"I would go back to Afghanistan."

Johannes Clair has landed a bestseller with his book "Four Days in November." The former paratrooper describes his mission in the country at the Hindu Kush. And very openly and critically, what he was thinking. SPARTANAT asked Johannes Clair (28) for an interview and wanted to know why he believes that his book is so successful.

SPARTANAT: What is a soldier today?

Johannes Clair: For me, a soldier represents someone who protects: these citizens and this country. This profession is something honorable in Germany because we have a more critical view of the field of soldiers due to our problematic past. As a child, without knowing what it means, I wanted to join the Bundeswehr. I can't remember not having had that thought at any time.

SPARTANAT: You became a paratrooper even though you have a fear of heights?

Johannes Clair: That was self-therapy. But it didn't quite work. Every jump was hell. Looking back, the decision was also madness. I was looking for a confrontation with my fear.

SPARTANAT: Your book has now been published in the third edition and is a real bestseller. Why did you write it?

Johannes Clair: I wanted to free myself from an evaluation of the Afghanistan mission. I was interested in the critical view of the soldier. About the dust, the heat, and what's flying around my ears. For us soldiers, it was already clear that it was a war. The Bundeswehr had been involved in combat actions there since 2001. The idea that we only patrol and build wells is nonsense. From the beginning of my service, I asked myself what I as a soldier do: I will also be deployed. I didn't long for war, I didn't want to fight. I didn't yearn to shoot at people or to be shot at. But since I was of the opinion that we were doing something meaningful there, namely helping, I wanted to be part of it.

SPARTANAT: But there is German bureaucracy in the field camp?

Johannes Clair: Operations in the field camp are similar to a German barracks, there are many regulations. A comrade was caught speeding by the military police in a combat vehicle: 2,000 euros fine. You can't walk around without a hat. The garbage is strictly separated, collected by the Afghans, and burned together in a pile. Some rules are simply idiotic. The Bundeswehr is also very inflexible when it comes to combat experience. It took us ten years in Afghanistan to realize that we are really in danger and need artillery support. The absence of suitable helicopters to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield is scandalous.

SPARTANAT: What does the enemy look like in Afghanistan?

Johannes Clair: That is the biggest problem of the mission: the enemy picture is not clear. Only the Taliban? That's not true. Anyone can be the enemy: clan leaders, warlords, arms smugglers, corrupt politicians. We do our job. It's always about reacting, we can never be the first. And that is incredibly stressful. We could only wait for something to happen.

SPARTANAT: How did you experience the battles?

Johannes Clair: The confrontation ends the paralyzing feeling of insecurity. Nothing happened for weeks. Something had to happen. Not because I longed for the battle, but because I wanted to get rid of the terrible feeling of waiting. When it finally happened, the adrenaline provided euphoria for hours. Like a drug high. There was no fear. The fear only came later, after an ambush at night, from which we barely escaped. But we were also proud of our work and happy to have come out safely. And then there is also the other side: war leads to brutality. Soldiers become numb, even if you think about it a lot. For example, the jokes became cruder or some spoke disparagingly about Afghans. That is war. It also brings incredible cruelty to the civilian population. But we Germans are not aggressors. We don't go there with the goal of killing people.

SPARTANAT: Would you go back to Afghanistan?

Johannes Clair: Yes. There were some terrible experiences, but I also took a lot with me personally. I cannot evaluate the mission politically. Whether we have achieved anything will only be seen in a few years. But through a major operation, which plays a central role in my book, we were able to liberate many villages from insurgents. There is no simple answer. But we had a principle: we wanted to help.

SPARTANAT: Why do you think your book is so successful?

Johannes Clair: I wanted to create something that no one had tried before: not to make anyone a supporter or opponent of the Afghanistan mission, but to generate understanding. Understanding for why people go on such a mission, what happens in this mission and in this country, and how it changes me. I wanted to achieve that people in Germany understand the moments of happiness and fears of death that we experience there and what burdens this means for the family.
I wanted to tell from the perspective of a simple soldier, without technical terms, why it is always difficult to carry out such missions, but why it can still be meaningful.
Apparently, many were waiting for a deep perspective, without just condemnation and denunciation.

SPARTANAT: What are your future plans?

Johannes Clair: I started studying and inform about security policy topics on my Facebook presence facebook.com/viertageimnovember. I am also already working on my next book. But the topic will be fictional. I am very grateful for the opportunity to develop further as an author and to be able to communicate with people. I really enjoy that.

For the SPARTANAT book presentation of "Four Days in November" click HERE.