I think Junger is reflecting a lot of the duality or conflict that many soldiers in combat feel; an intense feeling of camaraderie and living on the edge that brings reality into sharper focus. Yet on page 260 (Penguin edition) he says: "...I felt I had got tired, and used to the aspect of war, but it was from this familiarity that I observed what was in front of me in a new and subdued light. Things were less dazzlingly distinct. And I felt that the purpose with which I had gone out to fight had been used up, and no longer held. The war posed new, deeper puzzles. It was a strange time altogether." He, I think, has us follow his glory in the war, then suddenly shifts to a more reflective look at what he has been through. But in the end, he falls back on the patriotism with which he has been indoctrinated and tries to fight on despite overwhelming odds and the end of the war. I'll have to dig up a biography. Reading this book was a little strange. It had the feel of a diary, but a disconnected one. I didn't get a really good sense of who he was. Certainly he was a brave (read lucky and/or stupid) man who did what he was told. He speaks of his men's admiration for him, but I didn't get a sense of why they would do so. I had no idea that lieutenants rated servants, and in one instance he is upset because his servant put too much salt on his eggs and ruined them.
I know this book has been denounced as fascistic and supportive of Nazi ideology. Perhaps others are seeing something I don't. Rather for me it was someone who accepted his lot, did the best he could under difficult circumstances, but, all the while reporting the horror of the war and its senseless slaughter, seemed somehow immune to it. ...less "
Sorry for the confusion - I originally mistakenly gave this 3 stars then decided to drop it to 2.
