eapons, food rations, necessary accouterments, and other items determined by the particular soldier's role within the group.
             The death of Lee Strunk is the next to be discussed in detail. Although he is a fairly minor character, the speaker uses this event to indicate and suggest more traumatic memories near the surface. Curt Lemon's death is probably the most traumatic for the author, himself, because of his gruesome involvement in it. O'Brien first introduces his death in Rat Kiley's point of view a week after the incident has already happened. At this point, Rat writes a touching and very personal letter to Lemon's sister, telling her what a great brother she had, how he made the war "seem almost fun" at times, and how he just loved the guy. She never responds. Then we are informed that Lemon had been killed while fooling around with Rat with a smoke grenade and accidentally stepping on a booby trap that "blew him into a tree." "The parts were just hanging there, so Dave and I [O'Brien] were ordered to shinny up and peel him off. I remember the white bone of an arm. The gore was horrible, and stays with me..."
             All of these short stories are infused with the author's perspective of "truth" in telling war stories, a major theme throughout the book. Here, O'Brien emphasizes the dubiety and obscurity of war stories and how they absolutely cannot be generalized. "In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen." Especially during combat when the senses are acute and emotions are fluctuating, it's hard to actuate what actually happened as pictures get jumbled and perceptions differ from person to person. O'Brien emphasizes that as a result, there is no such thing as historical and factual accuracy.
             The author also informs that "a true war stor...