56 pages 1 hour read

Sebastian Junger

War

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 1

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Book One: Fear”

Part 1, Prologue Summary: “New York City: Six Months Later”

Author Sebastian Junger and retired US sergeant Brendan O’Byrne travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and visit Justin Kalenits, who’s recovering from injuries suffered during the Bella Ambush in Afghanistan’s Waygal Valley. Returning late from an audience with a local village’s elders, US and Afghan military squads were surrounded and subjected to withering rifle and grenade fire. Every member of both squads was wounded or killed, and Kalenits nearly bled to death from a serious bullet wound. The troops gave as good as they got and, somehow, they finally repelled the attack.

O’Byrne asks if anyone questioned the lieutenant when he ordered the soldiers to walk back during dangerous daylight hours. Kalenits responds, “What are you going to say to him?” (8).

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, Spring 2007”

Korengal Outpost, or KOP, is a US military base in the Korengal Valley, one of the most dangerous areas of the war in Afghanistan in spring 2007. Soldiers take fire from mortars when they arrive for duty and depart months later. Accommodations consist of tents and plywood cabins; the men get one hot meal a day, shower once a week, and pee into plastic pipes hammered into the earth.

Related Titles

By Sebastian Junger

Plot Summary

logo

A Death in Belmont

Sebastian Junger

A Death in Belmont

Sebastian Junger

Study Guide

logo

In My Time of Dying

Sebastian Junger

In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife

Sebastian Junger

Study Guide

logo

The Perfect Storm

Sebastian Junger

The Perfect Storm

Sebastian Junger

Study Guide

logo

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging

Sebastian Junger

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging

Sebastian Junger