War. A book about war, a review for surfers.
Stuart Nettle August 5, 2010
"Now I'm walking to the water, Dawn Patrol vest under one arm, clear, light lance under the other. I am a Viking warrior king about to conquer a new world. I am Alexander the Great leading my horsemen over the plains of Sidon. The power and glory pulsate through my veins. The battleground is before me." - Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew.
"It was like going to war." - Ross Clarke-Jones
Until I gave it some thought, I hadn't realised how much surfers used war talk. Pacifists we may be, yet we have a metaphorical arsenal full of bomb sets, exploding lips, big guns and detonating barrels. But it's the big wave game where the analogy between surfing and war becomes explicit. Just listen to the hairy-chested surfers attempt to describe (and justify) what they do there on the outer reefs by likening it to real combat.
Such analogies, however, run the risk of trivialising war. Can big wave surfing, a recreational activity that one chooses to do and where the likelihood of death is remote, be compared to war, where soldiers fight for causes greater than themselves and death is a reality?
If Sebastian Junger, the author of War, were asked that question, I imagine he would say yes. In one of the opening passages of his latest book he makes this observation: "The moral basis for war doesn't seem to interest soldiers much....they generally leave the big picture to others." The soldiers in his book heed no greater calling. Politics do not concern them, they simply love combat. They enjoy weighing the risks, overcoming the fear and running on adrenalin. Just like big wave surfers.
War is Junger's account of his time spent in a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. There he stayed with a platoon of thirty soldiers that accepted him as one of their own. He followed them on patrols and into firefights. Some of the men died. Junger himself was riding in a military vehicle when it ran over a mine, trapping he and the occupants in enemy gunfire.
That was how he researched this book. For a man with a wife and kids it seems extraordinarily reckless, yet by so doing he built up trust with the soldiers and they became willing case-studies. The result is a book about war more candid than any I've read.
Junger doesn't bother with the big picture of the Afghanistan war, or even the 'War on Terror' that started it. Rather, he explores the psychological and social elements of combat. Showing himself to be an astute observer of human behaviour, Junger approaches the topic from many angles and peers deep into the questions.
What he comes up with is occasionally macho, often profound, but mostly full of surprising insight.
If you enjoyed Junger's last book, The Perfect Storm, you'll enjoy this too. Double them up on your next trip to the North Shore and I'll see you on the outer reefs.
War is published by HarperCollins and retails for $29.99.
Comments
This book really is an insightful look all the experiences and emotions that soldiers endure in serious warfare. Without actually experiencing prolonged and real warfare, I don't think anyone can fully comprehend or begin to appreciate the powerful effects and emotions triggered by fierce life or death close quarters combat with a deadly enemy, the fear of being overwhelmed and slaughtered in an enemy assault, the mortal fear of failing your comrades in combat, the comradeship and mate ship and enormous sense of loss when one of your own goes down. Sebastian Junger has managed to get about as close to that as anyone could without actually taking up a weapon. He does some extraordinary work.
Whilst I agree with some of what the author has to say, no one can actually put into words the feeling of being in combat. It triggers many emotions of different kinds in each individual. The Author may have experienced combat first hand but for how long? If you are a soldier and you are exposed to combat on a daily basis for an extended period, life including your own becomes a precious commodity and survival is uppermost on ones mind. To say that soldiers loved combat is utter crap. No one willingly puts themselves in harms way in combat. There were many hero's I served with in Vietnam all those years ago many of them never returned to Australia alive. Surfing is my passion and has been part of my life since I was 16 and I even scored a couple of waves at Vungers during the war. To compare big wave riding with front line combat is absolutely absurd.
Darryl Menzies
4 Platoon, B Coy., 9RAR.
South Vietnam 68-69