Thank you.”

-Julie Kanfer