The negative effects of combat were nightmares, and I’d get jumpy around certain noises and stuff, but you’d have that after a car accident or a bad divorce. Life’s filled with trauma. You don’t need to go to war to find it; it’s going to find you. We all deal with it, and the effects go away after awhile. At least they did for me. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
The attacks of 9/11 came out of Afghanistan. It was a failed state, a rogue nation. That’s why al Qaeda was there in the first place. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
Well, you got to remember, bin Laden killed 3,000 Americans and, in some ways, he and his ideology killed tens of thousands of his fellow Muslims, including Pakistanis. I understand that that was provocative and complicated for Pakistan, but only if you accept the idea that he was an acceptable member of Pakistani society. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
I think, unfortunately, we live in a world where people attack other people and I think a legitimate rationale for war is the saving of human life, the saving of lives of people who cannot defend themselves. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
Well, the fact that the news industry doesn’t have enough money to only send salaried staff to war zones means there is an enormous, wide-open opportunity for young people who want to be on staff and don’t know how to get there. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
I’ve stopped war reporting. I realized that I’d answered all of my questions about war and about myself. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
Of the primary emotions, fear is the one that bears most directly on survival. Children show fear. Adults try not to, maybe because it’s shameful, or, in some circumstances, dangerous. The fear response is automatic, though, and your body runs through its reflexes whether you want it to or not. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
I had grown up during Vietnam. I had no connections to the U.S. military, and I had a pretty cynical default opinion about the U.S. military. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
If you get an infection, you get a fever; the fever is your body dealing with the infection. If you get traumatized, your mind and your brain have a reaction to that trauma. If you’re not dreaming about it, something’s probably wrong. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
I don’t think journalists in World War II were objective about the Nazis, and I don’t think they should have been. Sebastian Junger Read Quote
