Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier

     I understand that life is a balance of good and bad, but let's pretend reality doesn't exist for a second. Let's imagine that we lived in a world without war, chaos, and conflict. You would think would be any soldiers dream right? Who would want to return to I.E.D.s, rockets, machine guns, explosions in the middle of the night? Let's not leave out the long hours of they spend patroling and putting their lives in danger, the crappy food, depression, and worst of all PTSD. No soldier would want to return to that right?  Think again. What we fail to realize is that certain individuals crave the excitement and recklessness of war. They crave the adrenaline rush they receive in combat. In many cases, soldiers find themselves addicted to something that makes them feel good but is morally considered bad, war.

     Authors such as David Axe know exactly what I'm talking about. David Axe is the author of the graphic novel War is Boring. The novel illustrates Axe's entire journey as an american military war correspondent. The novel is based off his travels to Iraq, Lebanon, East Timor, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chad, and everything in between. The major question that Axe asks himself is, " Did I choose war, or did war choose me?" Axe reveals something new about his outlook on war in every country he visits. While war reporting proved to be physically, emotionally, and mentally, draining, Axe can't seem to stop going to war. He comes to the conclusion that is not in him not to continue to take advantage of the opportunity he has to capture war on film to share with the civilians back home. He finds life at home unacceptable, and war as necessary for his sanity.












     


     In the article Wired for war, and other lies, author Helen Redmond discusses War by Sebastian Junger. It is a first hand account of Junger's experiences at the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Redmond makes a statement within the article that striked me. She states, " Junger believes that the brain is wired for war and that the dopamine reward system in men drives them to become obsessively involved in such things as hunting, gambling, computer games, and war. He concludes that collective defense, bravery, and heroism produces so many chemically induced highs that soldiers become addicted to war." Junger basically claims that war gives these men the same high as cocaine. They become so infatuated with war that normal civilian life is not satisfying enough, it doesn't give them the rush they desire.


     War is a lot of things to these soldiers and unfortunately exciting is one of them. These men secretly love every aspect of war. They are intrigued by the fear involved, the killing, and the unknowns of war. War is addictive, not just to soldiers, but war correspondents, and anybody else involved in the intensity of war. I don't believe individuals such as myself, who have never experienced the "joyousness" of war, will ever understand why or how they find war so refreshing. But it's not up to us to decide what they find exciting, as long as their doing what they find fun, that's all that should matter.

A Soldiers Worst Nightmare

Into the valley of death lies the Korengal, which is widely considered to be the most dangerous valley in northeastern Afghanistan. The Korengal Valley is a six mile long, sparsely populated “hell hole”, that many U.S. soldiers are still haunted by years later after the Afghanistan war. According to an article by The New York Times, “ Nearly one-fifth of all combat in Afghanistan occurred in the Korengal Valley, and nearly three-quarters of all the bombs dropped by NATO forces in Afghanistan were dropped in the surrounding area.” Most of, if not all of the fighting in the Korengal Valley was performed on foot, leaving soldiers vulnerable to Taliban gunners who were ready to attack at any moment. There was no safe place for our U.S. soldiers. Not only that, but soldiers spent 15 months in this valley under what we would consider extreme conditions. Did I mention they had no electricity, no internet, no TV, no running water, no bathroom, no heat, and no women?

  The chaos of the Korengal Valley is nothing to joke about. The seriousness of the valley is clearly represented in the documentary “Restrepo”, a documentary film directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. The film focused on the process of building Restrepo, “ a strategic outpost named in honour of their medic, PFC Juan Restrepo, who was killed in action". The documentary takes the audience to the 15-month deployment of U.S. soldiers to the “deadliest place on Earth”, where their mission was to clear the Korengal Valley of uprising and gain the trust of the locals.The film captures the intensity and heartbreaking moments of the Afghanistan war. It also includes  interviews of the soldiers themselves, where they recall their thoughts and fears of the Korengal Valley.

http://natgeotv.com/asia/restrepo/videos/korengal

                                     

The documentary was deemed very successful ever since its release in 2010. According to Wikipedia, the film recieved the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It recieved a certified fresh rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert awarded Restrepo four out of four stars. Additionally, many other critics and publications included it in their annual top films. Lastly, Restrepo was nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary. 

Oddly enough, many people weren’t as crazy about Restrepo. It is apparent in Steven Boone’s article where he  describes Restrepo and how the documentary  doesn't allow the audience to see the "bad guys" that the soldiers are talking about. He briefly covers Private First Class Juan "Doc" Restrepo and his importance in the documentary. He also includes Sergeant Misha Pemble, the hippie child who was never allowed to play with any type of toy gun. Boone goes on to express how the documentary fails to meet its aim, which he claims was to " pare the experience down to the essentials of survival in war". He states, "I'm asking someone else to step up with an Afghanistan War Documentary that zooms in tighter, or out much wider, for a more ruminative and provocative stretch of time. Someone less concerned with honoring the non- confrontational ethics of contemporary mainstream journalism, and more with illustrating the impact of war on civilians." Boone believes the documentary pertained mostly to the emotional damage of the soldiers rather than how they managed to outlive Korengal Valley a.k.a. Hellhole.

          I personally thought the documentary did an excellent job of revealing the everyday lives of soldiers fighting in the Korengal Valley. There was no script, no special effects, no actors, just pure war at its worst. The soldiers lived in conditions that many of us Americans couldn’t even imagine. Soldiers were in constant fear of death at any moment, and had no real sense of security. These men had to overcome the frequency of death of over 40 soldiers. The documentary illustrated the hurt and overwhelming distress that was sprung upon the friends of the soldiers whose lives were taken in the war. The fact that all of this action was live really impacted the audience and enhanced the quality of the documentary.