A Common Soldier in Battle

Perusing The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, I grasped a new, profound sense of war from the soldiers’ perspective, varying tremendously from my previous notion of war through movies, often which simply depicted the strength and bravery in battle. In contrast, O’Brien creates a war story without a specific hero; apparently simply wanting to get his story told. However, heroes allow the writer to influence their audience, as readers embrace heroes as role models within society. As such, I question why O’Brien destroys the pre-conceived notions of a heroic soldier?
The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20-round magazine…some carried the M-79 grenade launcher, 5.9 pounds unloaded, a reasonably light weapon except for the ammunition, which was heavy. A single round weighed 10 ounces. The typical load was 25 pounds.

O’Brien intends for his nonmilitary audience to gain an understanding of the daily physical strain on the soldiers. Furtherm...