War (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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People edit see section history

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• Sebastion Junger: The author, narrator, and journalist embedded with a platoon of paratroopers from the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during its deployment to the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
• Brendan O'Byrne: A U.S. Army officer in the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during its deployment to the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. One of the main characters in this book.
• Steve Gillespie: A U.S. Army officer in the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during its deployment to the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
• Dan Kearney: CO, Battle Company, 2/503 AIR.
• Juan Restrepo: Name of one of the soldiers in the platoon; name of the soldiers outpost in the Korengal Valley.

Quotes edit see section history

• “When you're entirely dependent on other men for your safety you find yourself making strange unconscious choices about otherwise very mundane things: where to walk, where to sit, who to talk to.”

• “Ultimately, it made me think that if you deprive men of the company of women for too long, and then turn off the steady adrenaline drip of heavy combat, it may not turn sexual, but it's certainly going to turn weird.”

• “"Everything in war is simple. But the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and produce a kind of friction. "”

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• The choreography always requires that each man make decisions based not on what’s best for him, but on what’s best for the group. If everyone does that, most of the group survives. If no one does, most of the group dies. That, in essence, is combat.

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• When men say they miss combat, it’s not that they actually miss getting shot at — you’d have to be deranged — it’s that they miss being in a world where everything is important and nothing is taken for granted. They miss being in a world where human relations are entirely governed by whether you can trust the other person with your life.

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• Combat isn’t where you might die — though that does happen — it’s where you find out whether you get to keep on living. Don’t underestimate the power of that revelation. Don’t underestimate the things young men will wager in order to play that game one more time.

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• The primary factor determining breakdown in combat does not appear to be the objective level of danger so much as the feeling — even the illusion — of control. Highly trained men in extraordinarily dangerous circumstances are less likely to break down than untrained men in little danger.

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• War is a lot of things and it’s useless to pretend that exciting isn’t one of them. It’s insanely exciting. The machinery of war and the sound it makes and the urgency of its use and the consequences of almost everything about it are the most exciting things anyone engaged in war will ever know.

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• Statistically, it’s six times as dangerous to spend a year as a young man in America than as a cop or a fireman, and vastly more dangerous than a one-year deployment at a big military base in Afghanistan. You’d have to go to a remote firebase like the KOP or Camp Blessing to find a level of risk that surpasses that of simply being an adolescent male back home.

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• We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. — Winston Churchill (or George Orwell)

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• They have a huge shoulder-fired rocket called a Javelin, for example, that can be steered into the window of a speeding car half a mile away. Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it’s fired by a guy who doesn’t make that in a year at a guy who doesn’t make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.

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• In 1908, five firemen died in a blaze in New York City. Speaking at the funeral, Chief Ed Croker had this to say about their bravery: “Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work.”

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• The coward’s fear of death stems in large part from his incapacity to love anything but his own body. The inability to participate in others’ lives stands in the way of his developing any inner resources sufficient to overcome the terror of death. — J. Glenn Gary, The Warriors

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Koregal Valley, Afghanistan: Where Junger lived with a platoon from the 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army.
• Afghanistan
• Korengal Valley
• Abas Ghar
• Aliabad
• Karingal
• Pakistan
• Yaka Chine
• Landigal
• Iraq
• Vicenza
• Bagram
• Phoenix
• Black Hawk
• Table Rock
• Asadabad
• Kabul
• America
• Jalalabad
• Texas
• Gatigal
• Vietnam
• Italy
• Babiyal

Organizations edit see section history

• The Rock: A platoon of 30 soldiers from the 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army.
• Al-Qaeda: A terrorist organization.
• Taliban: The former government of Afghanistan. Opposed to women's rights.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• M240: A belt-fed machine gun that weighs thirty pounds.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• war: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Sebastian Junger (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: DS371.4123.K67 J86 2010
• Dewey: 958.1047

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › History › Asia › Afghanistan
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Professionals & Academics › Military & Spies
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Leaders & Notable People › Military
• Books › History › Military

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Restrepo The Movie: The documentary shot by the author and his cameraman. Won Sundance Grand Jury Award.

More Books Like This edit see section history