Trust

"Later we heard that Strunk died somewhere over Chu Lai, which seemed to relieve Dave Jensen of an enormous weight." pg 63
This sentence, standing alone, would lead the reader to one simple conclusion- Jensen hated Strunk. This inference, especially since it follows chapter 5, would seem fitting. However, within the contents of chapter six (which is less than two pages long) portrays a new side of Jensen and Strunk. After their viscious argument the two men actually become tolerant of one another. Even more than that, they become close friends. I thought it was interesting how O'Brien added these two small chapters into the book. I'm sure there were a great deal of stories he had to leave out. These two short stories must have had some sort of significance to him. I think O'Brien chose to include these two chapters because they really do show a person just how much you can change because of the war. Two people can go from completely hating one another to making a promise to watch out for eachother in a near-death accident. These contrasting chapters really brought O'Brien's story to life.