Sebastian Junger: Why veterans miss war

Translator: Ereblir Kadriu Reviewer: Iris Xholi

I'm going to ask and try to answer,

Do te pyese dhe do te mundohem te pergjegjem

in some ways, kind of an uncomfortable question.

ne nje fare menyre, nje lloj pyetje e papershtashme.

Both civilians, obviously, and soldiers

Si civilët, padyshim, edhe ushtarët

suffer in war;

vuajnë në luftë;

I don't think any civilian has ever missed

Unë nuk mendoj se ndonjë civil ka humbur

the war that they were subjected to.

luften te ciles i ishin nenshtruar.

I've been covering wars for almost 20 years,

Kam spjeguar lufterat per gati 20 vite,

and one of the remarkable things for me

dhe një nga gjërat me te spikatura për mua

is how many soldiers find themselves missing it.

është fakti se sa shume ushtareve ju mungon ajo.

How is it someone can go through

Si është e mundur qe dikush mund të kalojë nëpër

the worst experience imaginable,

përvojen më të keqe të imagjinueshme

and come home, back to their home,

dhe të kthehen në shtëpi, përsëri në shtëpitë e tyre,

and their family, their country, and miss the war?

ne familjet e tyre, vendin e tyre, dhe ti mungoj lufta?

How does that work? What does it mean?

Si funksionon kjo? Cka do te thote?

We have to answer that question,

Ne duhet ti pergjigjemi kesaj pyetje,

because if we don't, it'll be impossible

sepse po nuk e beme, do te jete e pamundur

to bring soldiers back

ti kthejme ushtaret perseri

to a place in society where they belong,

ne nje vend ne shoqeri ku ata perkasin,

and I think it'll also be impossible to stop war,

gjithashtu mendoj se do te ishte e pamundur te ndalojme luften,

if we don't understand how that mechanism works.

nese nuk e kuptojme se si funskion ai mekanizem.

The problem is that war

Problemi eshte se lufta

does not have a simple, neat truth,

nuk ka nje te vertete te thjeshte e te paster,

one simple, neat truth.

nje te veretete te thjeshte e te paster.

Any sane person hates war,

Çdo person i arsyeshëm urren luftën,

hates the idea of war,

urren idenë e luftës,

wouldn't want to have anything to do with it,

nuk do donin që të kishin te benin asgjë me të,

doesn't want to be near it, doesn't want to know about it.

nuk do donin të ishin pranë saj, nuk duan të dinë për të.

That's a sane response to war.

Kjo eshte nje pergjgije e arsyshme per luften.

But if I asked all of you in this room,

Por nese do te pyesja te gjithe ne kete salle,

who here has paid money

kush nga ne ka paguar para

to go to a cinema

per te shkuar ne kinema

and be entertained by a Hollywood war movie,

dhe te argetohen nga ndonje film Holivudian lufte,

most of you would probably raise your hands.

shumica prej jush do te ngrinin doren.

That's what's so complicated about war.

Kjo eshte arsyeja pse lufta eshte kaq e komplikuar.

And trust me, if a room full of peace-loving people

Dhe besomeni, në qoftë se ne një dhomë plot njerez paqedashës

finds something compelling about war,

gjejme diçka bindëse për luftën,

so do 20-year-old soldiers

keshtu do te benin edhe ushtaret 20 vjecar

who have been trained in it, I promise you.

te cilet jane trajnuar ne te, dhe kete j'ua premtoj.

That's the thing that has to be understood.

Kjo eshte ajo c'ka duhet te kuptohet.

I've covered war for about 20 years, as I said,

Kam mbuluar luften per gati 20 vite, sic thash,

but my most intense experiences in combat

por përvojat e mia më të forta në luftime

were with American soldiers in Afghanistan.

ishin me ushtarët amerikanë në Afganistan.

I've been in Africa, the Middle East,

Kam qene ne Afrike, ne Lindjen e Mesme,

Afghanistan in the '90s,

Afganistan ne te 90-tat,

but it was with American soldiers in 2007, 2008,

por ishin ushtaret Amerikan ne 2007, 2008,

that I was confronted with

me te cilet u konfrontova

very intense combat.

ne lufte te rende.

I was in a small valley called the Korengal Valley

Unë kam qenë në një luginë të vogël të quajtur Lugina Korengal

in eastern Afghanistan.

në Afganistanin lindor.

It was six miles long.

Lugina ishte gjashtë kilometra e gjatë.

There were 150 men of Battle Company in that valley,

Ishin 150 njerëz të Kompanise Beteja në atë luginë,

and for a while, while I was there,

dhe për një kohë, ndërsa unë kam qenë atje,

almost 20 percent of all the combat

pothuajse 20 perqind e te gjithe luftes

in all of Afghanistan was happening

ne te gjithe Afganistanin po ndodhte

in those six miles.

ne ato gjashte milje.

A hundred and fifty men were absorbing

Njeqind e pesedhjete burra po mbanin

almost a fifth of the combat for all of NATO forces

pothuajse një te pesten e luftimit për te tëra forcat e NATO-s

in the country, for a couple months.

ne te gjithe vendin, per dy muaj.

It was very intense.

Ishte shume e rende.

I spent most of my time at a small outpost

Shumicen e kohes e kam kaluar ne nje post te vogel

called Restrepo.

te quajtur Restrepo.

It was named after the platoon medic

Ishte emeruar sipas nje mjeku te toges

that had been killed about two months into the deployment.

i cili ishte vrare para dy muajve ne dislokim.

It was a few plywood B-huts

Ishte disa kompensata

clinging to a side of a ridge,

te kapura ne nje ane te nje kreshte,

and sandbags, bunkers, gun positions,

these me rere, bunkeret, pozicionimi i armeve,

and there were 20 men up there

dhe ishin 20 burra atje

of Second Platoon, Battle Company.

te Toges se Dyte, te ekuipazhit te betejes.

I spent most of my time up there.

Kalova shumicen e kohes time atje.

There was no running water.

Nuk kishte uje.

There was no way to bathe.

Nuk kishte mundesi per te bere dush.

The guys were up there for a month at a time.

Djemtë ishin atje për nga nje muaj.

They never even got out of their clothes.

Ata kurre nuk i hiqnin rrobat e tyre te trupit.

They fought. The worked.

Ata luftuan. Punuan.

They slept in the same clothes.

Ata flinin me te njejtat rroba veshur.

They never took them off, and at the end of the month,

Ata kurre nuk i hoqen nga trupi, dhe ne fund te muajit,

they went back down to the company headquarters,

ata shkonin tek zona qendrore e ekuipazhit,

and by then, their clothes were unwearable.

dhe ne kete pike, rrobat e tyre nuk mund te visheshin me.

They burned them and got a new set.

Ata i digjnin ato dhe merrnin komplete te reja.

There was no Internet. There was no phone.

Nuk kishte internet. Nuk kishte telefona.

There was no communication with the outside world up there.

Nuk kishte komunikim me boten e jashtme.

There was no cooked food.

Nuk kishte ushqim te zier.

There was nothing up there

Nuk kishte asgje atje

that young men typically like:

qe djemt e ri do te pelqenin:

no cars, no girls, no television, nothing

nuk kishte makina, vajza, televzion, asgje

except combat.

pervec luftes.

Combat they did learn to like.

Luften, te cilen ata mesuan ta duan.

I remember one day, it was a very hot day

Me kujtohet nje dite, ishte nje dite shume e nxehte

in the spring,

ne pranvere,

and we hadn't been in a fight

dhe ne nuk kishim qene ne luftim

in a couple of weeks, maybe.

per disa jave, ndoshta.

Usually, the outpost was attacked,

Zakonisht, avanposti ishte me i sulmuari,

and we hadn't seen any combat in a couple of weeks,

dhe ne nuk kishim pare asnje luftim per disa jave,

and everyone was just stunned

dhe te gjithe u shtangen

with boredom and heat.

me merzi dhe nxehtesi.

And I remember the lieutenant walking past me

Dhe me kujtohet togeri qe kalonte pas meje

sort of stripped to the waist.

gati i zhveshur deri ne mes.

It was incredibly hot.

Ishte shume nxehte.

Stripped to the waist, walked past me muttering,

I zhveshur deri ne mes, ecte pas meje duke pershperitur,

"Oh God, please someone attack us today."

"O Zot, te lutem te na sulmoj dikush sot."

That's how bored they were.

Aq te merzitur ishin.

That's war too, is a lieutenant saying,

Edhe kjo nje form lufte eshte, nje toger duke thene,

"Please make something happen

"Te lutem le te ndodh dicka

because we're going crazy."

sepse po cmendemi."

To understand that,

Per te kuptuar ate,

you have to, for a moment,

ju duhet qe per nje moment,

think about combat not morally --

te mendoni per luften jo moralisht--

that's an important job to do —

kjo eshte shume e rendesishme --

but for a moment, don't think about it morally,

por per nje moment, mos mendoni per te moralisht,

think about it neurologically.

mendoni per te neurologjikisht.

Let's think about what happens in your brain

Te mendojme se cka ndodh ne trurin tuaj

when you're in combat.

kur jeni ne lufte.

First of all, the experience

Se pari, pervoja

is very bizarre, it's a very bizarre one.

eshte shume e tmershme, eshte me e tmershmja.

It's not what I had expected.

Nuk eshte absolutish c'ka kisha pritur une.

Usually, you're not scared.

Zakonisht, nuk friksohem.

I've been very scared in combat,

Kam qene shume i frikesuar ne lufte,

but most of the time when I was out there,

por shumicen e kohes kur isha atje,

I wasn't scared.

nuk kisha frike.

I was very scared beforehand

Kam qene shume i frikesuar me pare

and incredibly scared afterwards,

dhe tmersisht i frikesuar me pas,

and that fear that comes afterwards can last years.

dhe ajo frike qe vjen me pas mund te zgjas me vite.

I haven't been shot at in six years,

Nuk kam me ka kapur asnje plumb ne gjashte vite,

and I was woken up very abruptly this morning

dhe me zgjoi ne menyre te menjehershme kete mengjes

by a nightmare that I was being strafed by aircraft,

nje makth qe po me qellonin nga nje avion

six years later.

gjashte vite me vone.

I've never even been strafed by aircraft,

Kur nuk me kane qelluar nga nje avion,

and I was having nightmares about it.

dhe kisha makth nga kjo gje.

Time slows down.

Koha ngadalsohet.

You get this weird tunnel vision.

Dhe te krijohet ky vizion i pa zakonte tuneli.

You notice some details very, very, very accurately

Je ne gjendje te veresh disa detaje shume, shume, shume me saktesi

and other things drop out.

dhe disa gjera te tjera thjesh nuk i sheh.

It's almost a slightly altered state of mind.

Eshte pak a shume ndryshim i mendjes.

What's happening in your brain

Cka eshte duke ndodhur ne trurin tend

is you're getting an enormous amount of adrenaline

eshte se je duke marre nje sasi te madhe te adrenalines

pumped through your system.

qe pompohet nga sitemi jot.

Young men will go to great lengths

Te rinjte do te shkojne shume larg

to have that experience.

per te pasur ate pervoje.

It's wired into us.

Eshte e rrenjezuar tek ne.

It's hormonally supported.

Eshte e ndihmuar hormonalisht.

The mortality rate for young men in society

Shkalla e vdekshmerise per djemt e rinj ne shoqeri

is six times what it is for young women

eshte gjashte here me shume se per femrat e reja

from violence and from accidents,

nga dhuna dhe nga aksidentet,

just the stupid stuff that young men do:

budallalleqet qe djemt e rinj bejne:

jumping off of things they shouldn't jump off of,

duke u hedhur nga vende nga ku nuk duhet hedhur,

lighting things on fire they shouldn't light on fire,

te ndezurit e gjerave te cilat nuk duhet ti ndezin,

I mean, you know what I'm talking about.

e dini se per cka e kam fjalen.

They die at six times the rate

Ata vdesin gjashte here me shume

that young women do.

se sa vajzat e reja.

Statistically, you are safer as a teenage boy,

Statistikisht, si nje adoleshent duhet te jesh i sigurt,

you would be safer in the fire department

duhet te jesh me i sigurt ne departamentin e zjarrfikesve

or the police department in most American cities

ose ne departamentin e policise ne shumicen e qytetve Amerikane

than just walking around the streets of your hometown

thjesht duke ecur neper rruget e qytetit tuaj

looking for something to do,

duke kerkuar te beni dicka,

statistically.

statistikisht.

You can imagine how that plays out in combat.

Provoni te imagjinoni se si eshte kjo pamje ne luftime.

At Restrepo, every guy up there was almost killed,

Ne Restrepo,pothuajse c'do djale atje gjeti vdekjen,

including me,

duke me perfshire edhe mua,

including my good friend Tim Hetherington,

duke perfshire edhe shokun tim te mire Tim Hetherington,

who was later killed in Libya.

i cili me vone u vra ne Libi.

There were guys walking around

Kishte djem te cilet ecnin

with bullet holes in their uniforms,

me brima plumbash ne uniformat e tyre,

rounds that had cut through the fabric

rrathe qe kishin prere copen

and didn't touch their bodies.

por nuk kishin prekur trupin e tyre.

I was leaning against some sandbags one morning,

Isha shtrire ne disa thase rere nje mengjes,

not much going on, sort of spacing out,

nuk kisha cfare te beja, thjesht po hutohesha

and some sand was kicked into the side of,

kur ca rere mu perplas me vrull dhe

sort of hit the side of my face.

goditi nje pjese te fytyres time.

Something hit the side of my face, and I didn't know what it was.

Dicka goditi nje pjese te fytyres time, dhe une nuk e dija se cfare ishte.

You have to understand about bullets

Ajo qe duhet te dini per plumbat

that they go a lot faster than sound,

eshte se ato levizin me shpejt sesa zeri,

so if someone shoots at you

pra nese dikush ju qellon

from a few hundred meters,

prej disa qindra metrash,

the bullet goes by you, or hits you obviously,

plumbi ju kalon prane, ose ju qellon,

half a second or so before the sound catches up to it.

perafersisht gjysme sekondi perpara zhurmes.

So I had some sand sprayed in the side of my face.

Pra, ca rere ishte sperkatur ne nje pjese te fytyres.

Half a second later, I heard dut-dut-dut-dut-duh.

Pas gjysme sekondi, degjova dut-dut-dut-duh.

It was machine gun fire.

Ishte nje arme zjarri.

It was the first round, the first burst

Ishte raundi i pare, shperthimi i pare

of an hour-long firefight.

i nje ore te gjate luftimesh.

What had happened was the bullet hit,

Ajo qe kishte ndodhur ishte se plumbi qelloi,

a bullet hit three or four inches from the side of my head.

plumbi qelloi tri ose kater centimetra larg kokes sime.

Imagine, just think about it, because I certainly did,

Imagjinoni, vetem mendoni per nje caste, sepse une sigurisht mendova,

think about the angle of deviation that saved my life.

mendoni per kendin e devijimit qe shpetoi jeten time.

At 400 meters, it missed me by three inches.

Nga 400 metra distance, deshtoi per vetem tre centimetra.

Just think about the math on that.

Vetem mendoni per matemetiken aty.

Every guy up there

Secili prej djemve ne ushtri

had some experience like that,

ka pervoja te tilla,

at least once, if not many times.

se paku nje here, nese jo shume here.

The boys are up there for a year.

Djemte kane nje vit qe jane atje.

They got back.

Ata u kthyen.

Some of them got out of the Army

Disa nga ata u kthyen nga Ushtria

and had tremendous psychological problems when they got home.

dhe paten problme te medha psikologjike kur erdhen ne shtepi.

Some of them stayed in the Army

Disa nga ata qendruan ne ushtri

and were more or less okay, psychologically.

dhe ishin pak a shume ne rregull psikologjikisht.

I was particularly close to a guy named Brendan O'Byrne.

Unë kam qenë veçanërisht i afërt me një djalë i quajtur Brendan O'Byrne.

I'm still very good friends with him.

Akoma jemi miq shume te mire.

He came back to the States. He got out of the Army.

Ai u kthye perseri ne SHBA. U largua nga ushtria.

I had a dinner party one night.

Kisha nje darke feste nje nate.

I invited him,

E ftova Brendan,

and he started talking with a woman,

dhe ai filloj te fliste me nje grua,

one of my friends,

nje nga shoqet e mia,

and she knew how bad it had been out there,

ajo e dinte sa keq ka qene atje,

and she said, "Brendan,

dhe ajo e pyeti, " Brendan,

is there anything at all that you miss about

a ka ndonje gje qe te mungon

being out in Afghanistan, about the war?"

nga Afganistani, nga lufta?"

And he thought about it quite a long time,

Dhe ai u mendua per nje kohe te gjate,

and finally he said, "Ma'am, I miss almost all of it."

dhe me ne fund tha, " Zonje, me mungon pothuajse gjithcka."

And he's one of the most traumatized people

Dhe ai eshte njeri prej njerezve me te traumatizuar

I've seen from that war.

nga lufta qe kam pare ndonjehere.

"Ma'am, I miss almost all of it."

"Zonje, me mungon pothuajse gjithcka."

What is he talking about?

Cka po flet ai?

He's not a psychopath.

Ai nuk eshte nje psikopat

He doesn't miss killing people.

Atij si mungon vrasja e njerezve.

He's not crazy. He doesn't miss getting shot at

Ai nuk eshte i cmendur. Atij nuk i mungon te qellohet

and seeing his friends get killed.

dhe te shoh shoket e tij te vriten.

What is it that he misses? We have to answer that.

Por cka i mungon atij? Ne duhet ti pergjigjemi.

If we're going to stop war, we have to answer that question.

Nese ne duhet te ndalojme luften, ne duhet ti pergjigjemi kesaj pyetje.

I think what he missed is brotherhood.

Mendoj se atij i mungonte vllazeria.

He missed, in some ways,

Atij i mungonte , ne shume menyra,

the opposite of killing.

e kunderta e vrasjes.

What he missed was connection

Cka atij i mungonte ishte lidhshmeria

to the other men he was with.

me djem te tjere qe ishin atje.

Now, brotherhood is different from friendship.

Tani, vllazeria eshte ndryshe nga miqesia.

Friendship happens in society, obviously.

Miqesia ndodh ne shoqeri, padyshim.

The more you like someone,

Sa me shume qe pelqeni dike,

the more you'd be willing to do for them.

aq me shume ke deshire te beni gjera per ta.

Brotherhood has nothing to do

Vllazeria nuk ka te beje me

with how you feel about the other person.

menyren se si ndihesh per persona te tjere.

It's a mutual agreement in a group

Eshte nje marreveshje e perbashket ne grup

that you will put the welfare of the group,

qe ju do te vendosni mireqenien e grupit,

you will put the safety of everyone in the group

ju do te vendosni sigurine e te gjitheve ne grup

above your own.

para te tuajes.

In effect, you're saying,

Ne fakt, ju jeni duke thene,

"I love these other people more than I love myself."

"Une i dua keta njerez me shume sesa e dua veten time."

Brendan was a team leader

Brendan ishte nje lider grupi

in command of three men,

kishte nen komand tri djem,

and the worst day in Afghanistan —

dhe dita me e keqe ne Afganistan--

He was almost killed so many times.

Ai gati sa nuk u vra shume here.

It didn't bother him.

Por kjo nuk e shqetesonte.

The worst thing that happened to him in Afghanistan

Gjeja me e keqe qe i ka ndodhur ne Afganistan

was one of his men was hit in the head with a bullet

ishte se nje nga djemt e tij ishte qelluar me plumb ne koke

in the helmet, knocked him over.

ne helmet, duke e rrezuar pertoke.

They thought he was dead.

Ata menduan se ai kishte vdekur.

It was in the middle of a huge firefight.

Ishte ne mes te nje shkembim zjarri te madh.

No one could deal with it, and a minute later,

Askush nuk mund t'ja dilte, dhe nje minute me vone,

Kyle Steiner sat back up

Kajl Stajner u mbesht i ulur

from the dead, as it were,

dhe nga i vdekur, si ishte,

because he'd come back to consciousness.

iu kthye vetdija.

The bullet had just knocked him out.

Plumbi vetem sa ja kishte humbur vetdijen.

It glanced off the helmet.

Ai leshoi helmeten.

He remembers people saying,

Atij i kujtohen njerezit qe thonin,

as he was sort of half-conscious,

sepe ai ishte pothuajse gjysem koshient,

he remembers people saying,

ai kujton njerezit duke thene,

"Steiner's been hit in the head. Steiner's dead."

"Stajner eshte qelluar ne koke, Stajner ka vdekur."

And he was thinking, "I'm not dead."

Dhe ai po mendonte. "Une nuk kam vdekur."

And he sat up.

Dhe ai u zgjua.

And Brendan realized after that

Dhe Brendan kuptoi me pas se

that he could not protect his men,

ai nuk mund ti mbronte djemte e tij,

and that was the only time he cried in Afghanistan,

dhe ky ishte momenti i vetem ku ai ka qare ne Afganistan,

was realizing that.

pikerisht te kuptuarit e kesaj gjeje.

That's brotherhood.

Kjo eshte vllazeri.

This wasn't invented recently.

Kjo nuk eshte shpikur se fundmi.

Many of you have probably read "The Iliad."

Shume prej jush ndoshta e ka lexuar 'Iliaden"

Achilles surely would have risked his life

Akili sigurisht qe do te rrezikonte jeten e tij

or given his life to save his friend Patroclus.

ose te jepte jeten e tij per te shpetuar shokun e tij Patroclus.

In World War II, there were many stories

Ne Luften e Dyte Bpterore, kishte shume histori

of soldiers who were wounded,

te ushtareve te cilet ishin plagosur,

were brought to a rear base hospital,

u sollen ne nje baze te spitalit,

who went AWOL,

te cilet shkuan ne AWOL,

crawled out of windows, slipped out doors,

u zvarriten neper dritare, reshkiten nga dera,

went AWOL, wounded,

u plagosen,

to make their way back to the front lines

per te dal ne vijen e frontit

to rejoin their brothers out there.

per ti ribashkuar vellezrit e tyre atje.

So you think about Brendan,

Pra mendoni per Brendan,

you think about all these soldiers

mendoni per te gjithe keta ushtare

having an experience like that, a bond like that,

qe kane nje pervoje te tille, nje lidhje te tille,

in a small group,

ne grupe te vogla,

where they loved 20 other people

ku ata donin 20 njerez te tjere

in some ways more than they loved themselves,

me shume mundesi me shume sesa donin vetveten e tyre,

you think about how good that would feel, imagine it,

mendoni se sa mire do te ndihej c'do kush, imagjinojeni,

and they are blessed with that experience for a year,

dhe ata jane te bekuar me nje pervoje te ketille per nje vit,

and then they come home,

dhe pastaj ata kthehen ne shtepi,

and they are just back in society

dhe i bashkohen shoqerise

like the rest of us are,

sikur te gjithe ne,

not knowing who they can count on,

duke mos ditur se te kush mund te kene besim te plote,

not knowing who loves them, who they can love,

duke mos ditur se kush i do, ke mund ta duan,

not knowing exactly what anyone they know

duke mos e ditur saktesisht se dikush qe ata njohin

would do for them if it came down to it.

do te bente gjithcka per ta.

That is terrifying.

Kjo eshte tmerruese.

Compared to that,

Krahasuar me te,

war, psychologically, in some ways, is easy,

lufta, psikologjikisht, ne disa menyra, ishte e lehte,

compared to that kind of alienation.

krahasuar me kete lloj tjetersimi.

That's why they miss it,

Kjo eshte arsyeja pse atyre u mungon lufta,

and that's what we have to understand

dhe kjo eshte ajo cka duhet te kuptojme

and in some ways fix in our society.

dhe ne nje fare menyre ta rregullojme ne shoqerine tone

Thank you very much.

Faleminderit shume.

(Applause)

(Duartroktije)