How To Tell A True War Story

Tim O'Brien's "How To Tell A True War Story" explains to the reader a side of war that most are unfamiliar with. O'Brien explains the relationships between the other soldiers goofing off and getting into all types of shenanigans together. Although O'Brien is writing a story about an experience twenty years prior, he extremely vivid, detailed and emotional with his writing. O'Brien conveys signs of PTSD in his writing style. O'Brien is almost nonchalant in the way he describes peeling his deceased friend off a tree. O'Brien also mentions how even twenty years later he is still awakened from sleep by the memory of war.
"In war you lose your sense of definite, hence you sense of truth itself, and therefore it's safe to say that in a true war story oohing much is very true." This quote from O'Brien explains to the reader that often times soldier will mentally block out the traumatizing events from their memory, therefore hindering their ability to recall exact events. The contradictions and repetitions O'Brien makes through his story make the psychological repercussions of war very apparent.