War

by Sebastian Junger

  There’s a middle-aged black lady behind the desk who seems perfectly nice. O’Byrne takes a mint out of a jar on her desk and gives her one and explains that his paperwork is late and his ID expires in two days. By then he’s supposed to be on a plane home.

  “The only acceptable reason for not being on that plane is if you’re in jail,” the woman says. “And if you’re not on that plane you’ll be arrested and put in jail.”

  O’Byrne maintains his composure. “So what should I do?” he asks.

  “Call your commanding officer,” the woman says, “and ask him to have you arrested. That way you won’t be breaking the rules when you don’t get on the plane.”

  If she understands the irony at work here she doesn’t betray it. “Let me get this right,” O’Byrne says. “You want me to ask to get arrested now so I won’t get arrested later?”

  “That’s right,” the woman says and returns to her paperwork.

  We get up to go and O’Byrne turns to me as we walk out the door. “See?” he says. “See why I hate the Army?”

  The Army that saved O’Byrne from himself is now destroying the very man it created — or at least that’s how it seems to O’Byrne. The new battalion commander finally intervenes and sees to it that O’Byrne gets home safely, but civilian life goes even worse than garrison life. Months later, I get a note from him explaining that he wants to go back into the Army. “It’s as if I’m self-destructive, trying to find the hardest thing possible to make me feel accomplished,” he writes. “A lot of people tell me I could be anything I want to be. If that’s true, why can’t I be a fucking civilian and lead a normal fucking life? Probably ’cause I don’t want to.”

  You got me there, O’Byrne; you got me there, brother. Maybe the ultimate wound is the one that makes you miss the war you got it in.

  SELECTED SOURCES AND REFERENCES

  Book One: FEAR

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  Arthurs, Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Ted G. Land with No Sun: A Year in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne. Stackpole Books, 2006.

  Azar, Beth. “Exposure to Aggression May Have Lasting Effects.” American Psychological Association Monitor, Vol. 30, No. 9, October 1999.

  Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa, Marco Iacoboni, and Eran Zaidel. “Hemispheric Sensitivity to Body Stimuli in Simple Reaction Time.” Experimental Brain Research, Vol. 170, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 116–121.

  Bar, Hervé. “Wood Traffickers Devastate Afghan Forests.” Agence France-Presse, March 5, 2003.

  Barry, John, and Michael Hirsh. “Chopper Down over Kunar: A Special Ops Unit Calls for Help, and a Rescue Goes Awry.” Newsweek, July 11, 2005, p. 31.

  Blumenfeld, Laura. “The Sole Survivor: A Navy Seal, Injured and Alone, Was Saved by Afghans’ Embrace and Comrades’ Valor.” Washington Post, June 11, 2007.

  Botwinick, Jack, PhD, and Larry W. Thompson, PhD. “Age Difference in Reaction Time: An Artifact?” Gerontologist, Vol. 8, No. 1, Spring 1968, pp. 25–28.

  Bourne, Peter G., ed. The Psychology and Physiology of Stress, with References to Special Studies of the Viet Nam War. Academic Press, 1969.

  Boyer, Maud, Arnaud Destrebecqz, and Axel Cleeremans. “The Serial Reaction Time Task: Learning Without Knowing, or Knowing Without Learning?” In Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Erlbaum, 1998, pp. 167–172.

  Coates, Stephen. “Moves to Oust Taliban Gain Momentum.” Agence France-Presse, September 27, 2001.

  Costa, Paul T., Jr., Antonia Terracciano, and Robert R. McCrae. “Gender Differences in Personality Traits Across Cultures: Robust and Surprising Findings.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 81, No. 2, 2001, pp. 322–331.

  Daddis, Maj. Gregory A. “Understanding Fear’s Effect on Unit Effectiveness.” Military Review, Vol. 84, No. 4, July–August 2004, pp. 22–27.

  Darack, Ed. “The Kunar Province of Afghanistan.” Weatherwise, May–June 2006.

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  Deaner, Robert O. “More Males Run Fast: A Stable Sex Difference in Competitiveness in U.S. Distance Runners.” Evolution and Human Behavior, Vol. 27, 2006, pp. 63–84.

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  Fontenot, Gregory. “Fear, God, and Dreadnought.” Military Review, Vol. 75, Issue 4, July–August 1995.

  Gall, Carlotta. “War-Scarred Afghanistan in Environmental Crisis.” New York Times, January 30, 2003.

  Geary, David C., and M. Catherine DeSoto. “Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities Among Adults from the United States and China: Implications for Evolutionary Theory.” Evolution and Cognition, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2001.

  Glatzer, Bernt. “War and Boundaries in Afghanistan: Significance and Relativity of Local and Social Boundaries.” Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 41, Issue 3, November 2001, The Making and Unmaking of Boundaries in the Islamic World, pp. 379–399.

  Grossman, Lt. Col. Dave, with Loren W. Christensen. On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace. Warrior Science Publications, 2004.

  “Health Facilities Elude Kunar — Thanks to Insecurity.” Pajhwok Afghan News, February 18, 2006.

  Helmus, Todd C., and Russell W. Glenn. Steeling the Mind: Combat Stress Reactions and Their Implications for Urban Warfare. Rand Corporation, 2005.

  Henry, James P. “Psychological and Physiological Responses to Stress: The Right Hemisphere and the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, An Inquiry into Problems of Human Bonding.” Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, Supplementum, Vol. 640, 1997, pp. 10–25.

  Jones, Franklin D., Linette R. Sparacino, Joseph M. Rothberg, and James W. Stokes, eds. War Psychiatry. Produced by the Borden Institute, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, April 2000.

  Kalin, Ned H. “The Neurobiology of Fear.” Scientific American, May 1993.

  Kanazawa, Satoshi. “Male Brain vs. Female Brain II: What Is an ‘Extreme Male Brain’? What Is an ‘Extreme Female Brain’?” Scientific Fundamentalist, March 21, 2008.

  Kaur, Prabhjot, Maman Paul, and Jaspal Singh Sandhu. “Auditory and Visual Reaction Time in Athletes, Healthy Controls, and Patients of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: A Comparative Study.” International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries, Vol. 26, Issue 3, September 2006.

  Kemp, Robert. “Counterinsurgency in Eastern Afghanistan.” NATO paper, from Foreign Service officer posted as a political officer to the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels and, prior, a political adviser to a U.S. brigade commander in the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Khost, Afghanistan.

  Kosinski, Robert J. “A Literature Review on Reaction Time.” Clemson University online publication, September 2008.

  Kryklywec, Sam, Kimitake Sato, and J. G. Cremades. “Differences in Closed-Loop Control of Cutting Movements Between Collegiate Athletes and Non-Athletes.” In M. A. Cleary, L. E. Eberman, and M. L. Odai, eds., Proceedings of the Fifth Annual College of Education Research Conference: Section on Allied Health Professions, April 2006, pp. 26–31.

  Lang, Peter. Interview with Sebastian Junger, February 21, 2009.

  LeDoux, Joseph E. Interview with Sebastian Junger, 2009.

  ——— . “Emotion: Clues from the Brain.” Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 46, 1995, pp. 209–235.

  Luttrell, Marcus. Transcript of interview with Peter Berg, July 1, 2008.

  Luttrell, Marcus, with Patrick Robinson. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. Little, Brown, 2007.

  Maren, Stephen. “The Threatened Brain.” Science, Vol. 317, August 24, 2007.

  Maren, Stephen, and Chun-hui Chang. “Recent Fear Is Resistant to Extinction.” Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Vol. 103, No. 47, November 21, 2006, pp. 18020–18025.

  McGirk, Tim. “How the Shepherd Saved the SEAL.” TIME, July 11, 2005.

  Miller, Lt. Robert G., USN, Robert T. Rubin, MD, Brian R. Clark, AB, Lt. Cdr. William R. Crawford, MC, USN, and Capt. Ransom J. Arthur, MC, USN. “The Stress of Aircraft Carrier Landings.” Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol. 32, No. 6, November–December 1970.

  Milne, David. “Can People Really Be Scared to Death?” Psychiatric News, Vol. 37, No. 11, June 7, 2002.

  Mobbs, Dean, Predrag Petrovic, Jennifer L. Marchant, Demis Hassabis, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Ben Seymour, Raymond J. Dolan, and Christopher D. Frith. “When Fear Is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal-Periaqueductal Gray Shifts in Humans.” Science, Vol. 317, August 24, 2007.

  Moran, Lord. The Anatomy of Courage. Constable & Robinson Ltd., 1945.

  Morgan, Andrew. Interview with Sebastian Junger, February 26, 2009.

  Morgan, Charles A. II, John H. Krystal, and Steven M. Southwick. “Toward Early Pharmacological Posttraumatic Stress Intervention.” Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 53, 2003, pp. 834–843.

  Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne R., PhD, and Helmut Strey, PhD. “Identification and Isolation of Human Alarm Pheromones.” State University of New York at Stony Brook Research Foundation, Progress Report: Phase 0, April 30, 2006.

  Nasrat, Amanullah, and Bashir Babak. “Saving Afghanistan’s Precious Trees.” Environment News Service, March 29, 2005.

  North, Andrew. “US Navy Seals’ Afghan Disaster.” BBC News, July 25, 2005.

  “PTS Chief, Provincial Leaders Address Kunar Elders.” US Fed News, May 15, 2006.

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  Sargent, Roger. “Afghanistan Crippled, Scarred and Undefeated.” Toronto Star, December 28, 1985.

  Smeets, Jeroen B. J., and Eli Brenner. “The Difference Between the Perception of Absolute and Relative Motion: A Reaction Time Study.” Vision Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, 1994, pp. 191–195.

  Strand, Richard F. “The Current Political Situation in Nuristan.” Richard Strand’s Nuristân Site, July 17, 2007.

  “Taliban Crush Tribal Revolt in Eastern Afghanistan: Report.” Agence France-Presse — English, February 23, 1997.

  Thorpe, Simon, Denis Fize, and Catherine Marlot. “Speed of Processing in the Human Visual System.” Nature, Vol. 381, June 6, 1996.

  United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment press release. “UNEP Report Chronicles Environmental Damage of the Afghan Conflict,” January 29, 2003.

  “UN: Pakistan Sets Up Environmental Tribunals to Examine Major Offenses Such as Industrial Pollution.” M2 Presswire, June 7, 1999.

  “U.N. Voices Worry Over on Afghan Deforestation.” Reuters, June 4, 1999.

  U.S. Agency for International Development, with the Afghanistan Geological Survey. “Preliminary Non-Fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan.” USGS Open-File Report, 2007–1214.

  Wilson, Duff. “Effort to Get Metal to Act Like Wood.” New York Times, October 18, 2008.

  Yaqub, Nadeem. “Afghanistan: Conflict and Greed Threaten Ancient Forests.” Inter Press Service, April 27, 2001.

  Book Two: KILLING

  Cooper, Helene. “As Ills Persist, Afghan Leader Is Losing Luster.” New York Times, June 7, 2008.

  Gall, Carlotta. “Marines Push Back Taliban in 4 Days, and a Town’s Optimism Grows.” New York Times, May 27, 2008.

  ——— . “Old-Line Taliban Commander Is Face of Rising Afghan Threat.” New York Times, June 17, 2008.

  Gall, Carlotta, and Abdul Waheed Wafa. “Afghan Officials Abashed at Attempt to Kill Karzai.” New York Times, April 28, 2008.

  Gray, J. Glenn. The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle. Bison Books, 1959.

  Grossman, Lt. Col. Dave. On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill. Back Bay Books, 1995.

  Keeley, Lawrence H. War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. Oxford University Press, 1996.

  Levav, Itzhak, MD, Haim Greenfeld, and Eli Baruch, MD. “Psychiatric Combat Reactions During the Yom Kippur War.” American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 136, No. 5, May 1979.

  Marlowe, David H. “Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment with Special Emphasis on the Gulf War.” Rand Corporation, 2000.

  Rohde, David, and David E. Sanger. “How the ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad.” New York Times, August 12, 2007.

  Shah, Taimoor, and Carlotta Gall. “NATO and Afghan Troops Clash with Taliban in Strategic Area Near Kandahar.” New York Times, June 18, 2008.

  Shalit, Ben. The Psychology of Conflict and Combat. Praeger, 1988.

  Smucker, Philip G. “Afghanistan’s Eastern Front: Along the Pakistani Border, al Qaeda and Taliban Fighters Take Their Best Shots.” U.S. News & World Report, April 1, 2007.

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  Weinberg, S. Kirson. “The Combat Neuroses.” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 51, No. 5, Human Behavior in Military Society, March 1946, pp. 465–478.

  Book Three: LOVE

  Becker, Selwyn W., and Alice H. Eagly. “The Heroism of Men and Women.” American Psychologist, Vol. 59, No. 3, April 2004, pp. 163–178.

  Belenky, Gregory, ed. Contemporary Studies in Combat Psychiatry. Greenwood Press, 1987.

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  Burkart, Judith M., Ernst Fehr, Charles Efferson, and Carel P. van Schaik. “Other-Regarding Preferences in a Non-Human Primate: Common Marmosets Provision Food Altruistically.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 104, No. 50, December 11, 2007, pp. 19762–19766.

  Catignani, Sergio. “Motivating Soldiers: The Example of the Israeli Defense Forces.” Parameters, Autumn 2004.

  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports, 1999–2006.”

  Choi, Jung-Kyoo, and Samuel Bowles. “The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War.” Science, Vol. 318, October 26, 2007.

  Cubbison, Douglas R. “Battle of Wanat Historical Analysis.” Combat Studies Institute, based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2009.

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  Dyer, Gwynne. War: The Lethal Custom. Carroll & Graf, 1985.

  Fisher, Richard. “Why Altruism Paid Off for Our Ancestors.” New Scientist, December 2006.

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  ——— . “Measurement of Group
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  Grinker, Lt. Col. Roy R., MC, and Maj. John P. Spiegel, MC. Men Under Stress. The Blakiston Company, 1945.

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  Haidt, Jonathan. “The New Synthesis in Moral Psychology.” Science, Vol. 316, May 18, 2007.

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  Kellett, Anthony. Combat Motivation: The Behavior of Soldiers in Battle. Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing, 1982.

  Lang, P. J., and M. Davis. “Emotion, Motivation, and the Brain: Reflex Foundations in Animal and Human Research.” Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 156, 2006, pp. 3–34.

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  Lieberman, Harris R., Gaston P. Bathalon, Christina M. Falco, Charles A. Morgan III, Philip J. Niro, and William J. Tharion. “The Fog of War: Decrements in Cognitive Performance and Mood Associated with Combat-Like Stress.” Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 76, No. 7, Section II, July 2005.

  Löw, Andreas, Peter J. Lang, J. Carson Smith, and Margaret M. Bradley. “Both Predator and Prey: Emotional Arousal in Threat and Reward.” Psychological Science, Vol. 19, No. 9, 2008.

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