Prompt: In-class essay on Sebastian Junger's War

Your in-class essay will challenge your ability to gather what you know about Sebastian Junger’s book, War, in order to apply this quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War:

Knowing the other and knowing yourself,

In one hundred battles, no danger.

Not knowing the other, knowing oneself,

One victory for one loss.

Not knowing the other, not knowing oneself,

In every battle, certain defeat.

Think of this when reading Junger’s portrait of young American soldiers who are thousands of miles from home in the remote Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. Who are these young men? Why are they in the Korengal in the first place? Are they old enough to understand themselves and the war they are fighting? Are these the “heroes” we hear about? Is it enough that they’re fighting for each other? Do they understand that they are on the front line of a war that the entire planet is looking at?

Junger offers a glimpse of the stress and hardship of constant if not always deadly fire from Taliban soldiers, of rugged, harsh conditions, little contact with the world, and incredible boredom. Village elders complain about collateral damage they’ve suffered in firefights. They seem to regard the Americans as if they just walked in from another galaxy. Do they listen to plans for soldier-villager projects? Do they care about the virtues of a U.S.-installed government? What is the relationship between the villagers and the Taliban? 

Think about Sun Tzu’s statement, and find examples of how it applies to the soldiers of Battle Company and the Taliban. There are no right and wrong answers, but you must go through the text and provide examples to back up what you believe.

Your paper should be 400-500 words long, and it must have a clear thesis statement. You must write an outline before starting the essay (and turn it in), and then you must use the outline to organize your paper. Remember that the best essay writing features, clear, concise sentences that say the most with the fewest words. 

You’ll have approximately 90 minutes for the mid-term.